Council scores highly in community survey

Published on 24 July 2020

West Wimmera Shire Council has ranked well above the state average in this year’s Community Satisfaction Survey.

The annual survey was done by JWS Research on behalf of Local Government Victoria.

Residents were asked a series of questions about West Wimmera Shire Council, relating to seven core measures – overall performance, community consultation, lobbying, making community decisions, sealed local roads, customer service, and overall council direction.

Council’s overall performance index score was 63, which was down from 65 in 2019.

Chief executive David Leahy said despite the slight drop, West Wimmera Shire Council still measured significantly above average for both the Small Rural Councils cohort and the state.

The average index score for Small Rural Councils was 56 and the state-wide average was 58.

“We are extremely satisfied with the results and confident with the direction the organisation is heading,” Mr Leahy said.

“We continue to do the best for our community. These results reflect that we are on the right track and providing an excellent level of service.”

Council’s highest rating of the core measures was once again customer service, which returned a result of 77 index points.

Council scored 59 index points for community consultation, 57 for lobbying, 58 for making community decisions, 55 for sealed local roads, and 48 for overall council direction.

Every score except one, overall council direction, was above the small rural council and state-wide averages.

Mr Leahy said areas that Council had traditionally scored lower on, like sealed roads, had improved.

Of the individual service area performance measures, Council achieved the highest results in the appearance of public areas (78 index points), elderly support services (75 index points) and waste management (69 index points).

These areas were also Council’s three highest ranking indicators in the 2019 survey.

“Overall, the results are a positive for Council as it provides some guidance as to what services are of highest importance and what level of service people are expecting or satisfied with,” Mr Leahy said.

“Some areas will be difficult to improve on in the current virtual climate, such as community engagement, but we will continue to do the best that we can.”

A total of 400 interviews were completed across a range of demographic groups for the survey.

This sample size reflects the Australian Bureau of Statistics demographic indicators for the West Wimmera Local Government Authority region and is regarded as being statistically valid to represent overall community views.