General News
30 July, 2024
Council ranks above average in community survey
West Wimmera Shire Council has ranked well above the state average in this year’s municipal community satisfaction survey, conducted by JWS Research on behalf of the state government.
Residents were asked a series of questions relating to seven core measures: overall performance, community consultation, lobbying, making community decisions, sealed local roads, customer service, and overall council direction.
The council’s overall performance index score was 59, which was above the average score for small rural councils (53) and the statewide average (54).
The top-performing sectors were appearance of public areas, elderly support services, family support services, and waste management.
Council CEO David Bezuidenhout said that while it was an excellent result for West Wimmera, there was still work to be done.
“We are pleased with the fact that our overall performance has been well above other small rural councils and the state average," he said.
"However, that will not stop us from trying to improve in all areas, especially our roads.
“We will continue to do the best for our community, and these results reflect that we are on the right track.”
Council’s lowest-performing areas were sealed roads, unsealed roads and slashing and weed control.
"The rating on sealed roads decreased from 53 to 51," Mr Bezuidenhout said.
"Our Advocacy Plan includes the improvement of sealed roads managed by VicRoads, and we continue to push this as hard as possible with the department."
Mr Bezuidenhout said roads remained a big focus in council’s recently adopted 2024-25 budget.
"Improving the condition of our roads and roadside maintenance is essential and we have again allocated extra money in the budget for this purpose,” he said.
Council’s highest rating of the core measures was once again customer service, which returned a result of 73 index points.
"Exceptional customer service remains a cornerstone of our operations,” Mr Bezuidenhout said.
“We are proud that our community recognises and values the hard work of our dedicated staff in this area."
In the past 12 months, about 57 per cent of West Wimmera residents have had contact with the council.
Seventy per cent of those rated their interaction as "very good" or "good".
Overall, council’s performance rated the same as it did last year.
Council’s direction over the past year was perceived to be stable, with 69 per cent of respondents indicating that it had stayed the same, while 16 per cent believed it had improved, and 13 per cent felt it had deteriorated.
A total of 400 interviews were completed across a range of demographic groups.
This sample size reflected the Australian Bureau of Statistics demographic indicators for the West Wimmera Local Government Authority region and is regarded as statistically valid to represent overall community views.