Tuesday, 16 November 2021
Council plans for the future
The new City of Subiaco Council met on Sunday 14 November 2021 to discuss their focus and priorities and plan a collaborative approach for the coming years.
Mayor David McMullen brought the new Council together for a full day of strategic thinking, planning and discussion, facilitated by consultant (and experienced CEO, Board Director and business leader) Ray Glickman.
Since the election on Saturday 16 October Councillors have been diligently working through a series of inductions and workshops, where they heard from the City’s executive team, subject area specialists, and their longer serving Councillor colleagues who shared their experiences.
Mayor David McMullen said the planning day was an important exercise for the new-look Council. It was designed to inspire and motivate; cementing relationships and opening up the kinds of communications necessary for Council to govern and lead effectively.
“It was really productive, with many topics covered and a lot of constructive discussion," he said.
“Before the planning day I prepared a basic structure, and invited my fellow Councillors to provide feedback and suggest additions. On the day, I shared my vision for Council, which centres on good governance; a functioning ‘unit’; and advocacy and representation for Subiaco. I want to see core business dealt with effectively, efficiently and without fuss and drama; if we achieve this, there will be more time, resources and energy left over for the blue sky thinking that Subiaco really needs.
“Every Councillor not only attended, but actively participated. The conversations were lively, enthusiastic and energised, with many great ideas exchanged. The CEO was invited to share in the formation of Council’s vision and there is a great sense of the work we will do together.
“We are fortunate to have an extremely passionate and enthusiastic group of Elected Members, with remarkable professional expertise, life experience, and local knowledge. Each has shown a genuine wish to achieve great things by working with staff and the wider Subiaco community.
“We shared our hopes for the future of our City, and agreed the community must inform our decisions. We defined what success for Subiaco will look like, and have started working on how to get there.
“The City’s Strategic Community Plan is due for review, and this will feed into that process.
“We came out of Sunday with ideas about our way forward, but this is just the first step of many. We will continue to work together to plan the approach, actions and timeline.
"The next milestone is a workshop in early December, where we will commit to a plan of immediate, short term and longer term actions. This group of eight Councillors and Mayor have two years together to achieve great things. We are thinking about that timeframe and beyond for the City of Subiaco.”