New chief executive Scott Waters has big plans for big changes at Darwin council

IT’S BEEN a month since Scott Waters started in his role at Darwin council. So far, little has changed but the new chief executive has big plans. WILL ZWAR reports

Scott Waters started as Darwin council chief executive at the start of June. He hopes to modernise the council and bring a better culture within the organisation . Picture: Keri Megelus

HE MAY have just finished his first month, but Scott Waters has big plans for Darwin council.

Modernisation, innovation and culture are the biggest areas for improvement, the new chief executive says, but how he’ll improve these is anyone’s guess.

Relatively little is known in the Top End about the Queenslander who has previously worked at airports and smaller city councils but some parts of his resume stand out.

He pulled the Whitsunday council out of dire economic times and seems to have a good business sense.

But what does Waters actually do? And what mark will he leave on Darwin?

HIS ROLE

THE chief executive position puts Waters in one of the most influential roles in Darwin.

Once a decision is made by the elected members, it is up to the chief executive to put that action into practice through the various departments and staff at his disposal.

Waters early in his career at Qantas, pictured with Townsville airport general manager Kevin Gill and TEL business development executive Amanda Nass

Every light pole that is replaced, every car park painted onto bitumen, every leaf that is blown by council staff is done so under his authority, once he gets the go-ahead from the Lord Mayor and the aldermen.

SCOTT THE REDEEMER

HEADING into the Whitsunday council six years ago, Waters started at bottom, with the aim to guide them through to stability.

In 2012, the council was in such a dire financial situation it was unable to receive a credit rating from the Queensland Treasury Corporation due to over expenditure after the 2010-11 floods.

“As a result of that (overspend) our council had to negotiate with the state government to be able to look at a way of funding the additional funds that had been expended, above and beyond what was originally budgeted for,” Waters says.

Waters was hired to make the Queensland council more financially stable and bring it out of serious debt.

A recruitment freeze and spending review down to the last penny meant the council reached a stable level, with the help of the Queensland Treasury Corporation, Queensland Audit Office and the Queensland reconstruction Authority.

In his four years there, Waters improved the council’s credit rating, from nothing upon his arrival to a healthy position with a moderate rating and a neutral outlook as he left for Rockhampton.

In a city where similar natural disasters can occur, including Cyclone Marcus just months ago, having someone with the business aptitude of Waters could be a great thing.

COUNCIL SO FAR

FOR Waters, his toughest moment in Darwin so far was his first council meeting halfway through June.

“There are some differences here from the way that council meetings are run in Queensland and you have ultimate responsibility from day one,” he says.

“That was probably one of the toughest ones to come in really quite cold on that, with only a week or so of preparation.”

Waters in his role as Whitsunday Regional Council chief executive. Waters brought the council out of an economically dire situation

But it was more a good challenge, a new way of doing things rather than something he would fear or resent, with the chief executive liking what he saw in the elected members.

“It’s a challenge that I really enjoy … don’t get me wrong, I love the council meeting — what I have very much enjoyed in my short time here is the debate that occurs, during council items - that for me shows that there is a very strong democratic and decision making process in council.”

“Your first meeting though, you don’t want to make a mistake, it’s in the public domain, you want to get it right.”

CULTURE

LOOKING ahead, Waters faces the tough job of changing the culture of council to ensure the community is the first priority.

“It’s about improving our council culture, and ensuring that all of us are there to deliver for the community that we really have a strong customer service ethos,” he says.

“That’s not necessarily the day to day of government, but from a local government perspective, our Lord Mayor and aldermen are all very much community representatives of their wards so the advice that we have come through is purely from the people of the community.”

He says council is in the best position to ensure ratepayers had their voices heard.

“We have the greatest opportunity to be able to have the highest level of effect at a community level out of all of the levels of government, and it’s ensuring that our council and council officers listen to the community and are there for them,” Waters says. “We have that culture, but I want to make it even better.”

Coming into a council with no permanent executive board, Waters is presented with a unique opportunity.

With four new positions to be filled later this month, and new department titles and structures to be put in place, council is set for a shakeup.

“It’s been challenge but it’s an opportunity on how we can mould a team that is going to modernise council for the future,” he says.

Whether this shake up will be a good thing is yet to be seen.

MODERNISATION

LIKE any business, council needs to be smart about how it does things.

Waters sees a forward thinking mentality as a key to the future and says council needs to replace older systems in place.

“(Interacting with the community) has changed completely over the last five or ten years, we need to be able to respond to that,” he says.

“I want Darwin to be able to do that particularly with the Switched On Darwin program.”

Early indications of Waters’ management style suggest council will be run as an innovative and forward thinking business with finances kept in check by a tech savvy mind.

“We modernise, we’re efficient, we’re effective — modernising what we do is really important, our community expects it, so we have to move in that direction as quickly as we can, and that experience that I’ve had in the past allows me to be able to look into different areas,” he says.

“The revenue that we get today has to pay for tomorrow, just like any business out there, it’s about modernising what we do, being able to frame everything we do in council at every level, so every staff member, that we’re doing it in an efficient and effective way, how we manage the expenditure of those funds is extremely important to me, and that we’re getting the best value for money for everything we do.

“To be innovative and modernised with what we do, communicate better with our community and listen to our community, that’s really what it comes down to.”

TOURISM

WITH a healthy background in tourism, and having his own case of the “travel bug”, tourism is a sector Waters is likely to have a large influence over, and one that is a key to Darwin’s future.

“Council has been a funder of Tourism Top End, and continues to do so,” he says.

“Where I see our ability as council is to look at where we have our policy settings around assisting the tourism industry, so red tape reduction is really important, how we can make it a lot easier for our tourism operators to get it about there business.”

The flight path Waters seems to be setting is not directly through tourism but through reinvigorating local business.

“(We need) to understand better how we can support businesses across our local government area, but being a leading local government in the Territory, if we can get our policy settings right that can only positively affect tourism across the entire region,” he says.

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“We need to be able to ensure we present the city at the highest level, at all parts, not only just our CBD but also our suburbs, and making sure it looks as good as the first time we’ve come here before.

“We want our visitor experience to be fantastic and there are areas there that council can very, very clearly influence.”

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

WITH Waters at the helm for at least five years, he says Darwin can be confident it will be left in a much better shape.

“No matter what you do, you want to make the place you’ve been better than it was before you were there,” he says.

A five-year contract with the option of an additional five means Waters is in the job for the long haul.

“For me, it’s modernising what we do, that’s one of the biggest goals that we have, we have such a positive effect on our community that our community embraces council,” he says.

Continuing the financial stability, improving the city’s economic future and bettering the culture of council also make up the boxes the new chief executive wants to tick by the time he’s finished in Darwin.

“If we can start to achieve those things, I think we’ll be in a really good place and that’s very much the direction I’ll be taking forward.”