This project's final report and evaluation was completed on 2 June 2021

Project approach

Through this project, the LGA has provided a broad range of resources to councils to assist with the numerous aspects of the Covid-19 public health emergency that have involved or impacted local government.  This includes legal advice, templates, guidelines, training and forums in areas such as public health, compliance, planning, governance, commercial leases and licences, economic development and workforce planning.  The project has also assisted councils to participate in South Australia's economic recovery by supporting the LGA's Shovel Ready program.

Councils can access these resources on the members section of the LGA website, and they also been promoted through other means such as the LGA 'latest news' items and the LGA President's update.

Future stages of the project will shift to assisting councils with their role in social and economic recovery.

Project achievements

With the funding provided through this project, the LGA was able to provide significant support to South Australia's 68 councils in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.  Councils were able to access reliable information, advice and resources through a 'single source of truth' to streamline and enhance local government's role in response and recovery.  The COVID situation changed rapidly throughout 2020, and by working together through the LGA and LGFSG, councils were kept informed through regular operational and strategic briefings, provided with a comprehensive suite of tools, training and templates and had access to round the clock advice and support through a dedicated portal and hotline.  Feedback from councils indicates that the outcomes delivered through this project were immensely helpful.

Through this project, the LGA also procured research by the SA Centre for Economic Studies about the best way that councils can support economic recovery.  This research formed the basis of a successful pitch for a $100 million State Government infrastructure partnership.  This also lead to the launch of the LGA's Shovel Ready program, which provides support to councils to prepare, plan and deliver economic stimulus projects.

Project outputs and outcomes

This project delivered dozens of outputs and outcomes for councils, which are available for members on the LGA website.  The outcomes that were delivered can be summarised in three key categories - partnerships, operations and recovery.

Partnerships

Through the work supported through this project, the LGA and LGFSG were able to work in partnership with organisations such as SA Health, SAPOL, Office of Local Government, LGRS and Norman Waterhouse Lawyers to ensure that councils were getting the information and advice they needed and that State Government decision makers were receiving advice and guidance on issues impacting on councils.

Operations

Councils were able to download a range of templates and guidelines that made it much easier for them to navigate and implement the changes to legislation and regulation that were evolving quickly.  This work supported councils in areas such as public and environmental health, governance, libraries, HR, planning, waste and open space.

Recovery

Regular briefing sessions were held with local, state and federal government representatives to learn more about local government's role in economic recovery.  Councils were provided with a platform to share information and ideas.  The Shovel Ready program was quickly established as a partnership between the LGA, LGA Procurement, LG Professionals, Norman Waterhouse Lawyers and the LGFA to provide advice and support to councils to prepare, plan and deliver economic stimulus projects and achieve the best public benefit from the stimulus funding packages available.

Website

A project website available to LGA Member councils.

View website

Performance measures

The performance measures used to evaluate the project were:

• The number of site visits and downloads of the resources on the COVID-19 portal
• The LGA member survey to measure the level of member satisfaction with the support and resources provided through this project.
• Member savings calculated as part of the LGA membership value proposition.

The primary purpose of this grant funding was to enable the LGA to provide councils with resources and support that enabled the sector to respond to the operational and strategic challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outcomes delivered through this project have successfully achieved this aim. The following is a summary of the assessment against the key performance measures.

Data analytics

The number of site visits and downloads of the resources on the COVID-19 portal. Data analytics extracted from the LGA's Squiz CMS show that the LGA's COVID-19 portal was accessed 15,540 times by 8,004 individual users between February 2020 and May 2021. This equates to approximately 73% of the total local government workforce in South Australia accessing the portal at least once over the past 12 months.

The most commonly visited webpages were the governance resources provided to assist councils to implement emergency changes to the Local Government Act, resources provided to assist Environmental Health Officers to conduct new or revised tasks, and signage artwork available to councils to explain facility closures to the community.

Peak usage of the COVID-19 portal occurred between April 2020 and July 2020, with an additional peak in November - December 2020. Lower levels of usage have been sustained since the portal was activated, demonstrated that the resources available are still being accessed by councils outside of COVID-19 active periods in SA.

In addition to the COVID-19 portal, the LGA's Shovel Ready web portal, established to assist councils to access stimulus grant funding, has been visited 4308 times since its inception in December 2020. 15 councils participated in the Shovel Ready Connect 1-hour advisory panel session and 31 councils so far have participated in a Shovel Ready Pathways 30 minute advisory session.

These figures demonstrate the broad usage of the resources provided by the LGA and the benefits delivered to the local government sector.

The LGA Member survey

The LGA member survey was used to measure the level of member satisfaction with the support and resources provided through this project.

The 2020 LGA Member Survey was undertaken in September/October 2020. 760 survey responses were received.

The survey is used to measure member satisfaction with all LGA services and was not specifically related to the outcomes delivered through this project. For context, approximately 7% of respondents identified COVID-19 response and recovery as one of the top 3 issues for the LGA to focus on.

The LGA's emergency management services received a value for money score of 8 out of 10 and were recorded as meeting member expectations. This was an increase from the 2019 score of 7 out of 10. Advice on governance matters, templates and procedures, and codes, manual and guidelines all maintained a value for money score of 8 out of 10, with member expectations recorded as being met.

Specific comments from survey participants about the LGA's work in supporting councils during COVID-19 included:

• "The LGA briefings provided throughout COVID-19 were most beneficial".
• "Covid-19 had demonstrated the critical function the LGA provides. Membership of the LGA ensures a robust sector particularly during such volatile times".
• "Templates, advice provided in a timely manner. This has been highlighted through the COVID-19 period where the communication from the LGA to staff was extremely helpful and accessible."
• "Reliable service that provides professional advice and direction to support our sector, creating confidence and time efficiencies, whilst reducing double handling and confusion across the local government. This has been very evident this year with COVID-19 and all of the advice and assistance provided by LGA and LGSFG, thank you." "templates and resources are available if needed”
• “Have been great as a central point of LGA truth around COVID"

Only one criticism of the role of the LGA in relation to COVID-19 was recorded in the survey. It should be noted that this respondant  also noted their low level of awareness about what the LGA does generally:

• "Would like to see more of an advocacy role played by LGA. A good example of this was COVID-19, where LGA were not very visible at all, and could've worked closer with SA Health on LG behalf".

The results of the LGA member survey suggest a high level of member satisfaction with the support provided to councils during COVID-19, which was enabled through this Scheme funding member savings calculated as part of the LGA membership value proposition

LGA Value Proposition

The total savings and quantifiable benefits will not be available until the LGA prepares its 2021 Value Proposition. Total savings to the sector are quantified based on how much it would cost each council to individually procure the services provided by the LGA at no additional cost.

For example, through this project, councils were provided with legally checked briefings, advice, templates and resources that are valued at $190,000. On the basis that each of the 68 councils would have had to individually pay for these resources to be developed, the total saving available to the sector is equal to $12,920,000.