Councillors discuss satisfaction survey – Golden Plains Shire council briefs

AT the first ordinary Golden Plains Shire council meeting of the new councillor group earlier this week, the results of this year’s community satisfaction survey were noted.

Despite the results being the lowest for the Shire in the history of the survey, Cr Helena Kirby said councillor engagement is “superb.”

“I believe that councillor engagement is just superb, we couldn’t do any better in that regard and yet our community satisfaction levels are one of the lowest,” she said.

“We know that people only engage when it’s something people are interested in.”

The Shire scored 42 on the survey which is one mark behind last year’s result of 43 and statistically significantly lower than large rural and state-wide averages.

The Shire’s best performing service area was waste management with a score of 60, however, this score is significantly lower than the state average of 67.

The lowest performing service areas were sealed and unsealed roads with scores of 27 and 26 respectively.

Cr Kirby said that the survey was taken after significant rainfall and only looked at the opinions of 400 people, and therefore was not the best way to judge council performance.

“Just before the survey we had horrendous rains, we had floods in our shire,” she said.

“I think some people don’t appreciate that hard work that we have put into it.”

Land lease to go for consultation

Councillors unanimously voted to present a proposal by Amplitel to lease an area of land within the Meredith Works Depot to the public for consultation.

Amplitel, acting on behalf of Teletra, are proposing to lease a 100 square metre parcel of land in the north-west corner of the depot for 30 years.

Golden Plains Shire currently has 12 parcels of land being leased for telecommunications infrastructure.

Amplitel have identified the site for future use when funding and a business case have been confirmed.

As the lease exceeds 10 years, council must undertake community consultation as per the Local Government Act 2020.

“It’s important there is appropriate consultation in relation to use of the land,” said Cr Brett Cunningham.