Moorabool council is slowly but surely improving in terms of community engagement, according to a recent survey.
The 2013 community satisfaction survey showed a slight improvement in two key measures compared to 2012.
The council’s overall performance score of 58 topped last year’s
57. The score for overall council direction (51) was two points higher
than last year.
Council chief executive Rob Croxford said while it was still
“early days” under a new survey method, he was hopeful it could become a
useful tool to track communities’ attitudes over time.
“These surveys will gain relevance over the longer term as the
year-to-year variances are tracked to determine any definitive trend,”
Mr Croxford said. “For now, the 2013 survey provides a snapshot into the
community’s view and indicates the relative importance the community places on a range of our daily activities. This is useful in our organisational planning.”
Chris Sharkey, a Balliang East farmer who was part of a recent
rates discussion involving farmers and the council, said areas of
concern included the council’s complaints process and rising rates. “I
think they could be more efficient, so our rates aren’t continuously
increasing. They are working on it, though.”
Moorabool council repeated its 2012 customer service score of 68
in the latest survey. The survey also revealed that opinions of
council’s advocacy (52) and community consultation (51) decreased from
54 in both categories in the 2012 survey.
Municipal Association of Victoria president Bill McArthur said
results for the state’s councils were generally solid, despite there
always being room for improvement.
“I doubt any other level of government could boast that seven in
10 people are happy with the overall direction, so this is a positive
result for Victorian councils,” he said.
Mr McArthur said while the results were generally pleasing, councils needed to remain flexible and responsive.
“Change must be expected of every level of government if we are to
meet the expectations, priorities and 21st century needs of our
communities.”
The annual community satisfaction survey is commissioned by the
state government. About 400 interviews of Moorabool residents were
completed between February 1 and March 24 this year.
