Advocacy, Leadership & Lobbying

Under the Local Government Act (LGA) the Council is a body corporate and is charged with the following responsibilities (Section 2.7):

(a) governs the Shire of Narrogin’s affairs;

(b) is responsible for the performance for the Shire of Narrogin’s functions;

(d) determines the Shire of Narrogin’s policies.

The Shire has interpreted these responsibilities as they are contained in the Act in conjunction with the Shire’s governance framework and provides the following guidance on the range and scope of these roles.

(a) governs the Shire of Narrogin’s affairs;

This role encompasses strategic planning mechanisms to ensure the continued viability and performance of the organisation, the setting of strategic aspirations for the organisation and the monitoring of the Shire’s performance against these strategic aspirations.

(b) is responsible for the performance of the Shire of Narrogin’s functions;

This role provides that the Council bears the ultimate responsibility for the performance of the Shire’s functions. It can exercise this responsibility through the development of appropriate governance frameworks including delegations of authority and the determination of an appropriate organisational structure.

(c) oversees the allocation of the Shire of Narrogin’s finances and resources;

The Council exercises this role by adopting the Shire’s budget and long term financial plans. Advice is provided by officers of the Shire who are responsible for the professional development of appropriate financial controls and strategic documents.

(d) determines the Shire of Narrogin’s policies.

The role of Council in setting policy is most effective when it is linked with a professional organisation that implements these policies through the development of appropriate management practices and work processes. Council policy should set the standards for the administration to achieve and make strategic policy decisions that guide staff in their decision making processes.

The role of Council can be categorised into three key areas – namely: legislative; executive; and quasi-judicial.

Legislative

The Council is responsible for adopting a set of local laws that reflect current community standards and provide for the good governance of the Shire. Council, when making local laws must be aware of their legislative effect.

Executive

The Council is responsible for overseeing the executive functions of the Shire and determines appropriate policies, strategies and functions for the administration to implement.

Quasi Judicial

The Council is responsible for applying factual situations to the legislative regime in a quasi-judicial manner under the Local Government Act, Planning and Development Act and other relevant legislation.

Accountability, stewardship, sustainability and innovation objectives are most effectively pursued where the focus of members of Council centre’s upon:

Strategic planning, policy development and defining scope for delegation of powers and functions;
Allocating the Shire’s resources via adoption of the Annual Budget;
Monitoring performance of the Shire against adopted strategies and objectives;
Representing the interests of the Shire of Narrogin community;
Appointing the Chief Executive Officer and participating in the performance review process of that officer.

Accordingly, the Council is required to be accountable and transparent by undertaking deliberations and making resolutions within a framework which is factually based, non prejudicial and relevant to issues at hand.