According to the Local Government Workforce and Future Skills Report councils are feeling the impacts of changing economic structures, globalisation and an aging population earlier than most other workplaces in Australia. Local governments have a considerably older workforce than other industries which means skill losses due to retiring staff; and 69% of local governments are experiencing skill shortages—particular in the areas of Engineering, Urban and Town Planning, Building Surveyors and Project Managers. Regional and remote councils particularly struggle to attract qualified staff due to their isolation.
These issues, along with the difficulty of training up new staff in regional areas due to the scarcity of local trainers and the expense of sending staff away for training, means that many organisations turn to secondment arrangements and consultants to fill the gaps.
GenEng Solutions has supplied several skilled professionals under secondment arrangements to local governments, including:
Central Highlands Regional Council (CHRC): Provision of Asset Accountants and an Asset Engineer.
Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC): Provision of Acting Manager of Infrastructure Planning.
Somerset Regional Council (SRC): Provision of a Technical Officer to deliver assistance to Council for various activities including, RMPC inspections; report submissions to TMR; the management of various maintenance activities; and preparation of management plans for council capital works projects. We also provided an Asset Engineer for a time.
South Burnett Regional Council (SBRC): Provision of Acting General Manager of Infrastructure.
Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC): Provision of RPEQ Engineers to provide assistance in the delivery of their capital works program. This included supervision of junior Council staff and other consultants; coordination of feasibility studies and detailed design for stormwater, footpaths, roads, culverts and bridge designs; and providing RPEQ Certification for projects. Our Engineers have been involved in projects such as the Applethrope Pipeline Construction; Storm King Pipeline Replacement; and Warwick Water Treatment Plant.
Western Downs Regional Council (WDRC): Provision of Project Engineers and Program Managers overseeing works to the value of $140M, and a Development Engineer who acted as the Council’s liaison officer for community consultation undertaken for Flood Studies of the six major township within the Western Downs area.
As a high proportion of GenEng’s Engineers are RPEQ certified and have both past and current experience working in Local Government, we are well placed to provide the assistance that councils need via secondment agreements.