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After more than three decades working with Gannawarra Shire Council, CEO Geoff Rollinson has witnessed the organization’s evolution firsthand – and, as a result, is heavily invested in its future success.
“It’s been quite a journey,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “When I took on the lead role at council permanently in 2023, after acting as CEO on and off for the past 10 years, I saw the opportunity to better engage with the community.”
Rollinson explains that within councils there can often be a disconnect between councillors, staff and residents, which can drastically inhibit progress as well as cause unnecessary friction.
“It’s really important to improve those relationships so that we are all actually working in the same direction,” he enthuses.
“Someone once said to me that the three Rs within a council aren’t ‘roads, rates and rubbish’, they’re actually ‘respect, response and reassurance.’”
Ensuring a culture that prioritizes accountability, collaboration and transparency has resulted in an environment where employees feel empowered to make decisions independently.
“Someone once said to me that the three Rs within a council aren’t ‘roads, rates and rubbish’, they’re actually ‘respect, response and reassurance’, and I try to model that with my staff – that I respect them, and expect respect in return,” Rollinson says.
“It is very important that we build trust within the team. So to do that, we have regular catch-ups, and being a small rural council, we are very relationship-based with the way we do a lot of our day-to-day business. We’re all in the one office, so our managers are very accessible.”
Rollinson adds that by allowing employees to take ownership of projects, they better understand the purpose of their role more holistically.
“It’s about allowing them to actually make mistakes, and the freedom to understand where they fit into the council and the community,” he explains.
“That way, they will come to me with solutions and innovation and other ways of doing things. If they don’t feel that they’re hamstrung in any way, they see themselves as part of the team, not just as an employee.”
Innovation and collaboration are also pivotal to the success of any council, which is why, as Rollinson points out, Gannawarra is always looking forward to what the future might look like for its community.
“It’s about not only internally collaborating between our departments, with staff working across a number of areas and supporting other divisions or directorates on a range of matters,” he says.
“It’s also about external collaboration, working closely with neighboring councils on matters that affect all of us.”
By tackling issues with a technique that sees Gannawarra staff providing funding bodies and state or federal governments with a problem as well as a solution and the benefit, the council has established a reputation of being solutions-focused.
“If they don’t feel that they’re hamstrung in any way, they see themselves as part of the team, not just as an employee.”
With such an emphasis on building strong relationships, both internally and externally, it’s hardly surprising that the same mentality extends to its dealings with suppliers.
By partnering with high-quality local contractors in a range of fields, from construction and waste, to more unique businesses such as ESP – a total service grant writing and project management company – Gannawarra is able to utilize and draw on specialized knowledge and experience within the region.
“There are some suppliers who we wouldn’t be able to do without,” Rollinson reveals. “They’re the ones that have the track record of being very supportive in the past. You can trust them, and they’re true to their word. That honesty is what separates them from the others.
“They also offer perhaps a better way of doing things – an innovative solution rather than just doing whatever you’ve told them to, without questioning it.”
Sustainability continues to be a major focus for the council, with renewed attention given to innovative agriculture.
“A lot of the innovation we’re doing is around microgrids for renewable energy,” Rollinson explains.
“We’ve made the decision that through the Murray-Darling Basin Authority we will purchase more water from the irrigation area. We’re having to work closely with our community, particularly around sustainable agriculture, and encourage local farmers to move away from traditional agricultural practices and employ innovative ways of operating instead.”
Rollinson also adds that there is substantial potential to build wind and solar farms across the region.
“We are agriculturally dominant in this area, and we do have access to water and have large buffer distances,” he says.
“So there are a lot of opportunities there for what’s known as payment in lieu of rates. That way agriculture and renewable energy can really work together. We need to make our communities livable at the same time as supporting sustainable growth.”
“We need to make our communities livable at the same time as supporting sustainable growth.”
In addition, Gannawarra Shire Council is concentrating on promoting and boosting nature-based tourism in the area, according to Rollinson.
“We believe we’ve got a great environment here,” he enthuses. “We’ve got Australia’s largest inland island, Gunbower Island, which runs along the Murray River, and is home to an impressive range of wildlife and flora. It’s a perfect spot for camping and appreciation of the natural environment.”
While Rollinson admits that being part of a small organization may have its constraints – such as limited funding – he ultimately believes its size is what enables Gannawarra to be nimble, adaptable and avoid overly bureaucratic attitudes.
“Not only are we work colleagues, but we’re also a bit more than that,” he says with a smile. “It’s almost like a family – it’s that feeling that has kept me here for over 30 years.”
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