Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Tell Us What You Think!
This item was published on 23 Jun 2015
Letters have been sent this week to 4500 Dunedin residents inviting them to take part in the Dunedin City Council’s annual Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS).
DCC General Manager Services and Development Simon Pickford says, “The ROS provides valuable feedback on what Dunedin residents think of their Council and the services and facilities we provide. It is particularly useful as it allows us to hear from the ‘silent majority’ of residents who are less likely to tell us what they think in other ways, such as the Long Term Plan consultation.”
The 4500 residents, randomly selected from the electoral roll, will be invited to complete the ROS online using a unique code. A hard copy questionnaire will be provided on request.
The survey is also open to other residents, who can fill out the survey at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.
Everyone who provides feedback will have the opportunity to enter a draw to win one of five $100 supermarket vouchers.
The survey is open until 17 July 2015. A reminder letter will be sent to those who have not responded about two weeks after the initial letter. This practice has proved successful in increasing the response rate. The survey results are expected to be publicly available by late August.
Mr Pickford says, “We have been using this survey for more than 20 years and it has become a key tool for us to assess how well we are doing and ultimately guide 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 DCC’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 residents.”
The survey, which costs about $40,000, will be undertaken by independent research company Versus Research.
The results of previous surveys can be viewed at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.
Contact Simon Pickford, General Manager Services and Development on 03 474 3707.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
General Manager Services and Development uses SILENT MAJORITY derogatory term. He should know better.
### ODT Online Wed, 1 Jul 2015
Invitations sent for residents’ opinion survey
The Dunedin City Council is targeting the “silent majority” with the launch of its latest residents’ opinion survey. Letters have been sent to 4500 residents, selected at random, inviting them to take part in the annual survey, council services and development general manager Simon Pickford said.
Read more
SILENT MAJORITY, people whose opinions we can ignore on an equal basis to naysayers, Vandervis supporters et al.
### dunedintv.co.nz July 6, 2015 – 7:20pm
Nightly interview: Simon Pickford
Local businesspeople have been surveyed about their satisfaction in dealing with the city council. It’s highlighted room for improvement, and council staff are working to make business interactions easier. Simon Pickford is the council’s general manager of service and development, and he joins us to explain.
Video
### dunedintv.co.nz July 21, 2015 – 5:48pm
Locals respond to the DCC’s latest opinion survey
More than 1000 people have responded to the council’s latest residents opinion survey. The council sent the annual survey to 4500 randomly selected residents. They were asked to comment on the council and the services it provides. All locals were able to complete the survey online, before it closed on the 17th. Detailed results should be published by the end of next month. The council’s used the survey for more than 20 to assess its performance and guide planning. Some data is used as an official measure of the council’s performance, for audit purposes.
Ch39 Link [no video available]
Vote spinning by Cull and team.
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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Satisfaction with social infrastructure continues to grow
This item was published on 05 Oct 2015
Results of the survey show an increase in satisfaction with a wide range of general and recreational facilities including: Forsyth Barr Stadium (up 5% to 83%); the Ice Stadium (up 11% to 82%); Dunedin’s Chinese Garden (up 4% to 73%); and winter sports fields (up 7% to 81%).
Satisfaction was highest with the Dunedin Botanic Garden, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin Public Libraries and rubbish collection – with satisfaction scores of more than 90% in these areas.
Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says, “These results reinforce the range and quality of facilities our community enjoys. If Council wants to help make Dunedin an attractive place to live, work, study and visit then modest investment in our social infrastructure is necessary. The survey results show that we are getting that balance right.”
Mr Cull says it is also encouraging to see a boost in residents’ satisfaction with economic development and promotion this year.
“This is an area where the Council has been putting in a concerted effort. Residents consistently rate economic development as the city’s top priority and while there is still work to be done, we’re delivering a little bit more on that each year.”
Results of the survey also show 50% of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the DCC’s overall performance. This is down on last year’s record of 58%. However a result of 50% or above has been maintained for the past three years, well above the results in the five years prior to 2012/13.
Many of the downward movements in individual results are related to communications.
Dunedin City Council General Manager Services and Development Simon Pickford says, “The survey period coincided with the recovery from the June floods and it seems the difficulty many people had in communicating with us during that event affected the overall result. For example, satisfaction with our contact centre increased by 9% last year, only to fall 13% this year. We haven’t changed our service levels, but they were definitely challenged by demands of the flooding.
