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Two staff from Dumfries and Galloway Council’s DGFirst have reached the finals of the APSE* Rising Star Awards.

The Awards recognise the excellent work of individuals who are delivering in new leadership roles in front line services.

The Awards are open to all Scottish local authorities and cover the 3 service areas:

Waste and recycling services
Fleet services
Parks, grounds and street services

Gordon Bryce has reached the final in the fleet services category.

Fraser Marshall has reached the final in the parks, grounds and street services category. 

The final stage of the awards judging process will take place this week at the annual APSE Fleet, Waste and Grounds Services Seminar.   

Gordon was nominated for his work managing fleet vehicle workshops.  His nomination stated:

Gordon manages 5 workshops, which maintain almost 1,600 vehicle and plant assets, ranging from strimmers to refuse collection vehicles.  The Dumfries workshop is considered to be one of the best in Scotland.  Gordon’s main contribution has been identifying and addressing areas for improvement.  He has introduced new IT procedures, reduced paperwork, speeded up invoice payments, reduced the number of ‘live’ jobs, improved health and safety awareness, and made the business more commercial. 

Commenting on his nomination and reaching the final, Gordon said, “When you compare our staff numbers against the size of fleet we maintain, it’s obvious that we are a small, busy team.  During my first year managing the fleet workshops, we’ve faced many challenges and I expect there are many more to come.  TUPE has been the biggest challenge in terms of efficiency and morale in the workshops.  We are changing a culture and constant communication is essential, through one-to-ones, toolbox talks, and emails.  Involving staff in finding solutions to our challenges has been key to building workplace relationships.” 

Fraser was nominated for his work leading to the refurbishment of Dock Park in Dumfries.  His nomination stated:

Fraser’s passion for serving his community and his knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for parks and open spaces has been the drive towards the success of this bid.  He has worked tirelessly with numerous agencies and community groups to develop the ethos for the new open space, brought about a belief in the community, and mentored junior staff to improve their personal development.  This project would not have reached viability without Fraser’s foresight and drive.  Fraser has seen this project as an opportunity to radically look at the management of the park, modernise it, and make it more efficient.  This will deliver better control, more efficient use of staff, and best value for the public pound.      

Commenting on his nomination and reaching the final, Fraser said, “The Dock Park is Dumfries’ premier park but in recent years it had fallen into a state of disrepair.  It was no longer fit for purpose, with the leisure facilities in desperate need of updating.  We worked with the public, external agencies, consultants and several Council departments to get to the stage where we could successfully apply for almost £1m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  We’ve made a radical change in the way the park is managed and we intend using this as a model for many more parks throughout our region, improving the service that we deliver.”

Councillor Patsy Gilroy, chairman of DGFirst Management Committee, said, “I congratulate Gordon and Fraser on reaching the final and very much hope that they can go on to win.  Having two staff reaching the final of APSE’s Rising Stars Awards is clear evidence of good practice in developing DG First staff in our Council.”