Council committed to improved consultation

Held earlier this year, the survey consisted of phone interviews with 400 residents selected to match the demographic profile of the Alpine Shire according to the most recently available Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates. 

The survey results showed perceptions of Council's overall performance declined significantly in 2023, with all results except Customer Service significantly declining compared to 2022 results.

Council CEO, Will Jeremy, said while disappointing, the results have helped provide additional guidance for areas of improvement for the next year. 

"The report suggests that community consultation and engagement should be a focus in 2023, as this is one of several areas that are now lower than the Small Rural average," he said. 

"Our first step to address this will be to launch our dedicated online engagement platform in spring this year, which will provide community members with meaningful and accessible engagement opportunities on a wide range of Council projects, topics and issues." 

Mr Jeremy said the platform is widely used by Victorian councils, with the aim of increasing participation and supporting Council to make informed decisions based on the knowledge, perspectives and priorities of the community. 

"Our online engagement platform will help us establish and maintain a consistent feedback loop with those who have participated, and assist us to continue making our engagement and decision making processes as accessible, accountable and transparent as possible," he said. 

Other results from the survey saw satisfaction with sealed local roads fall compared with the previous year, however, remains as the one measure where Council is performing better than other Small Rural Councils.  

"A wet winter and spring last year has resulted in a deterioration of sealed road surfaces across the shire, and our team continues to work as quickly as possible to make repairs to our local roads," Mr Jeremy said. 

Going forward, Council has elected to conduct quarterly surveying in the 2023/24 year, rather than the single period of January-March.  

This aims to reduce seasonal or single issue impacts over results, and provide Council with more frequent feedback and opportunities for improvement. 

2023 Community Satisfaction Survey Results 

The full 2023 Alpine Shire Council Community Satisfaction Results report can be read here.