Mayor Peter Petty said if councils are going to invest in conducting community surveys they have to prepared to take the good with the bad. Overall he’s pleased with the results of the Iris Research survey commissioned by Tenterfield Shire Council which questioned more than 400 local residents on their degree of satisfaction with a range of council services
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“It’s a good thing for council to go along this route,” he said.
“We always have the catch-cry ‘taking it to the community’.”
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While some priorities may need adjustment he feels the survey results indicate that council is on-track.
“There are a couple of areas of interest that had fallen off the radar, although we’ve always had them on the backburner.”
He continues to be frustrated at criticism that council isn’t doing enough to engage the community in its long-term planning, given the time and effort invested in conducting ‘listening posts’ throughout the shire and providing online opportunities for people to provide feedback.
Often senior council staff and councillors outnumber community members at these events, although Cr Petty said he values the input of those who do participate.
He feels a lack of popularity of such events can be put down to three factors: that they aren’t advertised well-enough (the listening posts are advertised through all media and in letterbox drops), that everyone’s happy (he doubts it), or that people just don’t care.
Still he’s committed to listening to the community more, and taking public opinion into account when making policy.
“Council doesn’t make decisions without reason,” he said.
Water and waste worries continue to plague Tenterfield (and many other councils), with general funds propping up the cost of providing water services and with landfills rapidly approaching capacity.
“We have to make the tough decisions,” he said.
Cr Petty said it would be easy to jack up charges, but council is exploring alternatives such as the waste-to-energy option.
Overall he said the survey was well worth the effort and brings council and community closer, helping with the evolution of council’s operating plan.
There was a three-year gap between this community survey and the last, but Cr Petty would like to see them conducted more often.