Late Items Agenda of Ordinary Council Meeting

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda 30 January 2024

1 Reports

1.1 Information Update - IT, Records & Information Management, Community Development, Information & Engagement

Author: Chris Clarke, General Manager, Information, Engagement and Community Development

Authoriser: Angela Oosthuizen, Chief Executive

Attachments: Nil

Staff Recommendations

That the information be noted.

Community Development

Framework Development

A draft framework for the community development function has been developed. It is currently scheduled for review by the Executive Leadership Team on 30^th January and will be presented to council once Exec feedback has been received and incorporated.

The framework details how we will engage with the community, proposed work streams, how we set priorities, and how we feed information back to elected members and the Leadership Team. Supporting resources and processes are currently under development and will be finalised once the framework has been approved.

Once this has been presented to council we will conduct targeted engagement with key stakeholders to present the framework.

Mayors Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ)

Planning is underway for our six-monthly accountability meeting with the funding providers. We are currently on target to meet our KPI’s for the year.

The funding we receive as part of the MTFJ programme is targeted towards supporting youth who are classified as ‘not in education employment or training’ (NEET), or at risk of becoming NEET, into sustained employment. Our KPI for the period ending June 2024 is 14 outcomes.

Employment Outcome means when, as a result of a Council action or initiative under the Programme, a person is placed into employment as below:

· Permanent, full-time (30 hours+ a week) paid work, or;

· Permanent, part-time (a minimum of 15 hours a week) paid work where a person holds, and Council has a record of, a medical certificate that excludes a person from full-time work, or;

· Permanent, part-time (a minimum of 20 hours a week) paid work where a person is a single parent or caregiver, of one or more dependent children under 14, is not in a relationship and does not have adequate financial support.

We have currently 3 confirmed outcomes and 8 placements.

For youth who are NEET or at risk of becoming NEET, driver licensing is a common barrier. Key factors contributing to this are; lack of confidence, cost and ability to access the professional services to gain a license. Investigations are underway and initial conversations are being held with potential partners to initialise a driver licensing programme in the district.

Environmental Scan

Planning is underway for an environmental scan of the Mackenzie District. The scan will provide the following outcomes;

· Identify baseline measures for the community development function;

· Identify community needs, aspirations, and quick wins using a community development lens;

· Facilitate relationship building.

Relationship Building

This is a key function of the community development team and has been happening on an ad-hoc basis as opportunities present themselves. An engagement plan has been developed to facilitate more robust relationship building and will be implemented once the community development framework has been approved.

Funding workstream

A shortlist of funding database providers has been compiled awaiting LTP budget approvals. The shortlisted providers offer well maintained and regularly updated databases, access to council and a number of community groups, and identify both opportunities for community groups to apply for funding as well as councils.

Council initiated projects

These are projects that council/councillors have asked the Community Development Team to initiate, and community led projects that the Community Development Team have been asked to assist or support.

Twizel Community Hub, Library, and Sports Fields

In mid-2023 a workshop was held with current and potential stakeholders to discuss their needs and preferences for a both a community hub and a suitable site for development of sports field in Twizel. The preferred option for a sports site was the preferred use of the sports fields on school grounds. Conversations with the Twizel Area School have indicated that due to operational needs, that the school require the land they own, and therefore it isn’t a viable option for the development of council facilities. The second preferred location is land adjacent to Man Made Hill. The preferred option for a library/community hub is adjacent to the existing Events Centre.

The next step it to invite feedback from the wider Twizel community on the proposed locations, and engagement plan has been prepared. This engagement was scheduled for February however we are proposing to delay until Councillors have made some decisions around the Long Term Plan budgets in order to be in a position to manage community expectations around scope and delivery timeframes.

Concurrently with the engagement process, working parties of local stakeholders will be established to further refine scope, fundraising requirements, and delivery mechanisms. These projects are currently council led, however may become community-led projects.

Community-Led projects

Tekapō Squash Courts and Multi Sport Venue Project

Council approved a grant of $30,000 to the Lake Tekapō Community Sports and Recreation Trust to conduct feasibility work. Staff have made themselves available to the trust to support progress and will continue to work with the trust. The Trust are currently focussed on progressing the feasibility work. At the time of writing, the Trust have not scheduled a meeting for 2024, however they are aware that Council is hopeful of having some more details around their proposal and the results of their initial due diligence by March of this year. The trust has indicated they will likely approach council for further funding for the delivery of the project.

Fairlie Retirement Project

Council approved a grant of $30,000 to the Fairlie retirement project, conditional on the work undertaken includes ‘comment on how stormwater could be managed coming onto site, onsite, and where it goes off site; requirements to achieve adequate bearing capacities for roads, drainage structures and buildings in the ground conditions; dewatering site for heavy construction actvities; and provide estimated costs to achieve this’.

Following the public meeting held in Fairlie, the CEO wrote to the Trust to clarify the funds that are being requested from Council. Their response (on 21^st June 2024) confirmed their intention to request $30,000 (which Council subsequently granted) to complete the next step of site investigation. No details were provided regarding how the Trust intend to progress.

All the supporting information provided to council by the Trust was provided to Councillors with the council report requesting the aforementioned grant. Other than the emails mentioned below, council has received no further information from the Trust.

