Community and Client Services · The 2014/2015 RADF data reports have been sent to Arts Queensland. In the 2014/2015 RADF year 43 applications have been supported to a total value

Community and Client Services 15 June - 12 July 2015

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Community and Client Services Monthly Review

15 June - 12 July 2015

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Review of Operations

Community Lifestyle 4 Mackay Convention and Entertainment Centre and Events 17 Corporate Communications and Marketing 22 Community Engagement 27 Northern Australia Services 29

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Executive Summary Acting Director Community and Client Services

Department staff across all programs have been dedicating considerable time to developing, preparing and delivering a wide range of activities and events for the regional community.

This ongoing effort by staff to deliver services and programs for all age groups within our community plays a large part in making the Mackay area a very enjoyable and active place to live.

Highlights

• Mackay NAIDOC Week was celebrated on 4-11 July 2015. This year’s theme was “We All Stand on Sacred Ground: Learn, Respect, Celebrate”. Indigenous Officer promoted NAIDOC and encouraged Council employees to participate in NAIDOC events.

• Overwhelming numbers for the 2-day drop-in school holiday workshops held in the

Retravision building, Wood Street on 8-9 July. Total of 174 participants made rainbow lorikeets (Look UP), lanterns (UP River) and penned love letters to Mackay (Dear Mackay project, Look UP).

• 170 expressions of interest have been received for the Get Out, Get Active program. The

program will deliver initiatives that ensure women and girls can participate in sport and active recreation in the Calen, Northern Beaches, Ooralea, Pioneer Valley and Sarina areas of the Mackay region. This project will commence with a 5-week block at the beginning of August.

• The Sarina Youth Centre Term 2 School Holiday Program was completed and successfully delivered as the young people accessing the service enjoyed the activities that they participated in. Activities included cooking treats, handball competition, crafty creations, indoor and outdoor games/competitions, Mexican dress-up day fiesta and much more. These activities attracted and engaged approximately 100 young people.

Tony de Brincat Acting Director Community and Client Services

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Community Lifestyle

Community Programs

The Community Programs Team has responded to a combined total of 808 community enquiries (including phone calls, emails, personal interaction, social media, etc.) during this reporting period.

Community Development

40 people attended the Social Inclusion – Building Inclusive Communities Workshop targeting the Human Services Sector. The workshop was held on Friday 3 July, 9.30am-12.30pm and highlighted the specific characteristics of community inclusion and community exclusion. Participants were introduced to two inclusion tools called NICAN Card and Workbook. Community Development, in partnership with local agencies, is in the process of organising the annual Mackay Sleepout. This is a local public fundraiser event where people from the broader community sleep rough for one night in order to raise awareness of homelessness in Mackay. Mackay Sleepout 2015 will be held on Wednesday 5 August at the Blue Water Quay. Community Development is engaged in a Domestic Violence working group formed from the Mackay Safe & Healthy Community Network (MSHCN). The working group is focusing on how MSHCN can support and enhance awareness raising and prevention activities in Mackay. The working group is currently looking into a project to have company vehicles decaled with awareness stickers or skins. Community Development has commenced research into how Mackay Regional Council can enhance the role, recruitment, development and support of its volunteers. This has included researching both Queensland and interstate Council policies and procedures. Links have been made with Toowoomba Regional Council, Moreton Bay Regional Council and LGAQ to discuss their processes and gather resources as well as linking with Governance internally. Emergency Relief food vouchers are available on Mondays at the Sarina Neighbourhood Centre. Food voucher enquiries totalled 25 with 11 being allocated. Number of requests has increased since Miller House in Sarina and George Street Neighbourhood Centre lost their Federal Government funding for emergency relief. Sarina Neighbourhood Centre funding for Emergency Relief is provided by the Queensland State Government. Sarina Neighbourhood Centre Officer is engaged with the Mackay Family Support Alliance (MFSA), a network made up of local, state and federal government agencies and community-based family support services, who work together to assist families to care for their children and young people in their own homes and local communities. The MFSA developed a checklist to enable universal services, community groups and businesses in Mackay and Sarina, to identify and respond early to children or families who begin to display wellbeing vulnerabilities. The checklist has so far been distributed to all Mackay Regional Council libraries, and all community-based childcare and family day-care services in Mackay, Sarina and the Pioneer Valley. The next phase of rolling out the checklist will involve bulk-billing general practitioners, and the MFSA is also looking at opportunities to publish the resource online so that it can be adapted to suit other local communities across Queensland.

