Ratepayer confidence in the Mount Alexander Shire and its ability to make effective decisions for its community has dropped considerably following a year of upheaval, results of an annual survey have revealed.
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The independent research, conducted by JWS Research, found the shire’s performance rating had plummeted in most categories compared to 2017.
Overall council direction dropped 17 percentage points in the last year, from 54 to 37 per cent, while council’s making community decisions rating fell to 45 per cent – almost 10 per cent below the state-wide average.
JWS compiled responses from 400 shire residents and found the shire’s overall performance rating had dropped nine percentage points to 49 per cent.
Three councillors, including former mayor Sharon Telford, resigned in the space of four months in 2017-18, with departing councillor Robin Taylor in February suggesting the council had failed in representing the people.
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“It has had an impact on the results,” the shire’s mayor Bronwen Machin said.
“There were a lot of people that were particularly cranky with us – since then we’ve really come together as a council.”
Cr Machin said her role as mayor was to develop the trust and relationships between new and existing councillors.
The Castlemaine Ward councillor suggested the council’s stance on the national same-sex marriage vote may have also contributed to the poor survey results.
Councillors voted against flying a rainbow flag over a council building in September 2017, much to the chagrin of some ratepayers.
Former councillor Tony Bell said some of the behaviour from inside and outside the council toward councillors throughout the flag debate had been “disgraceful”.
The council has since developed a flags policy and created a LGBTIQ roundtable.
Cr Machin said the survey results indicated younger people were “not happy” with council.
The shire released the survey results on Thursday, significantly later than other councils who engaged the same researcher.
The survey was conducted between February and March, when the Victorian Electoral Commission was conducting countbacks and a by-election to determine replacements for the departed councillors.
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