Campaspe Shire Council identified local roads as one of the first services to go through the Best Value process because of the low customer satisfaction ratings. In addition, Council decided to consider parks and gardens plus buildings in the same review.
Council employed the services of CT Management to assist it with the process because, with previous experience in conducting similar consultations, it recognised the need to have an independent interface between Council and the community.
In all 11 workshops were held with participants from all the key stakeholder groups including students from local schools. The most common concerns were further workshopped to determine expectation of service level and response time for action.
The report was used to conduct a gap analysis between community expectations and current service levels. The gap between community expectations and the current service being delivered has been costed at $1.9 million for local roads, $0.2 million for parks and gardens and $0.9 million for buildings.
A focus group comprising community representatives and Councillors has met to prioritise the various activities that make up the gap and develop recommendations to Council on how it can be funded. The focus group has also considered the intervention levels and response times for the major activities undertaken in delivering these services. This will form the basis of a Performance Plan for these services.
Council believes that this process will deliver real outcomes for its community and should assist it in improving low customer satisfaction ratings in the Local Roads area.
For further information, contact Ralph Kop, General Manager Assets and Planning, on (03) 5481 2242.
