RESIDENTS of West Wimmera and Yarriambiack shires can expect a phone call in the next three weeks in which they will be asked questions about their satisfaction with council services.
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Yarriambiack Shire Council and West Wimmera Shire Council have commissioned market research agency National Field Services to make the calls to randomly selected mobile and landline phones in the region from Thursday.
West Wimmera Shire Council manager of business and performance Nola McFarlane said the survey was routine practice for Victorian councils and allowed council to follow up on issues raised.
"For example, with sealed roads there is usually confusion regarding problems with state and local roads. So we are able to find out which one it is and action it accordingly."
Ms McFarlane said council generally performed "pretty well" in the survey, which uses default questions from the state government.
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"Generally speaking we have a good relationship with our community going off previous years," she said.
Local Government Victoria's annual community satisfaction survey compiles community feedback on councils in five key performance areas.
This statewide telephone survey collects direct feedback from the community about councils and covers council's overall performance, community consultation and engagement, advocacy and customer service.
Sixty-three councils participated in the 2019 survey, with a minimum of 400 interviews undertaken within each participating municipality.
Participating councils received their reports in early June which included comparisons to previous years, the state-wide result and the group results of like councils.
The results of the survey benchmarked relative community satisfaction levels between similar groupings of councils.
West Wimmera Shire Council and Yarriambiack Shire Council are categorised as a small rural shire council under the department's definitions.
The 2019 report showed a trend of declining satisfaction among residents of small rural shires in regards to the overall performance of their councils.
Performance ratings for waste management also declined significantly by three points for large and small rural councils (index scores of 64 and 66).
Hindmarsh Shire Council, Horsham Rural City Council and Northern Grampians Shire Council have not yet announced the dates for their surveys.
What do you think your council could do better?
Eliza Berlage
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
Eliza Berlage made the move to Horsham to report for the Wimmera Mail-Times in October 2019. Originally from Sydney, she has a sociology background and spent two years working in the press gallery in Canberra.
