This week marks a monumental milestone for the Local Government Association of Queensland with the launch on Tuesday of Congruent, our new member platform to replace LG Online.
It is appropriate the launch has taken place in the Association’s 125th year. Indeed, it is 25 years since the forerunner to Congruent, LGAQnet, was first turned on.
I remember well the first email messages that went out to Diamantina Shire and their Bedourie offices. It used to take a week to send a big bundle of mail out there, and a week to get it mailed back, but here we go, we had our first decent online system with LGAQnet.
We then made a big jump into what was called lotus notes and relational databases 20 years ago. Now, with Congruent we are using leading technology.
We have spent a lot of time working with councils in the lead up to the launch to make sure the new platform truly is user friendly.
And can I tell you folks, your experience will be second to none.
It is customised and personalised so you will get to choose what you want to see. It is also a much simpler process to navigate, with a lot less clicks.
You will have access to pages collated by our subject matter experts while all of our tools are there as well, only updated and re-provided so you can now use those in a much more sustainable way.
This launch has been a long time coming, but it is absolutely fantastic and I am very proud that it has happened while I am still here because it was an important part of what the LGAQ President, Policy Executive and Board have wanted, that personal one-to-one relationship with all of the people we work with, our members.
Please make sure you jump on, spend some time, have a play and just see what a great tool it is and how it can benefit you and your council.
My thanks to our chief digital officer Tracy Whitelaw and her team for their brilliant work in making Congruent a reality.
On the road
This week I had the privilege of spending a couple more days out in the car, driving to meet members. I had a chance to go out to the Scenic Rim Regional Council on Wednesday, and yesterday I was in the lovely Toowoomba. So that has been a great thing, two weeks in a row to be able to get out and talk to members.
At the same time, our staff are fanning out across the state to deliver this year’s Elected Member Update (EMU). EMU is being delivered for free again this year. We hope you find the program helpful and engaging.
Our biggest ever Bush Councils Convention is just days away
Finally, I want to give a big plug for the Bush Councils Convention.
It is on next week in Barcaldine. It will be huge, the largest Bush Councils event we have ever run. The town is completely booked out. Our tent city is full. There will be 150 people there over three days from 27 councils.
We have some great speakers sharing insights on a range of topics as well as lots of council presentations. And, of course, some good old fashioned bush fun.