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PDF Recommendation to move CFA HQ to Portland or Heywood
THE CFA is considering a recommendation to move its district four headquarters from Casterton to either Portland or Heywood.
The recommendation was made to the Barwon South West acting regional manager Bob Barry by district four operations manager Peter Novotny, who is nominally based at the district HQ in Casterton but actually lives and works out of Portland.
The recommendation was sent as a discussion paper to Mr Barry on August 26 and leaked to the Casterton News last Friday. It is believed the region is unhappy that the contents of the recommendation were given to the media before an actual decision on any move was made.
It was written as debate rages about replacing the present offices with a more modern, purpose-built facility and where such a facility should be built. At this stage the proposed move has not been acted on and local firefighters have been actively campaigning against such a move.
In essence, Mr Novotny has suggested that since the district was aligned to the Glenelg Shire during 2010-11, it would be more beneficial to have a new district HQ based at Portland or Heywood because (1) key CFA business partners are not located at Casterton, which provides obstacles to effective and efficient relationships across the Glenelg Shire; (2) the shape of the district, its democratic identity, social, political and industrial profile have been significantly modified since 1950, when the present district office in Casterton was selected, and is now centred in Portland; and (3) the VFRR has consistently identified that the majority of risks are located in the southern part of the district around Portland, Cape Bridgewater and Nelson.
Since the alienation to the Glenelg Shire, the number of brigades in district four (including volunteer, industry and Coast Guard) dropped from 72 to 50, the discussion paper said.
“Two brigades remain north of Casterton and a greatly reduced number remain to the east.
“The former CFA Region 4 transitioned to CFA District 4 during 2010-11, with the transfer of significant geographic areas to Districts 5 and 17 including:
* To District 5 – all of the areas within the Southern Grampians LGA including the whole of Balmoral and Nareen CFA Groups together with a large part of the Merino Group;
* To District 17 – all of the areas within the West Wimmera LGA (northern parts of the Casterton CFA Group).
Furthermore, it went on to say:
* The district is now based entirely on the Glenelg LGA, has an area of 6200 km2 and consists of approx one-third plantations, one-third public land and one-third private land
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* The existing out-of-date district office located at Casterton does not meet modern office requirements and considerable discussion and some planning has occurred in relation to its replacement.”
The key industry and business partners Mr Novotny said were not located in Casterton included Glenelg Shire, Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, MECC, VicRoads, Parks Victoria, Department of Human Services, Wannon Water, Port of Portland, Portland Smelter and forest industries, which all have major presences in Portland.
Mr Novotny said in the discussion paper that ‘while there are at least two vocal Casterton-based members advocating for the replacement the district office at Casterton, they may not understand or take into consideration the current and significantly changed emergency management environment which applies in Victoria and the LGA. Other key CFA members may not yet have been engaged with.
“Continued service delivery and contact with CFA members into the future is essential, and is best achieved by having catchment team members working from both a southern and a northern location. However, evidence suggests that it is now appropriate that the district office (i.e. location of the OM) should be in a more appropriate location – either Portland or Heywood.
“As Portland and Heywood are in close proximity to one another (Heywood is considered a dormitory suburb of Portland), either of these locations would be suitable. However it is appropriate to take into account the location of the primary ICC and our major emergency management partner in DSE at Heywood.”
“Future recruitment of CFA personnel is not easy into Glenelg LGA, and Portland-Heywood offers the best opportunity to attract future quality employees. Recruitment into Casterton has and will continue to be extremely problematic given the limited community, cultural, employment, shopping, educational and other opportunities and facilities in this small town,” Mr Novotny wrote.
