September 23, 2021- REPORT ON COUNCIL OWNED ASSETS

The Queensland Audit Office (QAO) have presented their findings on their investigation on Council owned facilities to Cassowary Coast Regional Council.

Mayor Mark Nolan said the outcome was positive and was a nod to the hard work that is being completed by Council.

“The findings identified issues already known to Council with action plans well underway.

“The report particularly acknowledged the asset rationalisation project and the implementation of formal agreements for use of council owned facilities that go hand in hand and will take some time to complete.”

Councillor Nolan continued to explain that the report from the QAO states ‘While this report includes several findings and recommendations, we have not identified any significant deficiencies’

“This is welcomed news that Council had identified these risks early and had already started remedial actions to address or minimise the risk.

“The identified risks include lack of formal agreements in place for the use of Council owned facilities, some buildings and community facilities that are not on Council’s asset register and Council did not identify and manage an employee’s conflict of interest.

“The action plans include the development of a central database for managing all leases and management agreement in line with Council’s Asset Rationalisation project.

“Council has identified a list of priority assets to formalise agreements with users and tenants and has already adopted a number of principles, expectations and responsibilities which detail how Council will manage the community use of assets.

“One of Council’s goals is to see by 2025, regional infrastructure that delivers levels of service supported by the community and is financially sustainable. The work being completed in this area will go a long way to achieving this goal,” said Councillor Nolan.

Council is currently continuing to address assets not on the asset register as part of the lease/management agreements project and annual asset review process, which is well underway. Item 8 of Council’s 2021/22 Operational Plan will see the development of a Community Use of Assets Policy which will define this further.

At the next Council meeting, Council intends on actioning one of the recommendations by voting on a stand-alone Employee Conflict of Interest policy. If adopted, this new policy, along with Council’s commitment to ensure all employees are educated on this policy through Council’s onboarding process and annual refresher training, will ensure employee conflicts of interests are adequately managed going forward.

The QAO, led by the Auditor-General, is the independent auditor of the Queensland public sector.