Work for Victoria initiative helps Hepburn community
Published on 12 February 2021
The State Government's Work for Victoria (WFV) initiative has helped Hepburn Shire Council deliver a range of projects and services for the community while keeping people employed through the pandemic.
Hepburn Shire Council Acting CEO Bradley Thomas said the initiative has seen 35 people take contracts with Council across a range of occupations.
"We have been able to bring some excellent people into the organisation to support us to help the community," said Mr Thomas.
"Whether it was with the works team on roads and footpath jobs or in a corporate services role contributing to a project or service, the community certainly has been the big winner. And we have been able to help these people with employment and experience at a time when jobs are extremely difficult to come by."
Mr Thomas said Working for Victoria resourcing allowed, for example, the Economic Development team to target specific initiatives to support our business community directly during COVID-19.
"The 'Go Local First' campaign utilised the experience of our Working for Victoria Communications Officer and Investment Specialist to bring this successful campaign to life for the Shire.
"Without their input, Council would not have had capacity to deliver this important COVID recovery project for our business community."
Mr Thomas said the WFV initiative also allowed the internal corporate service department to progress key projects that would otherwise not have been possible.
"This has allowed us to undertake a stocktake of Council's procurement policies, guidelines, framework, contracts, gaps and areas for improvement and move forward faster.
"Having a procurement specialist come on board while COVID-19 was at its peak in 2020 gave council more resources to continue the work in this space when many other COVID-19 projects and priorities were requiring resources.
Mr Thomas said the community care team also had the opportunity to add a Disability Community Development Officer and an Administration Support Officer.
"These roles allowed us to run events as part of the International Day of People with Disability and the 16 Days of Activism which are important. We were also able to create training packages, work with the community on projects, undertake essential administrative tasks to do with audit requirements and a lot more.
"The $1.6million we received from the State Government to fund these positions have made a real impact on the organisation, and the community."
Mr Thomas said six people who came into the organisation via the scheme have become ongoing employees, and the scheme has provided an opportunity for people to gain insight into the workings of Local Government and Hepburn Shire Council and help make a positive impact on our communities.