LANCEFIELD and Romsey residents are encouraged to participate in the 2016 community satisfaction survey, if they are contacted by phone during February.
The independent phone survey is conducted on behalf of councils across Victoria by National Field Surveys, and results are benchmarked against the state-wide average of other municipalities, as well as other large rural shires.
Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Margot Stork said the survey gives council a snapshot of how local residents view council’s performance.
“The survey provides us with valuable feedback across a range of service areas to let us know what we are doing well, and also identifies areas for improvement,” she said.
The survey is conducted via telephone interviews to 400 residents in the Macedon Ranges Shire.
The researchers will comply with the guidelines of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which state that they can call between 8.30am and 8.30pm on weekdays and between 9.00am and 5.30pm on weekends. They may contact residents on the ‘do not call’ register as they are carrying out market research.
Last year 69 councils participated in the survey, with interviewing completed at the end of March.
Participating councils are expected to receive their reports at the end of May and will include comparisons to previous years, the state-wide result and the group results of like councils.
Participants will be asked to rate council’s overall performance and also provide feedback on community consultation, advocacy, customer service; and key service areas such as road maintenance, town planning, community development, tourism, recreation, arts and libraries.
Last year residents gave their council a tick of approval in six of the seven key performance measures in the 2017 Community Satisfaction Survey.
Council’s survey results for 2017 showed residents’ satisfaction with council’s overall direction was higher than in 2016, up 52 points against 48. The results put council on par with other councils in the Victorian large rural councils group.
Council’s top three performing service areas are emergency management, waste and the appearance of public areas.
The survey results will be made available on council’s website later this year.
