Responses from 400 of Campaspe shire’s 38,000-strong population have led to an extremely poor rating for the shire’s annual Community Satisfaction Survey.
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And the new administration, headed up by chief executive officer Pauline Gordon, took the result on the chin after results landed in the in box of her email on Friday morning.
“That’s fair’’ was the immediate response of the CEO, explaining people of the shire were hurting and angry.
She was not at all blaming the recent events, COVID-19 and floods, for the dissatisfaction level, sharing details of the shire’s decision to include several “out of the ordinary’’ questions in the survey.
Among them were questions about the shire’s handling of the flood event, no doubt a contributor to the eventual 4.9 out of 10 rating result for the shire.
It was the third time in the space of four years the shire had finished in the extremely poor scoring zone, with 4.9 results in 2020 and 2022.
The outlier was 2021, when the 5.5 rating saw the shire climb to a rating of poor.
Only in 2014, since the survey has been completed (starting in 2012), did the shire manage to produce a rating of solid — scoring a six out of 10 for overall satisfaction.
CAMPASPE SHIRE COMMUNITY SATISFACTION SURVEY AT A GLANCE
Of the 6607 people called by Metropolis Research:
• 4840 did not answer.
• 1178 refused to participate.
• 189 asked if they could be called back another time.
That left 400 (from a 38,543 Campaspe Shire population) to complete the survey. Surveys were selected by age and gender to ensure that each age/gender group contributed proportionally to the overall municipal result.
Because Metropolis Research completed a Metro Melbourne survey it was able to compare the Campaspe Shire results with those of the metropolitan area. The results were:
– Metro Melbourne Satisfaction 7.0 (ranked as good)
– Campaspe Shire Satisfaction 4.9 (extremely poor)
In its report to council Metropolis Research noted the Campaspe result was lower than that of other large rural councils.
Other councils of similar populations have averaged 5.6 since 2016, while the statewide average since 2012 is six.
When I raised the subject of where the survey respondents were totally reflective of the shire-wide opinion the CEO said the survey was statistically valid.
“It is how all councils measure satisfaction levels,” Ms Gordon said.
“Our survey asked for a little more information in regard to the flood event.
“We can only go up from here.”
Ms Gordon said while the general message that shire staff were, across the board, courteous it was a failure to “follow up with people and close the loop with customers’’ that was part of the reason for the low rating
“While we stayed stable compared to last year I would have hoped there would have been improvement,” she said.
“We have to own this.”
Ms Gordon said she did not think the result was a hangover from previous administrations, which were widely reported as closed off to the public.
“This is where it is at now and we will now look at what we can do to get back to being a more approachable place,” she said.
“This is what the community thinks and our messaging to staff is that this is not personal.
“We have asked them to take the results in context, there are areas where we need to improve and others were we are performing very well (waste, libraries and the environment).
“We will now work on how to get better.”
Roads was again a priority area in the survey, something reflected in the recent draft budget where the spend on the network of roads in the shire is at an all-time high.
“We know roads aren’t in good condition and that is what the community is taking about,” Ms Gordon said.
“We are out there more than we were in the past and we have recruited new staff into the organisation for that exact purpose.”
Continuing community interaction on the established new Place-Based Plans is also progressing and Ms Gordon is excited at having the chance to hand-pick the key players in her senior management team.
“We have a field of candidates from all over Australia, which will enable us to fill voids that currently exist,” she said.
One thing is for certain, the survey results will not be stuck in the bottom draw of a filing cabinet to gather dust.
“We want to use this data. It tells us what people are saying and where they are from,” she said.
An action plan will be delivered back to the council by the CEO before the end of June — most likely before any of the new directors are in place.
“We need to get onto this. We are here to make a difference and want to see improvement,” she said.
“It is not about waiting for the next person to get in the door.”
Ms Gordon said she felt honoured and humbled to be able to hand-pick her executive, explaining they would only add to what she described as an amazing group of people.
“I am probably the only CEO in Australia that gets the chance to do this,” she said.
“We already have an amazing group of people working at the shire and a majority of those live in the shire.
“The new directors will only add to the mix.”
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor