Kawerau resident satisfaction higher than national average

Results from the 2014 community satisfaction survey show Kawerau residents’ satisfaction with Council’s services and facilities is above the national or peer group averages in 11 of the 15 performance measures.

Council commissioned the survey through the National Research Bureau’s Communitrak service. The survey was conducted by telephone interview of 200 Kawerau residents in January and February this year asking residents a standard series of questions to determine how Council is performing in terms of services offered and representation of citizens. These results are then compared to a national average, a peer group average and previous years’ results.

There were some outstanding results for Kawerau including:
• 100 percent satisfaction with community attractiveness and beautification
• satisfaction with Council consultation and community involvement is 30 percent higher in Kawerau than the peer group and national averages.
• satisfaction with the performance of the Mayor and Councillors is almost 40 percent above the peer group and national averages.
• 48 percent of Kawerau residents rate the overall quality of life in the town as very good. This is at least 10 percent higher than both the peer group and national averages.

Almost half the respondents rate Kawerau as a better place to live now than it was three years ago. This is higher than the last survey and well above the peer group and national averages (31% and 30% respectively).

Kawerau Mayor, Malcolm Campbell, was pleased with the results.

“Kawerau has a vibrant community spirit and I am very pleased to see the survey results back that up on so many of the performance measures. I was most impressed with the result that 81 percent of residents think that the town has a good or very good community spirit which compares very well with the national average of just 74%,” Mr Campbell said.

Satisfaction ratings were very high and above national and peer group averages on a wide range of Council facilities and services including the library, public toilets, cemeteries, rubbish collection, water supply, and sewerage disposal. However, residents did report lower satisfaction with dog control services and Council will look into actions they can take to improve their focus in this area.

“These results are important because they set the standard that drives Council activities. Resident satisfaction with what Council is doing is our best tool to know whether we are on track on not. Knowing areas we are doing well and areas where there residents think we could do better drive our service,” Mr Campbell said.

ENDS

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