The Trust emailed the CEO on 24^th July to confirm that they have been granted an extension to the sale and purchase agreement on the School Road property, and were intending to be in contact with their contractors on that same day to proceed with the next phase of the site investigation work.

No further correspondence has been received by council, and no request for additional funding has been received by council at this stage.

We await the Trust’s completion of the site investigation work and an indication of what support Council might be able to provide.

IT, Records & Information Management

There are no BAU matters to report. There have been no significant service outages since the last report. Projects in this functional area are listed below, with a brief explanation (in brackets) of why they are being undertaken. All projects for this financial year are on target to be completed on time, and within the budgeted amounts.

LGOIMA Requests

We have received and processed 68 requests for information this year.

Completed:

· Large piece of work – Laserfiche Security Groups review and creation (records security, privacy requirements, appropriate access to information).

· New Laserfiche login methodology completed (records security, enables future developments including process automation and e-signatures).

· Review, documentation, and re-working of LIM process ready for Executive Team review.

· Access system for Fairlie office successfully installed and operational (increases security & removes risk, function enhancements).

· Migration to Spark for Mobile phones (cost savings, function enhancements).

· Initial trial of IOT devices (potential cost savings, enabling future data collection and/or payment processing in rural locations).

· Creation of “Fly pack” for council meetings (meeting recording & live streaming)

· Info-council cloud software replacement tech set-up completed and training underway (cost savings, improved performance, efficiency).

· Infringement’s module implemented and rolled out (e-ticketing, infringement details captured and automatically escalated to courts in the event of non-payment, integration with finance systems).

· Trailer safety training and follow-up H&S form created.

· Pools networks infrastructure upgraded to MDC standardized system (performance improvement, cost savings, security (enables CCTV), customer benefit – free wifi).

In Progress:

· Initial Process automation for leave forms is ready for adoption. More automations to follow (efficiency, cost savings).

· Back-scanning of old records nearing completion of backlog (compliance, cost reduction, efficiency).

· File room organization and rollout of retention and disposal policy underway (compliance, cost reduction, efficiency).

· Cyber Security – working through action points from review – large piece of work (risk reduction).

· Work on live streaming for council meetings – have devices, currently testing and proving (compliance, transparency, community engagement).

· Access system rollout Twizel office (increases security & removes risk, function enhancements).

· Evaluation of Go-Get cloud software replacement (current system no longer supported and approaching end of life, integration with Magiq, efficiency, function enhancements).

· Docs on Tap (part of info-council replacement) to be completed (risk reduction, efficiency, increased functionality, community engagement).

· Citizen portal data connectivity systems being developed (improved customer service, efficiency, cost saving).

Upcoming this financial year:

· Privacy breach policy (compliance, risk reduction).

· Prioritizing sorting of paper files and removal from garages (compliance, risk reduction, efficiency, cost savings).

· LGOIMA process review (efficiency, cost savings, transparency).

· LIM Process finalized (compliance, efficiency).

· Continue Cyber security action plan finalised (risk reduction).

· Scope internal phone system replacement (cost savings).

· Citizen portal – Service Request system to be worked through with Customer Services (improved customer service, efficiency, cost saving).

Communications & Engagement

Current activity this year has been focused on water and fire risk issues to raise awareness and dispel some myths circulating in the community. Focus will be moving to the Long Term Plan - both process and the emerging challenges. The Team continue to share information on key projects and achievements through the newsletters and our other communications channels.

Key Projects

Work is progressing well on the customer portal which will enable customers to create their own MDC account and opt to receive information via email. Phase I of this project also includes a new internal system for managing service requests which will deliver an improved customer experience. Benefits include:

· Customers can raise a service request from their phone or laptop, including adding a photo and location of the problem, if relevant.

· Automated confirmation of receipt to customer when an issue is raised, including a trackable ticket number.

· Customers can see progress within their account.

· Automated updates to the customer as their request is processed.

· Customer services alerted if progress is delayed so they can pro-actively contact the customer to explain and apologise.

· Improved reporting internally to identify areas where we are failing to deliver.

We are on target to have the build completed on time and on budget in Q1, with configuration and staff training in Q2 2024.

Key Messages

Water - communications with the Twizel community about:

· Ring main project

· Smart meter project

· Water restrictions

· The mechanics & consent restrictions relating to the water supply in Twizel

Water restrictions in Fairlie

Multiple channels involved – social media, Twizel Update, Fairlie Accessible, Courier, Council website, brochure/hand out.

Fire - supporting FENZ with wildfire messaging especially for Tekapo and Twizel

Supporting FENZ with set up of temporary incident management centre in Twizel during time of heightened/extreme wildfire risk

Communicating wilding pine messaging along with keep your house safe, especially in Tekapo and Twizel

Other

· Freedom camping signage. This fairly large district-wide project is in the planning stage, as we work through the implications of the new bylaw.

· Website and intranet integration work for DocAssembler (meeting agenda & minutes software).

· News & Information every fortnight (published in the courier, available in Council offices and emailed to a mailing list of community organisations).

· Mackenzie Messenger in production to accompany next rates invoices – focus on LTP process and emerging issues.