Satisfaction rises in Colac Otway Shire

COMMUNITY satisfaction with the performance of the Colac Otway Shire has jumped to just below the state average for comparable councils across the state.

The state government-commissioned survey shows the shire increased its score by eight points over the past 12 months to 55, only one below the average score of 56 across other large rural councils.

Shire mayor Joe McCracken said the improved score was driven by perceived improvements in community consultation, engagement, customer service, lobbying and community decisions.

“I’m really proud that we’ve taken some big steps forward, but I’m also mindful that our score of 55 remains below the state-wide average of 59,” he said.

“It’s positive to recognise the progress we’ve made, but Council still has a way to go to improve on performance and service delivery.”

He said councillors recently met with senior officers to understand how the organisation was responding to the areas most in need of attention, such as sealed local roads, unsealed roads and planning/building permits.

Shire chief executive Peter Brown said survey respondents who scored those three key action areas as average, poor or very poor were asked to expand on their responses.

“It was identified that more than two-thirds of the sealed roads cited are not council roads – they’re VicRoads managed roads. This week we’ve addressed not only how we can address the roads we manage, but also how we can continue to advocate to the state government for specific action on its identified roads.

“The bulk of concerns relate to unsealed roads, which are of course managed by council, so we’re reviewing our maintenance schedule for those roads to see if our available resources can better meet community expectation.”

Mr Brown said the low score for planning and building permits had been influenced by community members’ perceptions that the process took too long.

“In my experience that’s something that is quite common in local government. We recognise there are improvements to be made and Council’s planning department is addressing this through its service review and current action plan.

“There’s no doubt the council’s planning and building team has had to prioritise disaster recovery work in recent years, so that has limited the progress that could have been made to further streamline approval processes.”