Whittlesea City Council, Maribyrnong City Council and Greater Geelong City Council have been recognised with Local Government Excellence in ICT Awards at the Local Government Technology Solutions Conference held in Melbourne.

Coordinated by the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), the inaugural awards were devised to encourage and recognise outstanding performance in delivering innovative information and communications technology (ICT) solutions.

MAV president Dick Gross said: “Councils are showcasing their ability to progress and deliver seamless services that increasingly meet community needs in an electronic age. They are also improving business processes and systems, which enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of council operations.

Whittlesea City Council’s Mobile Computing Unit received the ICT Department Award in recognition for its contribution to the council’s performance and collaboration between business units.

In a statement, the MAV said the unit demonstrated the ability to "think outside
conventional technology solutions; offer innovative responses to specific problems and implement
solutions in conjunction with other council departments.

"Their initiatives have enhanced the council’s performance, improved collaboration between business units, and resulted in community benefits."

Maribyrnong City Council was recognised with the ICT Project Team Award for its fleet management project, which improved the council’s business systems and fleet-related reporting.

According to the MAV, the project delivered an innovative integrated solution that reduced reactive fleet maintenance costs and shifted the focus to preventive fleet maintenance.

Andrew Downie of the City of Greater Geelong was named as the winner of the Individual Award for his commitment to the council’s two major procurement projects, Microsoft and VM Ware enterprise agreements.

MAV said Mr Downie has been a significant driver behind the negotiations for the projects, which would allow councils to access new and emerging technologies with considerable cost savings.

Commending the winners, Cr Gross said the attempts to upgrade technologies would be the key to more efficient council operations. 

“While ICT sits at the core of councils’ operations and service delivery, the pace of technology change requires ongoing exploration of more diverse and technologically savvy ways of doing business,” he said.