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Youth Development

Youth Development team members are organising a strategic planning day for the Mackay Youth Connection Network (MYC). The strategic planning day will create an opportunity for the network to focus on service mapping and gap analysis review. Funding of $5000 from the Mackay and District Education Centre (MADEC) is allowing the Youth Development team to facilitate the delivery of a regional youth event “Chillax”. This event aims to provide a relaxing day for young people, to listen to music, obtain information on/from youth services, do Tai Chi or learn other relaxation methods and just have fun with friends. “Chillax” will be held during the second half of September and will include a significant Stand for the Silent anti-bullying component. Ongoing support, counselling, information, referral and mentoring is provided to young people in need in the Pioneer Valley - including young individuals "at risk" as per the State Government funded role of Youth at Risk Initiatives. Approximately 21 young people are receiving individual support for a wide range of issues including coping with abuse, mental health, job hunting, coping at school, relationship/family matters, anti-bullying, social isolation and grief. Arts Development

The 2014/2015 RADF data reports have been sent to Arts Queensland. In the 2014/2015 RADF year 43 applications have been supported to a total value of $177,582. Currently awaiting notification from Arts Queensland regarding the 2015/2016 RADF Program Proposal. Creative Mackay e-bulletin distributed to over 900 subscribers, with over 1500 Art Is In calendars printed and distributed. Community consultations for the Mackay City Centre Public Art Stage 3 – Community Art Project have been completed. Hands-on printmaking workshops have commenced at venues including Eungella, Mackay City Centre, Bloomsbury, Sarina, Australian South Sea Islander Hut and Mirani State High School.

Animating Spaces Mackay UP!

After an unusually wet June, good progress has been made on the UPon the Levee Wall community mural. Artists have reached the half-way mark, with lots of interest from tourists, community/cultural groups, history buffs and local residents. Plans are well underway for the final, unveiling event to be held on Friday 28 August.

In-school lantern-making workshops have commenced and will occur throughout Term 3. Involved schools include Victoria Park State School, St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, Central State School, and Whitsunday Anglican College.

To date, 2,000 rainbow lorikeets have been made by local children and adults. Palmview Retirement Village residents alone have created over 1000 rainbow lorikeets for the Look UP art installation.

Indigenous

Indigenous Officer organised and hosted NAIDOC Flag Raising Ceremony & Community Morning Tea held on Monday 6th July. Community participation was significant with approximately 180 people in attendance. NAIDOC Art Exhibition event was held at Gordon White Library as part of the weeks activities.

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Indigenous Officer supported Mackay NAIDOC Incorporated and NAIDOC 2015 Community Family Day by attending planning meetings and providing information and support in regard to Council’s processes (e.g. Temporary Food Stall applications, Road Closure applications, Inkind Assistance requests and Community Grants). Support provided at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community meetings to discuss the emerging issue of indigenous suicide following a recent spate of tragic events in the community. Discussion on culturally appropriate ways to address this issue will continue to be provided on an ongoing basis.

Local Area Multicultural Partnership (LAMP) Program

The dedicated LAMP Officer position terminated on 30 June due to LAMP Program funding being discontinued. Support of our multicultural community will continue with Community Development Officers providing assistance through multicultural update emails, cultural diversity interagency network meetings, Migrant Voice and support for multicultural groups and events.

Community Development supported the Mackay Pacific Islander Community in hosting Pasifika 2015. The festival was held on Saturday 11 July 2015 at the Meadowlands Amphitheatre, Mackay Botanic Gardens. The festival, the first held in Mackay, showcased the many talents of our local Pacific Islander communities. During the festival the community was invited to sample the diverse range of Pacific Islander food and learn about a wide variety of cultures including arts, crafts, music and dance. Approximately 1000 people attended the event.

Community Action for a Multicultural Society (CAMS) Program

CAMS Officer is co-facilitating Global Grooves planning meeting with Festivals and Events. Applications for performances, food stalls and market stalls are all open to community online.

Community meeting arranged at the Lagoons Meeting House for Australian South Sea Islanders to participate in discussions about community art projects – UPon the Levee Wall and Meeting Place. 13 ASSI community members attended and provided feedback about how ASSI components can be incorporated into the projects.

Sister City

15 students from Matsuura accompanied by two chaperones will be in Mackay from 3-9 August 2015 for the annual student exchange. The new itinerary is being finalised for the student visit. Sister Cities Mackay has officially signed the Guiding Principles for the Management of the Youth Ambassador component of Mackay Matsuura Sister City Relationship.

Community Grants

Junior Sporting Grants – 3 applications have been received and approved.

Sport and Recreation

Mackay Regional Council has earmarked funding in its 2015/16 budget to support the development of the CQU Sports Precinct and Athletic Track. This allocation will be used to apply for matching funding from the Federal Government’s National Stronger Regions Fund.

