Council & Business
1 August, 2022
Councillors note results of 2022 satisfaction survey
The Central Goldfields Shire Council has officially noted and received the results of the 2022 Community Satisfaction Survey, noting there will be improved outcomes in the not too distant future. The Community Satisfaction Survey is undertaken...

The Central Goldfields Shire Council has officially noted and received the results of the 2022 Community Satisfaction Survey, noting there will be improved outcomes in the not too distant future.
The Community Satisfaction Survey is undertaken annually for local government areas and while not mandatory, is a cost-effective way for councils to collate the public’s satisfaction with the organisation.
The survey for the Central Goldfields Shire saw 400 people interviewed in January and February this year, with a vast majority of survey responses coming from those aged over 65.
The survey results relate to the 2021 year and found council’s overall performance result remains consistent with previous years at 53, however is lower than the small rural and state wide results of 58 and 59 respectively.
The overall council direction scored 51, on-par with the small rural score and the appearance of public places scored 71, which is on-par with the state-wide average.
Council’s previous high-scoring category, customer service, recorded a drop from previous years to sit at 58, lower than the small rural and state-wide scores of 68.
Waste management also fell from 69 to 64 according to the survey, four points below the state-wide average.
In moving that council note the results, councillor Wayne Sproull said he was “dismayed” by some of the survey findings, commenting that council needs to continually work on improving.“Some in the community have been waiting to see these results and hoping for some improvements and I admit I was a bit dismayed with the results,” he said.
“Some I can understand and others leave me a little perplexed.
“There is a fair amount of information to absorb in the report and I encourage the community to read it, this may also help with comprehension for phone participants in the future.
“Good, bad or otherwise, council remain consistent with previous years for most areas except cus-tomer service, waste management and sealed roads.
“I can’t really comment on customer service or waste management and only assume there are insecurities around the four streams of waste through the glass container deposit scheme is a contributing factor.
“Ultimately we need to analyse the data further and look to continually improve for our community.”
Speaking during the meeting, councillor Grace La Vella said she had full confidence council’s results in the next survey would show improvement.
“I suspect it was very disappointing to a lot of people but from the outset, I believed the survey would not reflect positive results given it was taken off the back of a two-and-a-half year pandemic, together with a newly elected council without time to prove their worth,” she said.
“I am absolutely confident the community will see positive results in the foreseeable future.
“A great deal has been achieved behind the scenes in the past two years in planning and strategies with some tangibles coming to the surface, however many have not and that is due to time and timing.
“I can confidently say yet again the community will see tangible outcomes in the not too distant future.”
To view the survey, head to www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/Council/Policies-Plans-Strategies-and-Documents/Council-Documents/Community-Satisfaction-Surveys.