Andrew Sharpe

We asked Andrew Sharpe to join us for our Coffee With… series for this month.  Along with being an accountant by trade and husband to one of our team members, Andrew is also CEO of the City of Albany.  He was generous to take the time out to be interviewed by one of our managers, Phillip Mortimer.

 Give us a briefing on the Andrew Sharpe story

I grew up in the Great Southern region with a farming background. I completed my studies in Perth which included a Bachelor of Business, Diploma of Project Management and became a Certified Practicing Accountant. I have been fortunate to have had many varying roles over the years including tax accounting, working with the family farming business, financial management, administration and leadership. I also have many years of experience in Local Government management. All of this led me back to the region to take up the role of the CEO for the City of Albany in 2015.

What does the role of a CEO for a council entail?

There is a strong focus on people and professional relationships. The City’s organisational values support us in continuing to build an inclusive community and a safe, happy and trusted workplace for everyone. The aim is to develop a culture of trust, based on people and the team dynamic. I am also tasked with working with the Council to set the strategic direction, identify opportunities for the City and promote Albany as a happy and livable community.

What do you think Albany’s strong points are for the future?

The big one is the environment we live in. We have some of the most beautiful coastline that is also among the cleanest. By a global standard we also have a very happy community. The last year has also shown that Albany is a safe place to live, as Albany has some of the lowest crime rates when compared to similar regional centres and we have bounced back quickly from the impacts of the pandemic. All of this means that we can, and will continue to, attract more investment into the region. This will in turn create more jobs and new opportunities for those living here.

Albany will continue to fulfil the important function as a regional centre and create opportunities for the towns and communities in the surrounding Great Southern region.

There seems to be some signs of a strengthening property market in Albany. How does that flow through to the community overall?

From September to December 2020 the City of Albany approved 399 building license requests compared to 273 in the same period for 2019. This has equated to an increase of almost double in terms of value. As a result, this is expected to inject an extra $32 million into the local economy and this trend has continued into 2021. Population growth in Albany has been growing at around 1 to 2% while other regional towns have been declining and we are predicting population growth to be above 2% for the future. This shows that we tick many boxes for livability and more people want to move here which flows through to housing and local economic growth.

Albany, and WA in general, seemed to come through the COVID-19 pandemic relatively unscathed (so far). Has this helped the image of Albany and other regional centres? And do you see tourism down here benefitting in the long term?

For some perspective, we only had 9 cases of COVID-19 in the Great Southern region. These cases were all from overseas travel and we had no community transmission. So, for Albany we are being increasingly recognised as a safe community and this has helped with attracting more tourists and people relocating to our amazing City. A recent national survey found that 1 in 5 people living in capital cities have a desire to move to the regions. This is now starting to flow onto tourism, with two new hotels in the pipeline and numerous food and beverage businesses opening. The unique Albany experience is attracting more people to holiday and live here.

How do our businesses go about dealing with the council if they are seeking assistance or querying rules and regulations?

A great place to start is the City of Albany website which has a huge amount of information about everything like local laws, planning regulations, ranger services, parks and reserves, how to hold events in Albany, waste disposal, policies and emergency management. We also have a dedicated Customer Service team available to call, and the community can keep up to date on the City of Albany FaceBook page and sign up to the City’s e-newsletter. Community members can also attend regular council meetings to ask questions of their Councillors.

And what is your vision for Albany?

For starters, continue building a trusted relationship between the City of Albany and the community it serves. By creating trust, this will allow us to form a vision that the community can get on board with. I would like to see people living in Albany have the same opportunities as those living in Perth. This will require attracting industries into the region and getting businesses to invest here. We also want to see the City be at the forefront of renewable energy and lead by example in the area of youth and support for our aging demographic. And finally, with Albany’s Bicentenary is coming up in 2026, we hope to promote inclusivity through this and showcase our Menang Noongar people and their culture.