Wingecarribee Shire Council’s Interim Administrator, Viv May, is calling for wide-ranging improvements at Council following the release of the latest Community Satisfaction Survey.
Key findings from the 2021 Community Satisfaction Survey undertaken earlier in the year paint an unflattering perception of the performance of Councillors, a continued downward trend in Council’s image and a subsequent decrease in the overall satisfaction in Council’s performance.
The Community Satisfaction Survey was undertaken shortly before the Minister for Local Government suspended Council and appointed Mr May as Interim Administrator.
Key findings from the report reveal that 65% of residents are at least somewhat satisfied with the performance of Council in the last 12 months and 68% are somewhat satisfied with Council’s level of communication. Both figures are a decrease on the 2019 results and are lower than the regional benchmark.
“These figures are clearly not good enough and support my earlier remarks that there’s still much work to be done,” said Mr May.
Survey participants also cited the improvement and maintenance of roads, development control, infrastructure development and traffic management as key future priorities.
Water quality and Council’s recycling efforts received improved results from the previous survey.
Mr May said the results served as a notice to the incoming Council.
“In conjunction with Council’s recently released Draft Integrated Planning and Reporting documents, these results will help provide a blueprint for key priorities that the new Council must address,” he said.
“I’m also confident that once a new General Manager is appointed, the organisation will be in a stronger position to tackle these challenges and restore the public’s trust in their Council.”
The 2021 Wingecarribee Shire Customer Satisfaction Survey was undertaken in February 2021 by independent consultants, Micromex Research, with over 400 residents randomly interviewed by phone on a range of Council services, facilities and criteria. Council undertakes community satisfaction surveys every two years.
Mr Stuart Reeve from Micromex Research will address Council tomorrow to discuss the results.
Results of the current and previous surveys can be found at www.wsc.nsw.gov.au/Council/Community-Research.
