Service standards launched

Banyule Council asks to be held accountable to its own service standards.

Banyule Council, Victoria, has committed to deliver better customer service and quicker responsiveness to its community.

The Banyule Service Promise, launched in November, is the overarching statement of commitment to the delivery of service to the municipality. 

It outlines the type and level of service people can expect to receive, customer’s rights and obligations, how complaints are handled, and what to do when these expectations are not met. 

Amongst a bevy of new and revised service standards, residents, business owners and service providers can expect Banyule Council to:

  • acknowledge all queries within 24 hours 
  • return all phone calls within one business day
  • respond to written queries with advice within ten business days. 

The Banyule Service Promise was developed in partnership with a community reference group and Banyule Council staff. 

The community reference group helped define what were acceptable timelines and five customer service principles that Council must deliver on when dealing with the community, these are: respectful; accessible; consistent; accountable; and proactive.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Simon McMillan, said, “Residents, business and service providers deserve to receive exceptional customer service when dealing with Council, and even though we continue to rate highly on customer satisfaction surveys, we want to keep improving how we deal with the public.

“I am asking the community to hold us to account for our service levels and I welcome feedback about how the organisation is living the customer service principles and performing on our service level commitments.” 

Banyule Council has also committed to publish periodic reports detailing its performance in these and other metrics.