Asset Management
The Mount Barker District Council is a unique blend of rapid city centre urban growth, combined with highly valued townships supporting rural industry and lifestyle.
The need to plan for growth while protecting our rural character and changing economy amidst environmental, cultural and historic contexts is what makes our community both complex and unique. This blend of communities contributes to a wide ranging and dynamic set of expectations with regard to lifestyle and customer service levels.
With over $550m of community and infrastructure assets under council management, providing services for a growing community of 42,000, the diversity of assets to be planned, managed, renewed and maintained includes:
- Open spaces, playgrounds, sports and recreation
- Natural assets including biodiversity sites and trees
- Stormwater, irrigation and water reuse
- Buildings, public art, facilities & structures
- Transport including roads, traffic control devices and signage
- Fleet and Equipment
- Public and sports lighting
- Street furniture, park equipment, civil infrastructure and fencing
As one of the fastest growing council areas in Australia, Mount Barker District Council’s asset management planning, practices and systems need to keep pace with significant new assets arising from urban development, external funding and infrastructure investment from other tiers of government, as well as the need to properly cater for the operation, maintenance and renewal of an extensive existing asset portfolio.
Policy
The following policy has been endorsed by Council and forms the framework for asset management planning.
Asset Management Plans
Mount Barker District Council has prepared a number of Infrastructure Asset Management Plans (AMPs) to meet the statutory requirement under the Local Government Act 1999.
In 2020 the AMPs were updated and a consolidated Strategic Asset Management Plan has been prepared which was endorsed by Council at the meeting held on 7 September 2020.
Asset Management Plans are critical for describing the services Council provides to the community from its infrastructure assets and how much it costs to provide these services. It also describes future demand requirements, lifecycle costs and risks and funding strategies for providing services. Importantly the plans also identify any actions that can be taken to improve asset management practices.
Strategic Asset Management Plan 2020 - Endorsed 7 September 2020
The review and update of the following infrastructure AMPs has now been undertaken:
- Transport
- Stormwater
- Wastewater
- Buildings
- Open Space and Recreation
Copies of the individual draft asset plans are available upon request.
Strategic Planning in Asset Management
Climate change, rapid urban growth, protection of biodiversity, agriculture and industrial lands need to be incorporated as key factors as we seek to integrate our asset management practices with township and district planning, government initiatives and ever changing community expectations.
Part of the role of asset management is to inform our city maintenance operations with regard to service levels and maintenance activities.
Council uses a variety of inputs to understand how our assets are performing from a customer experience perspective, these include:
- Customer Requests and Compliments
- Community Surveys
- Asset Condition Assessments
- Legislation and technical standards
- Heritage, Environmental and Cultural inputs