As we approach the heart of winter and the close of another financial year, we find ourselves standing at the edge of a new chapter, full of opportunity, growth and impact. There is much to look forward to in the weeks ahead, as the vision we've shaped together begins to come to life.
Our new Council Plan is on the horizon, ready to be brought to life following Council’s consideration and adoption on 23 June. Alongside it, key strategic document, our Long-Term Asset Plan, Annual Plan, Long-Term Financial Plan and next year’s budget are also set for Council endorsement.
None of this would be possible without the dedication, insight and care each of you brings to your work every day. Thank you for the passion that continues to drive us forward.
Policy Review
A policy review is currently underway in line with the new Integrated Planning Framework. A large number of Council policies are out of date and some are no longer required. Over the next few months there will be many policies updated and these will be included in The Source Weekly News for staff to read. Governance is also working on developing new guidelines and templates for policies to assist staff which will be shared shortly. We will also be implementing a new module in Reliansys to track policies and ensure they remain current. More updates will be shared in the coming weeks.
Revitalising Workplace Health and Safety: Prevention and Protection
At Great Dandenong City Council, we prioritise the wellbeing of our employees and visitors. With a growing awareness of the importance of workplace health and safety, we're taking proactive steps to revitalise our safety protocols.
On Wednesday 28 May 2025, our Executive Team had the opportunity to hear from our newly appointed Manager, Occupational Health and Safety, Beth McIntosh. Beth shared her observations from her first four weeks with Council providing valuable insights into our current safety culture, trends and statistics.
This is an exciting time for Council, and we're committed to continuous improvement. Stay tuned for updates on our journey to enhance workplace health and safety.
Merit Reporting
After several months of intensive work, we’re now publishing data on some of our high-volume Merit types. We’re publishing data about these service requests, how many we receive, action, how long it takes and how we’re doing against the service standard.
View the Customer Request Dashboard here.
This is great transparency for our customers and Councillors. Behind the webpage is a great dashboard that will be explained and demonstrated soon with our colleagues around Council. It should prove incredibly helpful in monitoring workflows, spikes and help plan resourcing. As part of this piece of work, we’re now also sending automated emails to customers so they know when we’ve actioned their matter, and in some cases they also receive specific officer comments. This is a big step forward, as previously we didn’t close the loop in many instances.
This work saw intense collaboration between Customer Experience, Communications, IT, Waste, Infrastructure and several Compliance teams. They had to trouble shoot, problem solve and show agility and adaptability as the project threw up unexpected problems. It was a fabulous team effort, and work will continue to expend the number of services we can report on.
CX and Efficiency – A win-win on hard waste bookings
Through a customer-journey mapping process last year with the waste team, we identified a duplication of process.
In collaboration with our external contractor, the Waste and Customer Experience teams worked to refine the process for phone bookings for hard waste collections. As a consequence, we’re saving approximately four weeks of staff time per year, and collectively, our customers are saved twice as much! They’re also having a better, quicker experience by not getting bounced from the person who answers to the person that ultimately makes the booking. CX isn’t all about tech; sometimes they’re simple wins just by looking at something with fresh eyes.
Marjan Hajjari, Executive Manager Strategic Growth and Advocacy