Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Tell Us What You Think!
This item was published on 20 May 2014
Letters will be sent out this week to 4,500 Dunedin residents, inviting them to take part in the DCC’s annual Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS). DCC Acting General Manager Services and Development Nicola Pinfold says, “The ROS provides a host of useful information and helps us gauge the views of residents who may be less likely to tell us what they think in other ways, such as the Annual Plan process.”
Last year, the residents randomly selected from the electoral roll were invited to complete the ROS online using a unique code, rather than receiving a hard copy of the questionnaire. A hard copy was made available on request. This was successful in raising the response rate and cutting costs so the same approach is being taken this year.
The survey is also open to all residents online at www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros and will be sent to all members of the Dunedin Peoples’ Panel. To ensure the statistical validity of the ROS results, the responses from the people who were selected are used as the official results.
“We have been using this Survey for 20 years and it has become a key tool for us to assess how well we are doing, and ultimately guiding our planning and decision-making. ROS focuses on how well we deliver our services, and asks questions about residents’ perceptions of our performance. Some of the results are used as official measures of the Council’s performance for audit purposes. But equally importantly, the feedback is used by staff and the Council to guide our thinking about how we might best deliver services to better meet the needs of Dunedin’s residents.” –Nicola Pinfold
█ The Survey is open until 18 June. A reminder letter and hard copy of the questionnaire will be sent to those who haven’t responded about two weeks after the initial letter, a practice that has proved successful in increasing the response rate. The results are expected to be publicly available in late July.
█ Responses from residents who independently chose to complete the Survey online are analysed separately but still provide the DCC with valuable feedback about how it can improve its services.
For the second year, all respondents will have the opportunity to enter a draw to win a prize. Each prize is worth about $150 and three winners will be drawn who will be able to choose from a range of prizes, including vouchers, swim passes or a donation to a charity of their choice. The Survey, which costs about $40,000, will be undertaken by independent research company Key Research. The results of last year’s ROS can also be viewed at www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros
Contact DCC Acting General Manager Services and Development on 03 477 4000.
DCC Link
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
As part of the DCC People’s Panel I’ve just completed the 2014 ROS online (in named fashion). It was supposed to take the average punter 20 minutes. It took much longer than that. Bloody exhausting process.
I think that the results of the “How satisfied are you?” questions could be ambiguous.
Some people could be dissatisfied because too much is being done, will others are dissatisfied because too little is being done.
Absolutely. This is probably the most badly planned and ambiguous ROS I’ve ever completed. The spaces for comments were useful, although too numerous, and took the most time to deal to – how the comments will be processed I have no idea. They also asked for way too much personal information which although fairly standard has no true relevance – so left all that blank. They can work out a few answers I haven’t supplied from my name, as entered to go in the draw to win a voucher for participating. Sigh. Whoever heard of a hater winning a voucher for not being sweet or offering bouquets of roses all over the place.
Not much to be satisfied with unless you are desirous of social engineering, ride a bike to work, like having your time wasted by DCC employees, love paying car parking infringements, love the smells of the city, and finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel for getting rid of your nest egg upon retirement contributing to the DCC debt of $650 million and counting. (Currently your debt as a ratepayer exceeds $15,000) Just the interest on this loan at present is around $1100 annually, and as the cash rate burgeons to the 8% predicted the interest owed annually rises to around $13-15,000 EVEN IF THE COUNCIL DEBT DOES NOT INCREASE.
I’ve done mine. Don’t know what you guys are complaining about. I found it an excellent way to have some serious fun. Not that they will take any notice. They never were. It is only an exercise in self aggrandisment and cherry picking of responses to fit the agenda, which of course is pre set.
Oh yes, fun had. But as you say Calvin, the agenda is in high evidence. Includes some warmth from the spatial plan exercise to boil my head.
Did it take forever to reload to “Next” after you’d written a comment, when you used it? Perhaps it has an automatic “block unflattering comments” filter. [#sarky #paranoia]
Nah, was quick enough to introduce next page for more scintillating downers. Such like stick to core business and reduce staff.
Along the lines of this eh?
“Ignores core responsibilities in favour of brainfarts and bandwagons. Poor to disastrous stewardship, appalling waste of ratepayers’ money, irresponsibility flourishes.”
How well written, and so many boxes to repeat that in!
I did supply some hints of delight. These were few.
I had ‘trouble ticking the boxes’. There were no boxes and I couldn’t find a ‘tick key’ on my keyboard. I guessed that their intention was to ask the respondent to ‘click on the circle’. So I tried that and it left a ‘dot’ rather than a ‘tick’. Oh well (sigh) hope that that didn’t invalidate a well considered response. As the Romans would say ‘o me miserum’ !!