Manningham residents have given their local Council an overall thumbs up in two independent customer satisfaction research pieces, the 2019 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey and Manningham’s independently commissioned 2019 Citizen Connect research.
The annual Victoria Community Satisfaction Survey, conducted by phone throughout February and March, with 400 randomly selected Manningham residents and ratepayers saw Manningham receive an index score of 67 for overall council performance, one point higher than last year and on par with other metropolitan councils in Melbourne. Index scores are measured out of 100.
In this state-wide survey Council’s top three performing service areas were waste management, recreational facilities and emergency and disaster management. Our customer service scores are strong and gradually trending upwards. Council is looking to improve in the areas of town planning policy and in community engagement and decision making.
Manningham’s Citizen Connect research, was conducted by an independent market research agency with 500 randomly selected customers who have contacted Council in the last 12 months. The results showed an overall improvement from 2017 and were consistent with the Community Satisfaction Survey results.
Almost three quarters of Council’s customers are satisfied with the service and often their contact with Council takes less effort than expected. Council is very pleased with the significant increase in the number of customers who are very satisfied with Council staff treating them with courtesy and respect and with Council being accessible. Council is intending to work on the time it takes to resolve issues and how to keep customers up to date with progress when issues are more complex.
Manningham Mayor Cr Paula Piccinini said the results showed residents’ trust in Council continued to grow and this is an indication that we are on the right track, listening and serving our community,” she said.
“We hope to increase our score on the state-wide survey again in the coming year. We know we are ahead of the Victorian overall index score for satisfaction, we would like to move ahead relative to the metropolitan group of councils as well.”
Cr Piccinini said the Citizen Connect research in particular helped Manningham keep an eye on how its customer experiences were evolving.
“We are always looking at ways to improve our customers’ experience,” she said.
“Thank you to those community members who gave their time to participate in both surveys.”
For more information, please visit YourSay Manningham.