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Museums

Pioneer Valley Museum at Mirani

• Visitor numbers: 20 (19 adults, 1 child) • Volunteers attended a Workshop on Object Cleaning conducted by Dr Melanie Piddocke,

Museum Development Officer • Volunteers have commenced restocking Storerooms 1 and 2 following the completion of the

installation of compactus shelving • A new volunteer, current CQU student, has been welcomed. He assists the group on

Wednesdays with technology issues (including data recording and input) as well as general duties.

Mackay Museum

• Visitor numbers: 26 (1 concession, 16 adults, 9 children) • Volunteers attended a Workshop on Object Cleaning conducted by Dr Melanie Piddocke,

Museum Development Officer

Sarina Historical Society and Museum Inc.

• Visitor Numbers: 100 (60 concession, 28 adults, 12 children) • 166 ½ volunteer hours • Volunteers have been busy with winter visitors and getting ready for AGM on 14 July 2015

Greenmount Homestead

• Visitor Numbers: 250 • Weddings: 1 • 2 school groups • Desktop reviews received back for Standards Review Program. Field visit is arranged for

August 2015

Inkind Assistance

Applicant Request Cost

Seaforth Progress & Sports Association

Provision of 5 general waste and 5 recycle bins, part waiver of park hire fees, 40 star pickets, 1 star picket driver and 400m barrier mesh in support of Community Fun Day and Markets.

$421.50

Red Carpet 32 Pty Ltd

Provision of 40 general waste and 40 recycle bins, waiver of event permit fees and park booking in support of Mackay Airport Beach Races. Other assistance provided through various programs to facilitate the event being held.

$708.54

Zonta Club of Mackay

Provision of waiver of park hire fee at Blue Water Quay in support of Reclaim the Night March.

$79.00

Unwheel Events Provision of 10 general waste and 10 recycle bins in support of Mackay Mountain Marathon.

$238.14

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Mackay Seniors Lifestyle Expo 2015 Steering Committee

Provision of 5 general waste bins, 5 recycle bins, mowing and cleaning of outside concrete area in support of Mackay Seniors Lifestyle Expo.

$281.50

Mackay Regional Football

Provide assistance with removal of grass cover so re-turfing can progress. Cost includes survey file manipulation to ensure accurate levels are achieved, use of grader, truck, backhoe and labour.

$1,850.00

Mackay NAIDOC Inc Provision of 25 general waste, 25 recycle bins, part waiver of Queens Park hire fees, 3rd flag pole erected in support of NAIDOC Family Day.

$648.00

Samoan performers at Pasifika 2015 Yuwibara descendant Melanie

Kemp and family raise the Aboriginal flag at NAIDOC

Flag Raising Ceremony

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Libraries

Young People’s Services

• Programs designed to encourage early literacy in children and their families had a total of 1851 in attendance compared to 1790 from 2014.

• Programs designed to encourage library membership and to promote the library as an entertaining and informative place for children and their families totalled 120 in attendance.

• Mackay Regional Council Libraries attended the Baby Welcoming Ceremony at the Botanic Gardens on Sunday, June 21st.

• Staff attended West Mackay Primary School’s Productive Partnerships program "Preps at the Library" (PAL), an annual event where library programs and services are promoted. This was the end of the program for 2015 and resulted in 100+ new prep student memberships. Preps were presented with their membership cards and information packs to take home to their parents. YPS staff delivered a Storytime and a fun information session about the library.

The Corner

• “P is for Play” at Gordon White Library attracted 889 under 8’s, 306 children aged 8 years and over and 771 adults (parents/carers) – a total of 1966 during June.

• “Land, Sea and Sky” at Mackay City Library attracted 529 under 8’s, 158 children aged 8 years and over and 509 adults (parents/carers) – a total of 1196 during June.

Young Adult Services

• 4 young adults enjoyed the Robotics Makerspaces at Walkerston • 3 young adults enjoyed Book Spines at Mackay City Library • 12 attended LitVids workshops at Gordon White Library • 8 entries were shortlisted for the LitVids 2.015 competition

Robotics MakerSpaces at Walkerston Library

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Community Outreach

• Four clients met on Thursday, June 4 for Cityside Book Club where Rebecca Mascull’s The Visitors was discussed with the author in the UK via Skype. Very exciting!

• Nine enthusiastic readers discussed The Denniston Rose by Jenny Pattrick at the meeting of Between the Lines Book Club at Gordon White Library on June 18.

• Five social sewers worked on a variety of projects at Social Sewing Saturday.

• Five people at Gordon White Library and two at Mackay City Library took the opportunity to listen to Cherie Cooper, Health Promotion Officer from NBCSP, who informed them about the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, as part of the Lifestyle Plus Talks program.

