Annual Report - City of Bayswater

Chief ExecutiveOfficer’s ReportOver the 2009-10 financial year the City took forward anumber of significant projects to plan for the future, providenew community facilities and ensure that the City is wellplaced to meet the challenges posed by a rapidly changingoperating environment.During 2009-10, the City endorsedthe Maylands Activity Centre UrbanDesign Framework. This will guidehow the Maylands town centredevelops into the future to createa high quality urban environmentwith increased housing choicesand a mix of retail and commercialuses. Work also began to prepare amaster plan for Morley City Centre.The master plan will promote theCity centre as a place for peoplein which to live, work, shop andsocialise. In addition, the Cityworked closely with the StateGovernment and the Town ofBassendean to produce the AshfieldStation Precinct Plan that will guidethe future redevelopment of thatarea, which includes the strategicallyimportant CSBP site.During the year the City developeda number of strategies to helpprotect the environment andmitigate the likely impact of climatechange. These include a ClimateChange Adaption Strategy andBiodiversity Strategy. In addition,the City participated in the FederalGovernment’s Solar Cities initiativeand has been working with theEastern Metropolitan RegionalCouncil on development of aRegional Resource Recovery Facility.In response to an increasinglychallenging operating environment,the City took steps during thefinancial year to strengthen theorganisation. These challengesincluded a push by the StateGovernment for structural reformof local government throughoutWestern Australia and the impactof the global financial crisis.As part of that response, workbegan on developing the City’sstrategic plan that sets out goalsand objectives in key areas –community, built and naturalenvironments, local economy,plus leadership and governance– for the next five years. Regularworkshops for elected memberswere also introduced to providean opportunity for Councillors toreceive briefings and discuss arange of topics, as well as considerthe implications of emergingissues. A number of initiatives werealso taken forward to develop ourpeople, so that they are betterplaced to rise to the challenge ofmeeting the skills needs of theorganisation during a period ofrapid change.During 2009-10, greater emphasiswas placed on the City’s advocacyprogram, which included holdingmeetings with a number of Stateand Federal Ministers in support ofCity initiatives. We also hosted a visitby Premier Colin Barnett to brief himon our plans for the redevelopmentof the Mertome Retirement Village,expansion of the City of BayswaterHostel, the need for increasedState funding to tackle foreshoreerosion and also to meet the costof investigating former landfill sitesalong the Swan River foreshore.The 2009-10 financial year was abusy and rewarding time for the Cityand I would like to thank the Mayorand his fellow Councillors for theirsupport. I must also pay tribute tothe work of my Directors and to all ofthe City’s staff for their commitment,and also to the community forworking with us to deliver anothersuccessful year.Francesca LefanteChief Executive Officer4 city of bayswater annual report 2009-10