Campaspe Shire Council has received the results of the 2023 Customer Satisfaction Survey, with CEO Pauline Gordon acknowledging the results follow on from a particularly challenging year.
"While we have scored well in excess of the industry average for many areas such as waste and library services, there is much for us to improve on, we know that, and we accept that," she said.
The survey, conducted by market research agency Metropolis Research Pty LTD in March 2023, lists roads maintenance and repairs as the number one issue for the Campaspe Shire, with flood recovery, repairs and assistance coming in third.
"We did expect to see commentary around our roads and infrastructure, especially following on from the October 2022 floods, which is why our 23/24 draft budget has aligned allocation of funds to addressing these issues," Ms Gordon said.
"We know the community has been significantly impacted by the floods, and some have felt that Council's response wasn't adequate. Council is committed to continuing its support efforts, through the establishment of a Recovery Hub, Recovery Officers and a Municipal Recovery Committee, as well as fully understanding its response and improving its capability into the future," Ms Gordon said.
Ms Gordon emphasised the continuing need for strong advocacy to the state and federal governments for funding support, acknowledging the $8.9m recently committed for the recovery hub, recovery officers and road repairs, but noting there was still funding required for other flood recovery priorities.
"We are committed to improving the sealed and unsealed roads, drainage and infrastructure issues with an investment in plant and equipment as well as resourcing to get the works done. Where the main roads are not Council roads, we can advocate strongly to improve them as we have been doing."
The Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted via a phone survey of 400 people across all demographics within Campaspe Shire and included increased questioning around 24 individual services.
"We added more questions because we wanted greater input on a wider range of services," Ms Gordon said.
"Satisfaction with overall performance is stable, but lower than we would like, and we are working on action plans to turn that around," she said.
Council last night received the results, acknowledging where scores had exceeded expectation, and areas where scores were lower, and authorising the CEO to develop an action plan to address lower scoring results by the end of June 2023.
While customer service rated low, Ms Gordon said this was more about the organisation's response to customers and to closing the loop on inquiries and engagements.
"It's not about our frontline, it's about our organisation as a whole owning the customer experience, and we are doing a lot of work on that, appreciating that a diverse audience requires diverse methods of engagement and communication," she said.
Council governance, performance and accountability featured as one of the top issues, with cleanliness and maintenance of the shire also featuring.
Mayor Cr Rob Amos said council had committed funding towards beautifying community assets in the 23/24 draft budget and had heard loud and clear from the community where the priorities are, especially in relation to flood recovery and asset maintenance.
"The Customer Satisfaction Survey has given us further insight into the value for money residents want, and the improvement required in infrastructure, service efficiency and thoughtful council decisions made in the interests of the community.
"We are united as a council and as an organisation in owning the results of the survey and working as a whole for improvement," he said.
Council is required to survey the community every year to seek feedback on the performance of Council. The survey sample set is randomised based on people who live in Campaspe Shire. It is aimed to get responses across a representative section of the community across gender, age, and locality.