• 13 volunteers travelled 160 kilometres to deliver 1034 items to 155 Home Library Service clients.

• Four members of the Valley Page Turners met on Wednesday, June 24 to discuss the book Transatlantic.

Cultural Services

• 13 children and 16 grown-ups attended Many Cultures Story Time, held at the City Library, to learn about Counting.

Heritage Collection

• 36 researchers visited the Carmel Daveson Research Room compared to 45 in 2014. 26 Information/photograph requests were actioned, compared to 15 in 2014.

Digital Literacy

• Sophie Kesteven of ABC Tropical North dropped into the most recent MakerSpaces for Adults workshop and wrote an article about her visit: http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/06/22/4259489.htm

MakerSpaces Mackay 17+ Izzy Daly – MakerSpaces Mackay participant

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/06/22/4259489.htm

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• 15 DiscoverIT classes held at all branches with 62 attendees.

• Queensland Writers Centre http://www.qwc.asn.au/ facilitated a “Toolkit For Writers” Workshop at Gordon White Library. Emily Craven visited for the day on Sunday, June 14 and took 11 attendees through 5 ½ hours of writing exercises, gramma stretches and plot gymnastics.

Statistics

• 2377 bookings were made on the Public computers, totalling 2105 hours of use. A total of 930 hours Wi-Fi was accessed.

• Top 3 library website visits for the month of June: o WebOPAC o Library Home o Opening Hours

• Database hits including The Computer School, Who Else Writes Like, Who Next, Transparent

Language Online and Literacy Planet totalled 513.

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Top 5 Reserved Titles in June

Safe at last / Maya Banks.

St. Vincent [DVD]/

Petals on the Wind [DVD]/

The death cure/ James Dashner

Grey / E.L. James

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Artspace Mackay Overview

• June/July has been a busy month for the gallery. Two new exhibitions opened: the 2015 National Photographic Portrait Prize from the National Portrait Gallery; and local artist Jan Ward with her debut exhibition at Artspace Mackay, titled Into the Hills. There was an Introduction to Jewellery Making workshop held with renowned Australian contemporary jeweller Marian Hosking, school holiday workshops facilitated by local artist Wanda Bennett, free drop-in family art activities linked to Mackay Up!, our Animating Spaces project.

• The Rock Paper Scissors market was bigger and better than last year, with over 60 stalls curated into the market from 80 applications, free live music, more food & coffee and free activities for children. There is still a focus on quality, hand-made and LOCAL and this is at the heart of the market’s success. It’s a little bit grown-up and quirky, and offers something fun and different for the community. Artspace has received positive feedback, from stall holders and attendees alike. It is estimated that 8,000 people attended the market throughout the afternoon.

• Artspace Mackay’s annual visitor figures have exceeded the yearly target of 25,000. The annual total from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015 was 31,392. This higher figure was due mainly to the success of last year’s art market, and the phenomenal community visitation at this year’s exhibition Have You Seen the Old Mackay.

• SOCIAL MEDIA: Artspace Facebook page now has over 1,100 followers, and the page devoted to the Rock Paper Scissors market has almost 1,000 followers of its own. In an attempt to increase social media presence The Artspace Director has invited the next Mackay Instameet to meet at the gallery, so they can take photographs for distribution.

• Work is about to begin on demolishing the 10 metre long glass display cabinet in the Orientation Gallery. This cabinet has slowly been breaking down, and the mechanisms that hold the huge and heavy glass panels are now completely broken. The Orientation gallery will be closed whilst work takes place.

Visitors

• 9,809 people visited Artspace Mackay during June 2015, including Mackay Town Hall • 8,441 people visited Artspace Mackay during June 2014, including Mackay Town Hall • 8,000 visited Rock Paper Scissors (July 2015) in comparison to 5,000 at the July 2014 Rock

Paper Scissors

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Graph Overviews from June 2014 – June 2015

Visitor numbers:

Website visits:

01,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0008,0009,000

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includes Rock Paper Scissors art market day

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E-Newsletter subscribers:

New Exhibition(s)

Foyer Gallery 10 July – current Jan Ward: Into the Hills

McAleese Gallery 10 July – current National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015

Jan Ward: Into the hills (Foyer Gallery) Award winning local artist, Jan Ward, looks to the hills in her latest exhibition. After moving to Mackay in recent years, she has found an affinity for the landscape and in particular, the hills: their geological formation, and the animal, plant and human life they can reveal. Into the hills explores these seemingly protective and steadfast land formations as well as their changing dynamics, visibly affected by the forces of nature which transform them from season to season. National Photographic Portrait Prize 2015 (McAleese Gallery) The National Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition is selected from a national field of entries that reflect the distinctive vision of Australia’s aspiring and professional portrait photographers and the unique nature of their subjects. Artspace Mackay is the very first gallery after The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra to host the exhibition of 44 finalists and prize winning works. The winner for 2015 is Portrait of Ali by Hoda Afshar.

