Community planning services in Glenelg Shire Council : 1998-2005 ...

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Did the council effectively manage its outsourced planning services? 109 Monthly activity reports and access to records Under his contract, the planning contractor was required to provide the council with monthly activity reports. These reports were intended to keep council informed in a timely manner of what planning activity he was involved with each month. However, the contract did not specify what he was required to include in the report (for example, details of the status, nature and levels of planning activity; whether the planning function was being delivered in compliance with legislative timelines etc.). We make further comment on these activity reports in section 5.3.1 of this report. Dispute resolution It is normal commercial practice to incorporate into contractual arrangements appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms. The council’s contract with the planning contractor did not have such a provision. This increased the risks of additional costs or the suspension of service in the event of a dispute with the planning contractor. 5.2.4 Conclusion Transferring various risks and responsibilities to an external contractor does not relieve the council of its fundamental responsibility for service delivery. The council remains accountable for the cost and quality of its outsourced planning services. The planning contractor’s planning skills were largely derived from his many years experience in the business. However, his lack of formal qualifications and limited involvement in professional development activities placed council at risk of appropriate planning decisions not being made. For example, our review of his specific planning decisions indicates a narrow interpretation of the planning scheme and a reluctance to apply sound planning processes in assessing planning permit applications. (Various case studies are included in Part 3 of this report.) This situation was compounded by council’s contract manager not having adequate planning skills and experience. This limited council’s ability to oversee the planning contractor’s performance and to effectively assess the appropriateness of any actions or decisions. This meant that decisions on complex, sensitive or high-risk planning applications were left entirely to the planning contractor (in his role as employee of the council). In effect, the planning contractor was able to operate as he saw fit.
110 Did the council effectively manage its outsourced planning services? Our review also indicated that the contractual arrangements to provide planning services were inadequate. The arrangements did not provide sufficient measurable indicators, define the standard of service to be provided, or provide dispute resolution mechanisms. Given this, the council could not adequately assess the quality of the services delivered by the contractor. 5.3 Ongoing day-to-day management Effective contract management is a key component in achieving the council’s planning outcomes. One of the contract manager’s main responsibilities was to oversee the provision of planning services to ensure that they are consistent with the contractual arrangements. We expected the council (through the contract manager) to: monitor how well the planning function operated monitor the performance of the contractor review and approve the more sensitive, complex or high-risk planning decisions develop a productive working relationship with the planning contractor. 5.3.1 Monitoring how the planning function operated Systems should be set up so that information relevant to the planning function can be collected and reported. This information should include details of applications received, permits approved and applications where objections had been made. The information collected should then be available to the contract manager, senior management and council (where relevant), for decision-making purposes. Our review indicated that the planning contractor provided monthly activity reports (daily updates from December 2003) outlining the level and details of applications received, permits approved and the status of applications (including objections received). The council did not independently verify this information, despite it being used to determine the contractor’s fees.
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PP No. 162, Session 2003-05 V I C T
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The Hon. Monica Gould MP The Hon. J
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Contents FOREWORD..................
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1. Executive summary 1
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4 Executive summary 1.2 Overall aud
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6 Executive summary 3. That the cou
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8 Executive summary attempt to res
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10 Executive summary RESPONSE provi
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2.1 Victoria’s planning system Vi
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Reform of the planning system Victo
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2.2.1 Council’s planning services
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2.3.1 Conduct of the audit Victoria
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Did the council comply with key leg
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Page 125 and 126: FIGURE C1: AUDIT CASE STUDIES INDEX
Page 127: Availability of reports Copies of a
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Community planning services in Glenelg Shire Council : 1998-2005 ...

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