Innovative and financially sustainable

We will focus on the following priorities in support of this objective:

• implement the Long-term Financial Plan to support the achievement of Council’s strategic objectives
• diversify and maximise our revenue sources

• Maintain 100 per cent liquidity or above

• Our liquidity ratio sits at 166 per cent, which is higher than budgeted for 2025–2026. This stronger position reflects the favourable financial results delivered in 2024–2025.
  

• Financial Sustainability Strategy developed
• Year one priority actions delivered
• Reforecast the Financial Plan for 2026–2027

• Asset Strategy adopted
• Year one priority actions delivered
• Asset Policy updated

• Leasing and Licensing Policy reviewed and updated

We have reviewed and updated the Leasing and
Licensing Policy, with the draft policy going to
Council in April and adoption expected in June
2026.

• Investigate Phase two sites highlighted within the Strategic Property Plan

We are progressing the Strategic Property Plan 2025–2030, aligning it with the Community Infrastructure Plan to meet future community needs.

We’ve started detailed investigations on priority sites to plan for new or improved facilities, such as libraries, pavilions and community hubs.

We are also exploring ways to make better use of existing buildings and land, including early engagement with community groups, business case development and partnership opportunities.

All projects follow clear governance processes to ensure long‑term sustainability.

• Grants Framework adopted

We’re developing a new Grants Framework that will help us take a more coordinated and strategic approach to grants and partnerships.

We have completed the draft Framework and are now preparing it for Council consideration.

Once adopted, it will guide how we secure more funding for local projects and deliver greater benefits for our community.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of this objective:

• enhance and expand how we promote and communicate opportunities more broadly to the community to access our services, programs and events to build community awareness, particularly with harder to reach and vulnerable groups

• Increase community satisfaction with consultation and engagement
• Increase community satisfaction with informing the community

• Community satisfaction with consultation and engagement is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• Community satisfaction with informing the community is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  

• Four-year Roadmap developed and adopted
• New service level agreement published

We are continuing to improve our community engagement and insights approach. Work is underway on a revised four‑year roadmap and updated service levels, including clearer expectations for data use, risk assessment and pre‑engagement planning. The updated roadmap remains on track to be presented to Council by June 2026.

• Accessible Communications Blueprint endorsed
• Easy read documents trialled for key information

We have started the development of an Accessible Communications Blueprint, which assesses our current performance in providing accessible Council news and information and identifies opportunities for improvement.

An easy read version of the Council Plan has been published to support broader community understanding and we will continue trialling Easy Read formats for key information.

We also promote the availability of translated content across our communications, to help residents access information in their preferred language.

• Promote lesser known services and enhance understanding within the community
• Improve the level of understanding about the services Council offers
• Use channels and formats preferred by young people to increase awareness and uptake of
• Council services among residents aged 10 to 25

We are launching a mythbuster and first‑person storytelling series in February to highlight diverse lived experiences. These initiatives aim to better reflect our community and demonstrate how residents engage with our services, events and
facilities. The series will run across Glen Eira News, social media and our e‑newsletters.

We have also undertaken a social media review, with the objective of strengthening our engagement with younger community members and increasing representation across our digital platforms.

• Analyse results and develop results infographic
• Deliver findings to Council
• Deliver initiatives

We delivered the Youth Engagement Survey in September, with 465 young people sharing their views on what matters to them.

We analysed the results and created a clear,
accessible infographic to highlight the key themes.We presented the findings to Council in December
to help guide future planning and decision-making.

The insights are now being used to shape a set of
youth‑focused initiatives.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of this objective:

• enhance how we use community feedback, insights and data to inform our planning and decision making
• continue to strengthen our approach to governance and transparency

• Increase community satisfaction with decisions made in the interest of the community
• Increase community trust in us

• Community satisfaction with decisions made in the interest of the community is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• Community trust in us is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  

• Develop process maps for key decisions
• Decision-making principles that support council’s strategic objectives and values defined
• Framework developed

We’ve explored different options for a new Strategic
Decision-making Framework and reviewed a set of
principles that could guide how decisions are made
in future.
Next we will draft the Framework for review and
work with a range of stakeholders to map out the
everyday decisions involved in running our services.

• Concise, accessible summaries of key council decisions published online

• Review of Council’s Risk Management Framework and Policy
• Review of Council’s Fraud and Corruption Policy and Procedure conducted

We will focus on the following priorities in support of this objective:

• enhance service delivery through continuously evaluating
  changing customer and community needs
• maximise opportunities for partnerships and philanthropy
• enhance our capacity for service innovation through implementing an Innovation and Continuous Improvement Framework and program

• Maintain or increase customer service satisfaction
• Maintain or increase customer service calls answered within service standards

• Our customer satisfaction is currently 4.6 out of 5. This result exceeds our target of 4.5 and shows we are maintaining strong service experiences for our community.
  