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Public Programs & Education

Date Program Location Attendees 23 June BMA Kidspace Seminar Room 86

26 June School tour Central State School

All galleries and rooms 24

27 & 28 June Silver jewellery workshop Artspace seminar room 20 28 June Filmspace Orientation gallery 15 30 June & 1 June

Kids holiday workshops with Wanda Bennett Artspace seminar room 25

2 July Small group tour – Blue Care McAleese and Foyer Galleries 9

2 July Self guided group – Blue Care

McAleese and Foyer Galleries 7

11 July Exhibition opening - National Photographic Prize & Jan Ward

McAleese and Foyer Galleries 243

12 July Rock Paper Scissors Art Market

Artspace grounds and gallery 8000

Total numbers for 15 June to 15 July 8429

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Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre and Events Management

• Supported the Stage 1 Public Art project as part of the City Centre Revitalisation Project. • Completed 2 Playing Australia funding applications to assist securing funds for touring theatre

shows in 2015/2016 • Finalised the Festival of Arts Programme • Assisted Economic Development team with Planning of Twilight City 2015

Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre

Overview

• The Centre staff continue to work vigilantly to maintain attendances in the current business environment.

• Corporate / private hires during the month of June included Channel 7 breakfast, APT small ship cruising, Specsavers training and Porters Products and Innovation Trade Event.

• Performing arts venue hires included Brad Butcher in concert, Gold the Ultimate ABBA show, The Vanda – Young Project and outstanding Comedian Judith Lucy.

• The Centre and the Festivals team is now preparing for one of the largest events on the Mackay calendar The Mackay festival of Arts Walk on the Wild Side

Capital Program

• Achieved over 90% of capital programmed works for the year with minimal carry over into the 2015/2016 budget. Planning is now underway for Capital works including new carpet in the Theatre Auditorium which will need to be completed through the Christmas closure period.

Entrepreneurial

• The Set List, 10 local youth have volunteered to actively contribute to the region’s cultural life by participating in the programming and planning of a live music event. The show will be presented late September. They’ll be involved with the project including poster design competitions, music journalism, support bands spots and various mentoring opportunities.

Set list youth committee first meeting

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• Morning Melodies, The Beggars “Sing” was very well received and feedback was exceptional. • Psychic Sally from the UK and Psychic to the stars was very well received with strong ticket sales

and a wonderful audience response. • Dewayne Everett Smith, This was part of the MECC’s commitment to develop an audience for

black and indigenous theatre. Although officers did reach out to the community via community group’s attendances were low but audience satisfaction was very high.

• The 26 Storey Treehouse, following on from the success of the 13 Storey Treehouse in 2014 and in advance of The 52 Storey Treehouse in 2016, this programming activity is striking a cord with youth and family audiences. Over 500 patrons attended each of the two performances.

• Mary Wilson and Rob Mills were programmed as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival, these performances had disappointing attendance despite a reasonable spend on advertising.

Performance

Type # of Events Actual Attendance

Church Activity 1 1000

Concert 7 3874

Entrepreneurial 7 1936

Event 2 118

Function 1 110

Gala Supper 1 208

Meeting 1 38

Performing Arts 1 726

Seminar 2 185

Training 2 42

Workshop 5 100

30 8337

as at JUNE 2015

Non-Financial Indicators Target Year to date

Number of Performances fully cost recovered 50% 50% Minimum number of catered functions 140 137 (excluding performances) Average attendance at shows Auditorium 550 Auditorium 387 Foyer/space 100 Foyer/space 121 Halls 600 Halls 377 One Hall only 200 One Hall only 185 Number of non-utilised days 90 73 Number of Performances at the MECC 200 247 Yearly occupancy of facility 175,000 157,932 Customer Hire Satisfaction 80% 83%


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3 Year Comparisons 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-15

