MidCoast Council's new administration and customer service centre, Yalawanyi Ganya, has officially opened to the public today, January 7, some three years after the project was first envisaged.
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Centralising around 350 employees from multiple offices at Forster and Taree, the new building at 2 Biripi Way, Taree promises to bring benefits to both the staff and community, according to general manager Adrian Panuccio.
"Bringing our staff together to work side by side will bring about gradual and continuous improvements to the way we are able to provide services to our community," Mr Panuccio said.
"Bringing four organisations and systems together is something that takes time, and this, along with the implementation of a new enterprise business system for the organisation, are major milestones and support our ability to improve processes, which will deliver an end benefit for the community."
Council purchased the former Masters site for $7 million in December 2017, and after looking at various ways to move forward as a newly-merged organisation, decided to establish a new administration and customer service centre there.
"We undertook a cost benefit analysis on the options of continuing to operate in three separate sites, consolidating into a single office, or reconfiguring our business to operate as a campus model (bringing teams together within the three different sites)," Mr Panuccio said.
"When we looked at the ongoing cost of running and maintaining three buildings - two of which are older buildings with higher running and maintenance costs - against operating a single site, we found it was effective to consolidate."
Council employed a 'gateway approval process' for the project, which involved a series of 'health checks' to satisfy stakeholders that projects were ready for the next stage and to give councillors the necessary control to ensure projects could be governed through a series of decision points.
This process eventually led to Port Macquarie-based construction company AW Edwards being awarded the contract to refit the building in early 2020, with construction beginning in May.
The project was completed in mid-December for a total construction and fit-out cost of $18.646 million.
The new building features a large public area which includes customer service points, a public cafe and the council chamber, as well as a flexible office area and various meeting and collaboration spaces for staff.
Sustainable design has also been incorporated into the building, with solar panels, rainwater reuse, water and energy efficient appliances, and LED and active control lighting all used.
"The customer service centre in Yalawanyi Ganya will provide a modern concierge model customer experience, and this is supported by our continued development of online services so our community can do more and more business with us online, wherever they are," Mr Panucchio said.
The project hasn't been without opposition, however, with Myall Lakes MP Stephen Bromhead expressing his disapproval of the move at various points and the No MidCoast Council Move to Masters group delivering a 10,000-signature petition to the State Legislative Assembly in June 2019 calling for a moratorium and parliamentary inquiry into all aspects of the project.
Following this, the Office for Local Government reviewed all information provided on the project and found that MidCoast Council had not breached any of its statutory obligations in deciding to proceed with the move.
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Mr Panuccio believes Yalawanyi Ganya will ultimately bring a range of benefits to the Mid Coast community without inconveniencing residents who don't live in or near Taree.
"We continue to operate customer service points at Forster, Gloucester, Stroud and Tea Gardens which allow the community to undertake transactions with us within their own communities," he said.
Forster residents can continue to do business with MidCoast Council at the Breese Parade building.
The Forster Customer Service Centre is open from 8.30am-4.30pm and customers can undertake all the usual transactions, including registering pets, paying rates, reporting issues, lodging forms, buying beach permits and undertaking general inquiries.
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