Wheelie bins, staff-related services rank highly

Clutha residents continue to praise Clutha District Council’s wheelie-bin service and its direct-staff related services, according to the results of a recently conducted resident survey.

The Resident Survey 2007 was conducted via phone over three weeks in November and December last year. A total of 655 respondents took part, and for the second year running Council’s wheelie bin service came out on top as the highest rating Council service. Direct Council customer-related services took out the remainder of the top five sports. These were library services, service/information centres, visits to Council and telephone calls to Council.

Quality of water supply, roads and footpaths received the lowest average ratings. However, Chief Executive Charles Hakkaart said it was pleasing to note that 79 percent of survey respondents were aware that Council had been consulting on its proposed $3.5 million footpath upgrade programme. This work would be underway shortly and Council would then expect the footpath rating to improve.

As well as Council services, survey respondents were also asked about their perceptions on aspects of the district such as safety and quality of life. Over 80 percent of respondents either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the Clutha District is a great place to live (91%); that Clutha is a safe place to live (87%); that Clutha has good recreation opportunities (81%); that there is a great sense of community where they live (81%); and that they have a sense of pride for the way their area or local town looks (81%).

Mr Hakkaart said it was also encouraging to note that the Resident Survey revealed that four out of five respondents had heard of the ‘Clutha Country – Where Everyone Says Hello’ district brand. Of those just one in five said they didn’t think the slogan represented the district very well.

A copy of the Resident Survey report is available for viewing online by clicking here or at any Council office, library or service centre.

The table below summarises the satisfaction levels for the 27 specific Council services that were asked about. Respondents were asked to give a rating of either 5 (very satisfied), 4 (satisfied), 3 (netural), dissatisfied (2), or 1 (very dissatisfied).

Service aspects	Average Rating
Service aspects	2006	2007	Variance
1. Wheelie Bin service	4.55	4.73	+0.18
2. Library service	4.52	4.66	+0.14
3. Service or information centre	4.49	4.59	+0.10
4. Visit/s to council (treatment)	4.40	4.51	+0.11
5. telephone call/s to council (treatment)	4.31	4.29	-0.02
6. sewerage supply	4.22	4.28	+0.06
7. Skip services	4.17	4.25	+0.08
8. Community centre or hall	4.18	4.20	+0.02
9. Cemeteries	4.08	4.15	+0.07
10. Playgrounds	4.04	4.09	+0.05
11. Reliability of water supply	4.00	4.06	+0.06
12. Sportsgrounds	3.98	4.06	+0.08
13. Parks and reserves	3.98	4.05	+0.07
14. Contacting council by post (Timeliness of response)	4.06	3.94	-0.12
15. Mt Cooee Landfill Station	3.74	3.85	+0.11
16. Storm water services	3.69	3.63	-0.06
17. Local sealed roads	3.44	3.63	+0.19
18. The overall performance of the Clutha District Council	3.64	3.62	-0.02
19. Swimming pools	3.56	3.60	+0.04
20. Local decision-making and planning by community boards	3.45	3.51	+0.06
21. The decision-making, planning and leadership of the mayor and councillors	3.42	3.49	+0.07
22. Public toilets	3.49	3.47	-0.02
23. The effectiveness and advice from Council management and staff	3.44	3.47	+0.03
24. Quality of water supply	3.20	3.33	+0.13
25. Local roads	3.37	3.28	-0.09
26. Local gravel roads	2.84	3.01	+0.17
27. Footpaths	2.83	2.81	-0.02

Clutha District Council, PO Box 25, Balclutha