“We have learned from this and put appropriate measures and plans in place to ensure better communication with the community during future events.”
There was also a 3% dip in satisfaction around storm water collection.
“While resident satisfaction with individual activities and facilities tends to go up or down a little bit each year, it is pleasing to see that the majority have been trending upwards over the past several years,” Mr Pickford says. “We will use feedback from the survey to identify areas where we can improve the delivery of services and facilities to the community.”
Of 4,500 residents randomly selected from the electoral roll and invited to complete the survey, 1,122 did so – a response rate of 25%, with four out of five responses made online, the highest proportion ever. A further 485 residents independently chose to complete the survey online. The results of the ‘opt-in’ sample are analysed separately but still provide the DCC with valuable feedback about how it can improve its services.
The survey was carried out in late June and July 2015 by independent research company Versus Research, of Hamilton.
█ A report with the full results and detailed information on how the survey was conducted is available at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros
█ Residents’ Opinion Survey 2015 Final Report (PDF, 2 MB)
Contact DCC on 477 4000.
DCC Link
HOW satisfied ????
When DCC floods South Dunedin (June 2015) through direct lack of maintenance to filtration screens at the stormwater pumping stations together with blocked mudtanks et al………….. DCC has yet to admit direct liability for all if not most of the damage to private property ?
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### dunedintv.co.nz Mon, 5 Oct 2015
Satisfaction with the DCC drops
Fewer locals are satisfied with the city council and its services compared to last year. The results of the council’s yearly residents survey shows the drop in satisfaction.
Ch39 Link
39 Dunedin Television Published on Oct 4, 2015
Satisfaction with the DCC drops
Totally agree with your comments Elizabeth. And you can certainly add DCC non-action to the steadily increasing erosion of the St Clair sand-dunes which is of great worry to local residents.
It should be carefully noted that very few ratepayers/surveyista are dissatisfied with free services. Gift horses come to mind.
Any other services however clearly many if not most are dissatisfied.
So the council continues to provide some services free in order to survive that in principle it should be charging for.
Charge $10 to enter Toitu and see what the satisfaction level becomes.
Also a survey at Toitu should be assessing the number of tourists who enter free. On what grounds should ratepayers pay for tourist experiences?
And if you like such largesse, please explain to me how many free museums , art galleries and suchlike should a city of 120,000 provide.
We have the Museum, the Hocken, Toitu, the art gallery etc
Jeff Dickie’s letter in the ODT re the economic benefits of conferences replied to by Cr Chris Staynes makes pertinent the satisfaction BS survey of the DCC. As Jeff says, the Town Hall upgrade got the green light on the consultant’s assumption of there being 36 conferences in 2015. They did an income over expenses assessment on that assumption arriving at a razor thin surplus before depreciation and debt servicing. Factoring in those resulted in a annual deficit of ($4.2 million). On a recent ‘Probus’ tour of the complex I asked our host how many conferences had been and likely to be in 2015, and after a thought she said “eight”. Cr Staynes either blatantly ignores this detail or simply is unaware. So just how he can claim 3690 attendees with an economic benefit boost to our economy of $5.2 million beggars belief. One can only think that he, like the rest of the dopey councillors believe anything that staff put in front of them. This is then fed out to the ‘plebs’ like so much propaganda, much like “feeding the chooks.” Is that ‘corruption’? I think so.
ODT 6.10.15 (page 8)
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Received from Douglas Field
Tue, 6 Oct 2015 at 1:46 p.m.
Classic:
“Mr Dickie claims ‘conferences are massively subsidised by the long-suffering ratepayer’. This is incorrect”
So he goes on at length without casting a hint of a shadow of doubt on Mr Dickie’s statement.
Cr Staynes, simply asserting that someone is wrong isn’t enough. I’m sure if you had a rusty molecule of truth to back up your assertion you’d have painted it with lipstick, covered it in glitter and whipped it out from behind your back on a lace-covered silver salver, accompanied by the traditional cry of triumph: “Nyah nyah, I’m right, you’re wrong, eat my shorts.”
Looks like Jeff Dickie will be dining on more appetising fare for the foreseeable, eh Cr Staynes?
You know something Hype,
I like the “Oakley Doakley” Staynes metaphor.
Life is a caricature and he personifies it.