Kate Webber has only been in the job a few weeks, but as Lismore City Council’s new executive director of corporate services, she’s ready for the challenges of working in local government.

With a law degree under her belt as well as previous experience working in local government and the private sector, she’s ready to bring a fresh set of eyes to Council and its processes as it navigates through challenging times.

Challenging circumstances

“All local government is faced with challenging circumstance at the moment,” Kate said. “Lismore is no different.

“There are some issues that need to be sorted through, and we have great things going on and some opportunity to streamline processes, improve and get better.”

The move to Lismore

Kate, her husband and child moved up to Lismore from Sydney to take on the new job, but her dad was actually born and bred in Lismore.

“We used to come here for Christmas holidays from Sydney,” Kate said. “My brother, sister and parents are living here now too - I’m the last to stay in Sydney and I was looking to relocate.

“I feel like we’ve lucked into it. It’s a lovely opportunity and delighted to be up here. I love the role – working at the grass roots.”

Kate said she and her husband are both career people.

“When I had my daughter, I took the first year parental leave and he took the second. He is an IT executive and has flexibility moving up here with a job.

“It’s a balancing act – I’ve been lucky he’s a hands on dad."

Improvement

Kate said her role at Council is to drive improvement as she looks at internal finances, IT procurement and projects, bringing consistency and reliability to project management.

“My job is to keep council moving smoothly and let council staff do their job,” she said.

“I’m not Council’s lawyer and will not be providing legal advice. I do have a good understanding of frameworks and the way things should be operating and I try and make sure the right principles apply to Council operations in the way we business.”

“It’s the responsibly of any local government authority to act in the interests of its residents - and it’s quite often a balancing act. I have a strong passion for good and transparent governance.

“I see that Council has already begun that journey toward improvement of processes. It’s about having clear milestones and communication when things go off track.

Public service and career

“I started my career in a local government department in London and I have a strong desire to make things better.

“I also have respect for people called to public service. I believe they are here because they want to make community better – and I believe they have that at the heart of what they do.

“I have also a lot of experience working in professional and financial services.

“I know about running large projects and pulling together robust business cases. I understand risk and change management and how to be proactive and preventative in a controlled environment.

“I see opportunities from commercial world that we can bring into a council environment, as well as a fresh set of eyes and perspective on things.

Good decision making

“I studied law and arts in Sydney and then spent five years practicing family law.

“I had a major in history and have a strong passion for modern history. I like to understand what things happened before me – so we can learn the lessons of history and not repeat them.

“I have a real interest in good decision making – so much of law is about that.

“Ten years later, I studied for an MBA, once I had experience under my belt.

First job

“When I started my first job in a department of local government, I was hungry to learn. I gained a helicopter view of experience of local government and came to understand the legislative framework and explore the different responsibilities of government.

Filming protocols

“I was involved with the drafting of the local government filming protocols and saw how different local government areas were interested in the commercialisation of filming - bringing people into there area to increase jobs. Others saw it as an administrative burden to grant and monitor approvals for filming.

Pecuniary interest

“I took an interest in pecuniary interest reviews in councils – and the hands on investigations in that space. It’s about balance for the councillors living their lives. There will be times decisions affect them personally and they draw the line.

“I’ve noticed how this is a positive focus at council meetings here.

Britain

“Then I did traditional Aussie thing travel overseas in my 20s. I did a bar and cocktail course in London to pull pints. It was expensive to live there though, so I remembered I was a lawyer and I and took a job for the local government authority in the east end of London.

“It’s like local government in Australia on steroids – there are massive portfolios of housing, education and homelessness. It was full of diverse councillors and interesting challenges in a less affluent socio-economic area.

“That whet my appetite for good decision making and administering reviews of decisions government makes. 

Contentious cases

“I’ve run exclusion appeals looking at education - if a child was suspended or expelled from school, they could appeal to the local government authority.

“Council oversight could be a hard role to play, but I loved giving people a chance to be heard.

“Then I came back to Australia. I took a brief role in migration law, reviewing department decisions, then I moved into risk and compliance, setting up right structures to make well informed decisions.

“If we understand our obligation when we make decision, then we negate the risks from occurring. Every decision an organisation makes involves this and good organisations need to get comfy with it.

“A boat is safe in a harbour, but that is not what a boat is for.

Volunteering

While career has been important to Kate, she said volunteering has always been something she has also done throughout her life.

“I have a long history of volunteering and was awarded the NSW corporate volunteer of the year award in in 2014,” she said.

“My role lets me contribute well to the volunteer space.

“I was volunteering on a board for a child abuse prevention service for a while – and I was a coach for the NSW mock trial comps. I enjoy being part of a community – Its harder to find that in Sydney.

“When the role here in Lismore came up, and the Covid lockdown was happening, I felt like it was great timing. I wanted to get back to work in the grass roots of local government.

“It felt like destiny. Now I look forward to seeing what my fresh eyes can bring to old processes as I take a hard look at the environment this Council is in.

“We don’t miss the Sydney traffic and are also looking forward to exploring the region and finding hidden gems."