Between a Rock and a Hard Place – the Challenges of Delivering More Projects with Less Resources in Rural Councils

Abstract

The pressures on local government engineers have never been greater. COVID stimulus grants, Betterment Funding, DRFA Flood repair projects on top of annual capital works, RMPC and maintenance programs means that engineering teams in smaller rural councils are pushed to breaking point. Add to that the drastic shortage of skilled and experienced engineers in regional centres, let alone in more remote and rural councils, and you have all the ingredients for an infrastructure crisis. So, what are the options? How do you still deliver everything that the mayor promised the ratepayers when RoadTek just pinched your graduate and you can’t raise your promising young RPEQ above his salary band and you know he is now looking at the dark side, I mean, private world. As Proterra’s Operations Manager, Jim O’Dea, has seen the first-hand the impacts of a shortage of skilled experienced people across the many rural councils that Proterra works with. He will provide some insights into possible solutions and what the engineering community can do about it.