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JUL 24 23 9,624 1,772 28 15 9,953 9,229 17 17 10,996 305 AUG 12 27 12,812 4,390 13 17 9,994 3,225 28 17 13,525 843 SEP 20 27 22,513 4,262 15 26 9,286 902 18 42 14,403 1,784 OCT 118 31 36,187 247 116 23 42,128 1,202 114 14 36,761 4,575 NOV 18 38 22,661 1,163 19 23 22,024 1,700 16 33 20,333 754 DEC 6 20 9,260 352 10 43 14,211 760 7 17 8,124 0 JAN 1 4 1,783 0 0 121 13,162 0 0 5 3,286 1,500 FEB 4 13 15,558 5,437 4 19 16,391 0 5 14 19,673 7,142 MAR 7 19 7,507 2,350 17 26 10,825 1,408 11 24 9,128 38 APR 14 18 8,873 4,038 12 8 6,154 0 4 9 3,570 1,593 MAY 15 16 9,729 3,094 11 27 9,050 0 12 19 9,796 0 JUN 5 11 2,227 4,902 17 12 7,593 256 15 15 8,337 0 TOTAL 244 247 158,734 32,007 262 360 170,771 18,682 247 226 157,932 18,534

#NOTE: October is Eisteddfod Month + December 2013-Jan 2014 - Ice City II


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Festivals and Events

• Mackay Festival of Arts – The festival has shown strong sales trends through the month of June, with sales of more than $30,000 on festival shows. Final planning stages for events are in progress with the team set to deliver the 10 days of events in July.

• Global Grooves – This event is almost programmed with final community groups being confirmed in July for event delivery in October.

• New Year’s Eve – Programming is underway to rejuvenate the New Year’s Eve Celebrations at Bluewater Quay this year.

Mackay Festival of Arts billboard on display at Forgan Bridge


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• Melbourne Cup Tour – The Festivals & Events Team was successful in its bid to host the

Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour 2015. The tour will visit Mackay as part of the Queensland leg of the tour, providing the local community with the chance to get up close and personal with the famous trophy on September 15th, 2015. A day of celebrations will take place around the tour including a Charity Breakfast, community day in the precinct with activities in the promenade and also at Mackay City Libraries to coincide with the event. The Melbourne Cup will be on display at the MECC and touring around schools in the region.

Mackay set to host the 2015 Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour

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Corporate Communications and Marketing

Management

It was a busy month with the preparation of Budget material, the implementation of the advertising-marketing campaign for the Mackay Festival of the Arts and managing communication strategy arising from staff vacancies.

The “right fit” marketing campaign for the budget was well received. An information booklet has been finalised and will be issued to all ratepayers in their rates notices.

A special Social Media Training day with Sunshine Coast University lecturer Renee Barnes was held in late June. An invitation was extended to other programs such as Artspace Mackay, Libraries, Community Development and the MECC staff. There was favourable feedback from the day and similar training days are planned for the new financial year, budget permitting.

There was also a willingness to establish a regular informal catch-up to enhance dialogue between programs to discuss social media initiatives.

The program assisted in the organisation and promotion of the Bubble Run on July 5, which attracted significant numbers, to help celebrate the completion of the three-year Active Towns project Website

Website visits for June

Continued to record a solid increase in visitation for June 2015 compared to June 2014 numbers. Council website recorded a total of 636,219 visits for the 2014-2015 financial year – this was an 11 per cent increase on the previous year’s numbers.

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Top 5 website pages (in order of popularity)

1. /libraries > 7,352(5.18%) 2. /careers > 5,295(3.73%) 3. /staff-login > 2,916(2.05%) 4. /community/fitness_and_health/active_towns/bubble_run > 2,499(1.76%) 5. /business/planning_and_development > 2,085(1.47%)

Visits to council-related websites for June

Facebook

Fans: 8724

Twitter

Followers: 1390

YouTube

Video views: 775

Top three videos:

1. Mackay Pride - Share Your Pride > 337 (44%) 2. Budget 2015-16 > 33 (4.3%) 3. Greenmount Heritage Fair celebrating 100 years > 32 (4.1%)

The 3 minute Mackay Pride video has now attracted 5,759 views since its launch in November 2014.

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Artspace MECC MackayCity Centre

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1,270

55,777

773

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Almost 200 media mentions recorded in month of June. Insentia media monitoring of selective radio news broadcasts resulted in 56 radio mentions. Monitoring of ZINC Radio news bulletins commenced in July to provide a better breakdown and will be included in future reports.

Program overview

• Successfully executed the Budget 2015-16 media campaign on Budget Day. • Extensive media-advertising campaign implemented for Mackay Festival of Arts • Pet Registration advertising campaign implemented • Provided assistance in organising the council display at the Mackay Show 2015 • Good media exposure generated during the visit of Christina Mackay-Lowes, who presented

personal items to council that belonged to her grandfather Captain John Mackay. • Finalised printing and collation of new Corporate Plan, which was adopted in early June 2015 • Commenced work on collation of 25 Year Service Club book to be presented at August

function for new inductees • Staged another successful Baby Welcoming Ceremony at Botanic Gardens • Assisted in the organisation and promotion of inaugural Bubble Run with over 800

participants taking part to celebrate the end of the three-year Active Towns Project.

