Public satisfied with GDC services: annual report

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

SATISFACTION levels with the services provided by Gisborne District Council remain high according to information contained in the 2016/17 annual report.

The council was told that 60 percent of residents rated the council’s performance as good or better, which represented an increase of 7 percent compared with the previous year.

This reflected higher performances for the mayor and councillors(62 percent,) the council’s overall reputation (59 percent) and value for money (49).Other performance highlights included the three waters programme where overall satisfaction with the water supply reached 87 percent, the highest of all performance measures.

Satisfaction with wastewater systems increased marginally from 64 to 65 percent and stormwater from 57 to 63 percent.

Public facilities rated highly at 75 percent with the War Memorial Theatre and Tairawhiti Museum both at 94 percent and the library 92.

Seventy seven percent of residents were satisfied with the council’s waste management and 84 percent with its recycling services.

There was satisfaction also with the council’s sharing of information on its website, updates via social media and publications. All three increased from the previous year with the website at 72 percent, 71 percent with social media updates and 58 percent with newsletters and consultation documents.

Although the number of admissions for the 40 year old Olympic Pool continued to decline, survey results showed that 73 percent of residents were satisfied with the pool. A business case has been prepared for its redevelopment.

There was a nine percent increase to 49 percent of residents satisfied with how the council spent its rates on services and facilities but that fell well short of the target figure of 60 percent.

Although the overall performance on roading of 59 percent was considered acceptable, aspects identified for attention included cycle safety (35 percent) and the condition of rural roads (36).

The percentage of residents satisfied with the council’s 130 parks and reserves including sports grounds remained the same at 80 and 75 percent respectively. The report was confident that the new five year maintenance contract and the contract to five local contractors to look after townships would increase that.

The percentage of stakeholders satisfied with the council’s community engagement on strategy and plan development slipped from 83 to 69 percent. That fell short of the 95 percent target that might be unrealistic.

The performance and satisfaction measures are due to be discussed at a finance and audit committee meeting on November 30.