As a thriving community with many young families, the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley is investing in a range of improved and new facilities. A new youth facility is in the final design stage. This 1.6 million dollar complex has been designed around what young people said they needed. Council has been working closely with young people particularly through its local Youth Advisory Council.
A $2 million childcare facility will increase full time places from 40 to 76. Rather than fix the old centre, a new centre will provide additional places that will be in high demand with the expected additional workers from the Argyle Mine expansion.
In the case of young families moving into the Shire, they usually do not have extended family support hence the increased demand for childcare. To ensure services meet the needs and expectations of the local community, Council conducts regular surveys.
People are asked about Council services and performance.
“This enables us to gauge how we are performing, where we have improved and where there is a need for improvement,” said Shire President, Barbara Johnson.
Conducted every two years, 500 surveys are sent out. An impressive 40 per cent are returned. “These random surveys cover 50 to 60 questions,” said CEO, Chris Adams. “People are asked about Council’s openness and responsiveness. A big improvement in both these areas indicates that Council’s willingness to engage the community in its strategic planning is paying off.”
When Council recognised that it was not getting many survey responses from Indigenous residents, who make up 38 per cent of the population, this was a major concern. To address this, Council has used one to one, person to person surveys, which works much better with Indigenous residents. Council also meets on a regular basis with local traditional owners. From this, issues such as youth services, childcare and recreational needs have been identified.
Displays in shopping centres on issues such as playground design and traffic issues have also been very successful in engaging the wider community.