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• Assisted in the organisation and promotion of inaugural Bubble Run with over 800 participants taking part to celebrate the end of the three-year Active Towns Project.

Portrait of Captain John Mackay presented to the Mayor by his Granddaughter

Mayor and Member for Mackay launch Bubble Run to celebrate completion of Active Towns

Program .

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Front cover of specially produced brochure to promote Budget initiatives. The brochure will be distributed with rates notices in

August.

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Community Engagement

Latest News

• Laura Garner began in early June in the role of Community Engagement Officer alongside Joanne Hennessy. Laura will be backfilling Nadine Connolly until the end of the year while Nadine continues working on the City Centre Revitalisation Project.

• The team raised the profile of the Community Engagement Portal by presenting at all EPMF Familiarisation Training sessions, along with a full-page Grapevine article in June introducing the Portal to all staff.

• Training has been organised for 25 staff to complete iap²’s Engagement Essentials course. iap² is the international leader in public participation and this highly regarded training will be delivered in-house, meaning that it will be tailored specifically for MRC. Council has also signed up as a member to iap² for the next year, providing staff with access to resources, training and networking opportunities.

Number of Projects involving community engagement

• Officers worked on 37 separate projects between June 15 and July 12.

Levels of Engagement

• Officers worked on 16 projects requiring stakeholder notification and 21 projects requiring stakeholder consultation:

Major Projects

• Malcomson Street Upgrade: Works are progressing well with the Malcomson Street Upgrade. Local businesses and residents are kept updated regularly through fortnightly email updates, by letter when directly affected by any activities, and via the council website. Any issues raised have been resolved in a timely manner by the project team.

• City Centre Revitalisation Project: Engagement continued with stakeholders in Stage 3 of the project, predominantly regarding footpath removal and reinstatement timeframes. Consultation was also conducted with Stage 4A stakeholders (City Cinema to Buck & Todd Optometrists), as well as businesses along

Consultation vs Notification

Notification

Consultation

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Sydney Street utilising 9th Lane. Discussions were also held with some businesses in Stage 3A of the project regarding rectification works to business frontages. Three complaints were received from businesses about dust in the premises and remedial action was taken by contractor where necessary.

• Little McCreadys Creek remediation works: A successful community BBQ and information session was held on Saturday 4 July at Rural View, with up to 25 enthusiastic residents attending the event. Council and Reef Catchments staff attended and presented information to the group, as well as taking feedback from the community which will be considered during the detailed design. A site walk along the creek bank with the designer and craft activities for the kids were both popular activities.

• Corporate Plan 2015-2020 consultation: The draft Corporate Plan was made available on the council website and the Connecting Mackay website for public comment. A large number of key stakeholders were contacted by email with a link to the website and asking for feedback, and 6 individuals replied with comments on Connecting Mackay. These participants have all been responded to by council.

• Penn and Juliet Intersection Upgrade: Consultation meetings were held with affected schools and businesses at the intersection, and a flyer was letter-dropped to a wide radius of local residents. The upgrade is currently expected to begin in late 2015 with the major intersection works taking place over the Christmas holidays to reduce the impact to traffic and schools in the area.

Little McCreadys Creek community info session


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Northern Australia Services

Management

• The transition of services into Northern Australia Services was successfully completed on time and on budget

• The program is going through a period of operational stabilisation, before the process of service transformation begins

• Work continued on the development of a new suite of Performance Indicators, Key Performance Indicators and Service Level Agreements with the recipients of services delivered by the program

• A new regular weekly reporting regime has been established between the program manager and council’s Strategy, Leadership and Performance Team (SLPT). This includes weekly performance highlights and information sharing around the budget process and transformation reporting structure

• Work has commenced into a review of governance which sits around the prioritisation of council’s Information Services capital spend, and the newly developed Enterprise Project Management Framework will be implemented within the program

• An Operational Governance Decision Matrix/Protocol has been developed to provide guidance around key decisions within the program. Once the Matrix has been approved, process flow charts will be developed for ease of reference

• A Change Request and other processes have been developed • There has been an increased focus on engagement with SLPT and the broader management

team to ensure that the program is delivering against expectations

Service Successes

• A reduction of around 1,000 calls to council during the water billing period compared to the corresponding period last year. This was a result of the MyH20 initiative and promotion of this initiative through the call centre system.

• Levels of service into council’s call centre have improved significantly, with the result that fewer customers are requiring a call back service, with more calls being answered at first point of contact.

