By Marcus Uhe
Residents are appalled at the presentation of Casey’s community spaces.
Casey was plagued by issues of long grass in their parks and recreation reserves following storms in late 2021, compounded by staffing and equipment issues with their contractor.
The council (59) has ranked substantially lower than state average (71) for the appearance of public areas in the annual Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey, in results publicised on Wednesday 17 August.
More than 5000 customer requests for storm and tree-related assistance were lodged between October and December 2021, and in an update provided on Tuesday 12 April, the council said there were more than 1600 outstanding requests from jobs received between October 2021 and January 2022.
Other areas in which Casey was ranked below the state average were value for money, overall performance, community decisions, lobbying, and consultation and engagement.
Casey has been without councillors since February 2020 after the State Government passed legislation to sack the entire sitting council, following allegations of corruption linked to property developer John Woodman.
The next election will be held in October 2024.
In positive news for the council, their customer service, waste management and sealed local roads scores were all higher than the state average, while their overall direction tied.
Their customer service score was the highest rating they received.
Chair of Administrators Noelene Duff PSM said the council would use the survey results to identify the feeling of the community with regards to their services and programs.
“It was pleasing to again see our Customer Service score increase by three index points, bringing it close to pre-pandemic levels,” Ms. Duff said.
“We are committed to building and improving all areas of Council’s services and we will use the community feedback provided in this survey to review our services and consider where improvements can be made.”
800 people were surveyed in the City of Casey by independent market research agency, JWS Research.
For more information on the results head to https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/news/casey’s-performance-remains-positive-community-satisfaction-survey
