Macedon Ranges Shire Council has released its results from the 2022 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey. The survey, conducted earlier this year, assesses the performance of Victorian councils across a range of service areas.
The results show Council continues to perform well in areas such as waste management, libraries and customer service. However, community satisfaction across other service areas has declined, a trend replicated across the state.
The results of a phone survey of 400 residents showed satisfaction ratings for measures such as overall performance, overall Council direction, advocacy, making decisions in the interests of the community, and maintenance of roads.
Around two out of three residents rated Council's waste management services as good or very good (67%) and customer service as good or very good (64%).
Appearance of public areas (63%) and art centres and libraries (54%) are Council's next highest rated service areas with residents rating these areas as very good or good.
Residents identified emergency and disaster management, unsealed roads and local streets and footpaths as the most important service areas.
The lowest performing areas were unsealed roads, along with planning and building permits.
Two thirds of residents (66%) had been in contact with Council over the past year. More than 60% rated their experience as good or very good.
"2021 proved another challenging year for our community and I am sure that many people have felt frustrated due to a variety of factors," said Council's Chief Executive Officer Bernie O'Sullivan.
"Council uses the results from the Community Satisfaction Survey to help identify areas where we need to improve or increase activity, and what areas we are seeing success. It's critical that we use this valuable feedback to drive improvements going forward."
"For instance, Council has recently introduced amendments to the way some planning matters are handled, which we expect will reduce red tape and allowing faster turnarounds for people requiring approvals."
"An example of a recent change has been to dedicate two staff to VicSmart applications to ensure these are dealt with in 10 days to ensure we meet necessary deadlines."
"Our public areas are what makes living and working and visiting our beautiful region so highly regarded. A real focus of the Open Space team has been to look for further opportunities to improve the appearance of and access to these key open space areas and communicate this back to the community so people are informed."
"The improvements we are making are only possible through the employment of the right people in the right jobs, which has been a priority for Council this year so we can enhance the services we can provide the community."
"Through the development of our Priority Projects 2022 prospectus, Council advocated for $15 million funding during the Federal election campaign and was successful in receiving this commitment from both major political parties to help realise our Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct. This will be a fantastic asset for all residents in the shire to come together and enjoy local facilities and purpose built spaces.
"Looking forward, Council submitted submissions to the Victorian Government on having our region feature in the 2026 Commonwealth Games. If successful, this would place Macedon Ranges on the world stage, along with our regional hosts, and provide legacy opportunities for our region."
"We will use the feedback we received through the recent community satisfaction survey to ensure we are informing the community and engaging with them on matters that are important. Communications and good customer service continue to be strengthened and we know how important engaging with our community is."
Council has now moved to quarterly interviewing which will provide residents the opportunity to give feedback at four distinct times throughout the year. This will also enable Council to respond with more agility to the feedback received.
The Community Satisfaction Survey was undertaken by JWS Research, on behalf of Local Government Victoria.