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Client Services

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Information Services

GIS Team

The GIS Team has continued to meet business requests and notes the following key achievements:

• MADI Enhancement project is progressing. The vendor that provides the software that MADI is loaded into, i.e. the look of the front screen/tools, etc., has withdrawn the product from sale. The product will be replaced with the software that council currently uses for MiMaps. This means that in future MADI will use the same software as MiMaps and have the same look and feel as MiMaps, making it easier for staff to switch between the 2 versions.

• Real time Flood Gauge tool for Public to use on MiMAPS has been completed. Strategic Planning will undergo some testing with public users.

• Growth Model is currently being implemented for GIS to operate in conjunction with Strategic Planning.

• The addition of DNRM vegetation layers to MADI completed

• Gaps within the Mackay Bicycle network are currently being mapped

ICT Operations Team

The ICT Operations Team has maintained a consistent level of support request resolution with some peaks due to organisational changes across MRC. The following key achievements are noted:

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• Point to Point Wireless Links to Mirani and Sarina operational – replaces Telstra IPMAN Services • Enabled Laptops and network for Council’s presence at the Mackay Show • Consulted with Economic Development Team to roadmap PC and Network upgrade for Sarina

Sugar Shed • Project to capture ICT Infrastructure patching, hotfixes and firmware upgrades completed and

these outcomes have now been implemented as Business As Usual (BAU) operational tasks. • Organisational moves continue to be supported by the team – NAS Group 4, Governance and

WH&S in June. Finance and WWS Inspectors in July • Virtualised Networking Environment – allows robust, redundant and multipath network links within

the backbone/urban area network • Implemented DRR (Disaster Response and Recovery) network trunk link redundancy using fibre

links supported by point to point wireless links and therefore eliminated a of single point of failure risk.

Information Management

The Information Management team has continued to deliver required services and: • Supported various programs with their moves to different physical locations including the

archiving of information • Assessed e-mail distribution groups for NAS and Admin Building and facilitating relevant changes • Worked across programs to improve and implement efficient workflows in ECM to meet business

requirements – workflow optimisation is a transformational activity with the objective of delivering increased efficiency across MRC business teams

• Audited and destroyed property files in accordance with the Digitisation Disposal Policy and IOG. Development Team

The Development team has noted the following key achievements: • iDash – Built the new Northern Australian Services structure into iDash. iDash will be available at

a team leader level across the organisation by the end of the calendar year. Working with the safety team to implement relevant InControl data to iDash.

• Chris21 – Upgraded to the latest version in preparation for the new financial year, tax files and new SuperStream system. SuperStream module booked for installation in June 2015.

• Working with Northern Australia Services Transformation to upgrade the IS Support System and implement required process improvements and Service Level Agreements/KPI reporting.

Applications Team

The Applications team has continued to address support requests and work to resolve systems related problems, with the following noted achievements:

Scheduled minor upgrades: Upgrades to business supporting software which are regular minor vendor released updates to improve functionality or fixes to known issues

• Upgraded mP5 from v9.0 to v9.2 (Monitor Pro – Lab Software) • Installed SMEC v5.5.1 into Test, undergoing UAT (Technical Services pavement

management and road inventory system) • Upgraded IBIS Rates modelling, training completed using in Production • Preparing Pathway Rates Test for next rates run

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Project activities and major enhancements:

• Upgraded Assetic to v1.7.0 Asset Management Software • Installed enhancements into Guardian for SES implementation • Continued working on Projects:

o Emergency Services SES IT Requirements work activities (638) o Reform of Pathways stored procedures to improved performance and reliability of

reporting (554) o Report Builder development to devolve reporting capability to business teams

(668) o Work activities to support Local Laws PinForce LPR (Licence Plate Recognition)

system (698) o Upgrade of Rates Modelling Tool for finance (764)

IS Requests completed by category month for June 2015 = 1101

Total Number of Outstanding I.S. Support Requests As at 29 June 2015 the number of outstanding support requests totalled – 328 Number of Requests completed by the I.S. Team Total Support Requests completed June 2015: 1101

128 115

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Total Number of IT Projects Completed The financial year commenced with 88 MISPS Projects ranging in size and complexity. Of these 49 were continued from the previous financial year. The majority of these projects were in the later stages of delivery and of these 9 were completed in July. An additional 37 MISPS project requests were raised resulting in a total of 125 MISPS initiatives being delivered by IS or requiring IS resource to complete activities on behalf of the business.

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Completed Projects Breakdown by IS Team

Completed Projects Breakdown by MRC Priority Alignment

• Safety and Risk • Legislative • MRC Operational Plan • ICT Strategic Plan • Business Improvement

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Community and Client Services · The 2014/2015 RADF data reports have been sent to Arts Queensland. In the 2014/2015 RADF year 43 applications have been supported to a total value

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