Job losses have not been ruled out as Wyndham council prepares to restructure its workforce.
In a briefing with Star Weekly, chief executive Kelly Grigsby said the restructure would be informed by recent feedback about what ratepayers expect from their council.
“When I took on the role of CEO, I said my focus would be on creating a council focused on the community,” Ms Grigsby said. “Our role in serving residents and ratepayers is something we’re looking to strengthen.”
She said the recently adopted Wyndham 2040 plan shone a light on the services, infrastructure, programs and events that ratepayers wanted.
The project collated 2040 stories from residents, outlining what they like about the municipality and what they hope it will be like in the year 2040.
Ms Grigsby said the plan’s 18-month consultation with ratepayers and residents revealed what the community expected from council, and would inform “a new, contemporary organisational structure”.
“This is the natural progression of things to determine how we can be more effective.”
She said it was important for Wyndham to cement its spot as a leader, especially given its importance to Melbourne’s western growth corridor.
“We can’t be back in the old shire days; we need to be a progressive city council.”
Ms Grigsby said there would be staff changes and positions would be “repurposed”.
Questioned on potential job losses, Ms Grigsby said the council would focus on ensuring best value was delivered.
“We’re a growth council and we have seen a spike in the growth of staff over recent years, and we will see that coming down,” she said.
“We will be ensuring we will be doing more with less.”
She said capitalising on new technology would assist in achieving this, as council “tries new things”.