• The percentage of customer service calls answered within 60 seconds is currently 62.32 per cent, which is below our target of 70 per cent. We will continue to focus on improving response times to better meet community expectations.
  

• Satellite customer service centre offered at Bentleigh Library and Youth Hub

We have completed community engagement to help us understand how a satellite customer service centre at Bentleigh Library and Youth Hub could best support local needs. We are finalising the findings and once endorsed, we will use the feedback to inform the design phase.

• Innovation Framework developed and adopted to embed and maximise the value of innovation
• Current baseline for innovation capability/maturity quantified
• Innovation toolkit operationalised and supporting new initiatives

We have started developing our new Innovation Framework and have completed an innovation maturity assessment to establish our baseline capability. This work will guide the framework design and help us strengthen collaboration and continuous improvement across Council.

• Operational review of Caulfield Recreation Centre completed
• Report presented to Council

We’ve started our initial review with data collection underway. First draft of the review will be provided to Glen Eira Leisure Advisory Committee in late February 2026.

• Advocacy Priorities 2026–2027 adopted
• Advocacy campaign implemented

We are drafting our advocacy priorities for 2026–2027, shaped by community and stakeholder engagement. The priorites remain on track to be presented to Council by June 2026.

• Refreshed service planning approach/framework
• Service profile/catalogue published to community
• Service redesigns/reviews using community feedback and strategic insights implemented

We have started reviewing our service planning framework and service catalogue to ensure they reflect our community’s changing needs. This work will support clearer, more accessible services and strengthen continuous improvement across Council.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• enhance our technology, data and digital capabilities to support the achievement of our strategic objectives
• develop an AI Framework, Policy and Roadmap

• Increase percentage of customer enquiries through digital channels (from mix of traditional/digital)

• Digital enquiries are 31 per cent below our 50 per cent target. Our chat and chatbot services were offline from October to December due to platform issues, so no chat data is available for that period.
  
  We paused the service to avoid a poor customer experience and continued to support residents through our phone, email and front‑counter services.
  
  We are working with our vendor to find a more reliable, user‑friendly solution.
  

• AI Policy adopted by Council
• AI Framework and Roadmap endorsed by the Executive
• Year one priority actions delivered

Council adopted our new AI Policy on 25 November 2025. We have also developed a Framework, setting clear expectations for how we use these tools. An AI Committee now helps guide this work across Council.

Around 100 staff have completed our AI Masterclass and we have launched an AI Community of Practice.

We also completed an AI maturity assessment to set our baseline. Work is now underway on the 2026 AI Roadmap.

• Digital and Technology roadmap implemented
• Data Governance Framework adopted
• Enhanced venue booking system installed

We’ve completed our Digital and Technology
roadmap. Our Data Governance Framework has been
endorsed.

We are finalising the tender enhanced venue
booking system. Once installed, it will make it easier
for people to find, book and use our venues.

• Business case to use AI to enhance customer experience on Council’s digital platforms developed
• Business case to introduce AI to reduce drowning risk at our aquatic facilities developed
• Continue to evaluate the benefits of Microsoft CoPilot and other generative AI platforms to enhance productivity

We have started piloting how AI can improve our work and customer experience. We are testing a generative AI tool to help customer service officers manage complex enquiries.

We continue to evaluate the benefits and staff are trialing tools like Microsoft Copilot to see how AI can help them work more efficiently.

• Roadmap for improvement opportunities to increase self service for customer interactions developed

We are progressing SMS functionality to support the booked hard-waste service and payment reminders, with technical work now underway. We are also consolidating our ‘Contact us’ and ‘General enquiry’ web forms into one simple, user‑friendly form to reduce confusion and improve self‑service. Scoping is currently in progress.

• Technology options identified to automate delegations, authorisations, policy register, legislative compliance, claims management and other currently manual processes

We will focus on the following priorities in support of this objective:

• implement our Workforce Plan to build the capability and
  performance of our people

• Maintain employee satisfaction rating
• Increase employee compliance training completion

• Employee satisfaction is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
  
  
• Our current completion rate is 76 per cent below our target of 90 per cent. A new reporting approach will help leaders follow up with their teams and support staff to finish outstanding training.
  

• Workforce Plan developed approved by CEO
• Year one actions completed

• Glen Eira Leisure Enterprise agreement finalised
• Glen Eira Enterprise agreements finalised