Outgoing Shire of Mingenew CEO Nils Hay looks back on a COVID, Seroja-dominated four years

The outgoing Shire of Mingenew chief executive will forever be a believer in the power of local government, having seen firsthand the role staff and volunteers play in making the community a better place. Nils Hay’s appointment as Mid West Development Commission chief executive was announced last week, with the 38-year-old to take over from acting CEO Anne Finlay in July. He was the Burke Shire deputy chief executive before he made the move from the remote North West Queensland the Mid West in 2018. Mr Hay said Mingenew was a welcoming and tight-knit community, a strength which has helped the town weather the storm of COVID and cyclone Seroja. “The morning after the cyclone, there were people turning up at the Shire office who had their own yards in a complete state of mess, but they were coming in to help out,” he said. While State and Federal recovery funding and intervention was received with gratitude, Mr Hay said the disaster had shown how much quicker local government could respond to the immediate needs of locals. “I think we were lucky in terms of our overall recovery from Seroja in that we were able to get in quickly, doorknock the Shire and do some work before the SES even turned up,” he said. Because of the way the (Recovery) funding arrangements work, it is all joint State-Federal funding and we are incredibly grateful that exists, but it takes a long time to get access to it. “Whereas the local government is just able to step in and do it, and then we will try and sort the funding out down the track.” More recently, the Mingenew community has rallied to support those directly affected by the death of a Shire staff member who was involved in a fatal workplace accident in February. A WorkSafe investigation into 44-year-old woman’s death is still ongoing, with Mr Hay saying the loss of one of their own had hit the community hard. “It is still raw, and it will be for some time. We are a small team and a really close-knit team and when you lose someone in that environment it is incredibly difficult,” he said. “It is another challenge that you need to manage and work through and make sure people are supported in that process. At the end of the day that is the main thing — making sure everyone has support as we all work through it together.” Behind the scenes, Mr Hay said much work had gone into improving the Shire’s compliance with government legislation in recent years. “My goal coming into this organisation was to leave it in a better state than I found it, which I think we have done,” he said. Council has also secured State and Federal funding for several projects, including road upgrades, the installation of solar panels around town, and astro-tourism activities. Mr Hay said he is looking forward to continuing to deliver for the Mid West with State resources at his fingertips, but encouraged people not to be so quick to dismiss local government as a rewarding career path. “You are the level of government closest to the community, which means that you can actually deliver things for the community,” he said. “There is that sense of satisfaction that the things you are doing are having a benefit back in the place where people live.” He will finish as Shire CEO on June 17.