There has been some interesting debate amongst IP&R practitioners recently about the how, when, why and what of councillor involvement in the preparation, endorsement, adoption and implementation of the suite of IP&R documents.

As the most pressing task at the moment is the preparation of the 2020-21 Operational Plan, let’s focus on that:

Most councils will approach this task by talking to all those staff who are currently included in the ‘Responsible’ column of the 2019-20 Operational Plan, and get them to identify what will change in the next Financial Year. The Executive Team will consider what major projects and capital works are intended for next year, and the current Operational Plan will be adjusted to reflect the subtle differences between what is being delivered this year and what is intended for next year.

These amendments may also include subtle language changes to represent the progress being made on a particular item. For example, the current Operational Plan might say that we’re going to “Develop an Events Strategy for the Shire”, and next year’s might be adjusted to “Deliver the 2020-21 scheduled projects of the Events Strategy”.

Of course, given this current extraordinary pandemic situation we find ourselves in, we may also adjust some of the targets we had set in previous years to reflect the uncertainty that remains about public gatherings and so on. For example, delivery of events, use of our facilities, number of program participants and so on may continue to be impacted at least into the first quarter of 2020-21.  The table below provides an example of how the text might subtly change from this current year’s Operational Plan to next year’s:

So now your council’s IP&R practitioner/s have the draft Operational Plan ready… it’s ready to exhibit before the elected council formally adopts it, probably at their June meeting.  And this is where the recent debate has arisen: Does the draft OP need to go to a council meeting for endorsement before the public exhibition process?

Several IP&R practitioners have been in touch with me over the last few days to get a ‘ruling’ on this.

It’s true that the IP&R Guidelines and the Local Government Act do not specify that the draft Operational Plan must be endorsed by the councillors in order for it to proceed to public exhibition. However, I think it can be inferred that the intention is that the elected council (the governing body) endorse the draft Operational Plan content before it hits the public domain.

We know that managing community expectations about what our council can deliver (and when) is important. If we publish (for public comment) a document that proposes to do a number of things that raise community expectations before those things have been agreed by the body which has the final say and controls the budget, we may well expose the council to criticism when we fail to follow through.

Chapter 3 of the Local Government Act discusses the principles for local government and describes a range of things that “councils” should and must do. This use of the term “council” is clearly intended to include both the governing body (the councillors) and the administrative arm (the staff).  So, when the Act says that “Councils’ spending should be responsible and sustainable, aligning with general revenue and expenses”, it obviously means that the staff should draft budgets and the councillors approve (or not) these budgets taking their legislative responsibility for sound financial management into account.

The Operational Plan and annual Budget and Revenue Policy are all tied up together

• what do we want to do?
• where will we get the money from?
• how will we allocate available funds to enable us to do those things?

The governing body (the councillors) have an inherent responsibility to ensure that the proposed Operational Plan actions and associated budget are in line with their financial management responsibilities.

Ideally, then, the draft Operational Plan, and the Budget and Revenue Policy that resource its delivery, would be the subject of a councillor workshop ahead of a council meeting where the councillor-approved drafts would be endorsed for public exhibition. In my view, it is not acceptable that the governing body first sees the draft documents at the same time that the general public does.

Similarly, when the public exhibition period concludes and the submissions are collated, there should be another opportunity for the governing body to consider the feedback provided and agree adjustments to the Operational Plan and/or the Budget and Revenue Policy before the final version is tabled for the councillors’ adoption.

After all, the Operational Plan is the annual mechanism for achieving the commitments made in the Delivery Program – the commitments the governing body made to the community about what it would achieve during its term in office.

I’m interested to hear what the process is in your council… please feel free to leave a comment and join the conversation.