Weekly column from Council Courier e-newsletter by CEO Greg Hallam, Friday 8 March 2016.
This week the LGAQ kicked off its 2016 post-election Elected Member Update (EMU) program with the first event being held in Cairns yesterday and today.
It’s one of 50-plus sessions that eight LGAQ teams of two staff will hold over the next three months across the length and breadth of Queensland.
We are on track to help induct around 90 per cent of all new mayors and councillors.
But wait there's more – every elected member will get a personalised LGAQ compendium mailed to them over the next few weeks. The kits are valuable resources and include a great deal of useful and practical material, particularly the Councillor and Mayoral Handbooks in electronic form.
These handbooks are unique to the LGAQ – no other body in Australia produces them.
Then there are the special sessions we are putting on with Queensland Treasury Corporation and King & Co to help mayors present their first budget.
These intensive two-hour workshops will be held in Brisbane (28 April) and Cairns (3 May) to help new and returning mayors improve their financial leadership.
We are not finished yet – over the next week to 10 days, the LGAQ will be announcing its Mayoral Mentors whose sole mission is to help the 41 new mayors across Queensland. That’s done privately and confidentially.
Finally the LGAQ will bring councils together for the now time-honoured, two-day, closed-door biennial Civic Leaders Summit for mayors, deputy mayors and CEOs at Royal Pines in mid-July. That again is unique to the LGAQ and a wonderful opportunity for peer-to-peer learning.
So there you have it – assistance for newbies coming out of your ears. We are here to help.