The 2019 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey found community perceptions of Campaspe Shire Council are tracking steadily and on par with last year, bar some criteria.
An independent telephone survey of more than 400 residents measured the community's perception of council's performance with Cr Weston describing some results as concerning.
While most areas of council performance reflected improvement and stability, the overall trend is declining.
The report suggested in the coming year council should focus on maintaining and improving performance in decisions made in the interest of the community, lobbying of behalf of the community and tourism development.
"In comparison to last year’s survey results, council’s performance has remained stable and slightly improved in most of the core performance measures of the survey, including customer service, community consultation and making community decisions," Cr Weston said.
"However, it’s concerning to see downward trends in the core measures of advocating on behalf of the community and overall council direction.
"In comparison to other large rural shires, Campaspe is falling behind in most areas of council performance and this is of concern to us.
"I want to assure the community council is committed to improve."
Cr Weston said the results provide valuable insight into where the community perceives council needs to focus more of their efforts.
In council's favour, traffic management and parking facilities in the shire are providing a more positive outlook with Campaspe Shire scoring above average.
Cr Weston said council will now examine the results carefully and engage with the community to better understand the factors behind the results.
"In examining results and consulting with the community, we will feed this information into our planning and continuous improvement processes so we can further improve service delivery into the future," he said.
The full report of the research results is available on council’s website.
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