At November’s council meeting, director of planning and environment David Wilkinson said it was a serious problem.
“It is the area of my directorate that has caused me the most concern since I started here at Murray River Council,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“Resourcing that section has always been a challenge but it’s an even greater challenge now.”
Murray River Council has two building surveyors and a contractor three days a week, and with no luck yet from its recruitment efforts, Mr Wilkinson said it had tried turning to the private sector.
“There are two main certifiers that work in Murray River Council — neither of those can take on any further slack, in fact one of them is booked up until March,” he said.
“The fact we’re still doing 80 per cent of our applications within the statutory limit is a credit to the staff, who are doing as much work as they can to keep that level of performance up.”
Each state and territory in Australia has its own accreditation, meaning someone from Victoria must have NSW accreditation to sign off on building services in Moama.
“This process can take six to 12 months, but it is acknowledged that it can be accomplished in a shorter time frame and maybe should be much quicker,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“We would gladly accept applicants from anywhere in Australia as long as they are qualified building surveyors and we would organise for them to get their accreditation.
“My personal view is that the accreditation process is illogical in that all states and territories operate under the Building Code of Australia.
“A better process is needed so that building surveyors who are qualified can move freely from state to state.”
Along with two senior building surveyor jobs, recruitment is under way as council expands its development services team.
With high rates of urban and population growth across the area, council is looking to fill new roles based in Moama for a senior town planner, two planning cadets and a trainee administration officer.
Mayor Chris Bilkey said several of the opportunities were suited to locals.
“The trainee admin officer and the planning cadets would be the perfect fit for people who have recently completed school or are looking for an exciting career change,” he said.
The two cadet town planning roles are aimed at school-leavers who have an interest in the field of town planning and are looking to enter the local government sector.
Cr Bilkey said these positions were part of the planning services succession plan, where successful applications would be provided with on-the-job training, with relevant tuition costs paid for by council.
Anyone interested in the positions should head to council’s website or speak to development services manager Rod Croft on 1300 087 004. Applications close January 29.
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