If one was to rely exclusively on council’s take on the state run Community Satisfaction Survey, it would be quite easy to believe that Glen Eira is doing extremely well. (See: https://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/about-council/our-performance/community-satisfaction-survey)
The table included in the above however is the dead give away! On every single important variable council has gone backwards since last year – and in some instances, dramatically! For example:
Overall performance has dropped from 69 to 65
Making community decisions – 62 to 57
Community consultations 60 – 57
Overall council direction – 53-50
Value for money – 65-61
Whilst it is true that in comparison to the metropolitan and state average, Glen Eira does okay, that is irrelevant when we consider that for the past decade at least, town planning, population growth and consultation has shown the largest discrepancy between the importance that people place on these categories and their perception(s) of actual performance. Glen Eira excels in regularly having a 15 to 22 point gap for these categories. So knowing all the areas that council needs to improve on for at least the past decade, we are continuing to go backwards! Put bluntly, council has achieved nothing in terms of addressing its well known shortcomings!
The following screen dumps make this absolutely clear!
And there is also this ‘warning’ –
Nothing would be clearer! Residents are fed up with poor strategic planning, lack of genuine consultation, and importantly, the lack of ‘value for money’ that their hard earned cash is wasted upon!
Glen Eira Debates 
July 21, 2023 at 1:01 PM
Going backwards and fast.
July 21, 2023 at 3:29 PM
Welcome to “McKenzie Land” Shiny on the outside and decaying at its core. It’s a no brainer to see McKenzie’s strategy is to pull back on all services to help pay for all those overly lavish pavilions, new libraries, pools etc. By what I see around my neighbourhood clearing away the mega piles of dumped rubbish can wait for a year or two.
July 22, 2023 at 10:53 AM
Councils are on the nose everywhere. Glen Eira heads the bunch as it has for years and years. When you’ve been told for years on end that planning, consultation, and informing the community is essential and poorly done, then what has council done to improve things? That’s the most important question. I still remember what happened with the residential zones not going out for consultation and being told that if council did consult that it could mean a worse result than what we got. That sums up Glen Eira and its view of listening to the community.
July 22, 2023 at 1:47 PM
Council as the CEO employer should look at her KPI’s and if they are not up to scratch. They should politely ask for improvements or you-know-what comes next. A new vision could work wonders.
Drifting along in the doldrums isn’t going to be a solution to anything.
July 22, 2023 at 3:31 PM
I do wonder about the meaning of the index scores. A person who has no engagement with Council is likely to have a different opinion to one who has had to endure Council’s obduracy about planning permits or consultation or even merely fixing issues they have responsibility for. We also have a situation where officers believe they have the freedom to act as they wish with minimal guidance or oversight from Council (the 9 councillors at the top of the heap in the wake of elections). There doesn’t even seem to be any desire to improve. At least some of us are prepared to speak up, to analyze what they do versus what they say, and highlight poor behaviour. It’s nothing like how a representative democracy should function though.
July 22, 2023 at 10:10 PM
It’s very strange type of governance model we have at this local level. On one hand we have this corporate structure that seems unable to cope with the community it’s meant to serve.
Attached to the side of this monolith like a pimple on an elephant backs are the depowered elected councillors, for most part pretending to represent the residents, whilst making their lives bearable by cosying up to the bureaucrats. The one thing that binds them together is the belief the residents are the enemy.
July 23, 2023 at 8:50 AM
Representative democracy should ensure that our elected councillors have the ability to provide full oversight on council decision making. The local government act denies this. Full power is given to the anonymous bureaucrats and is supported by various council policies that deny councillors access to important information unless agreed to by the bureaucrats. It’s becoming a ludicrous situation where councillors are forced to vote on important issues whilst being deprived of information that should feed into their decision making. Adding to the lack of representative democracy we have certain councillors who will follow the state political agenda at all costs, regardless of its impact on their municipality, or others who couldn’t care or are so lazy they haven’t even bothered to read the flood of documents they are presented with. All of these factors combine so that the power bases stays intact. The victims are the community.
July 23, 2023 at 10:53 AM
Correct summation, (MODERATORS: rest of paragraph deleted)
With councillors being so dysfunctional, so partisan to their mates, not their ward residents. Maybe its better to have the bureaucrats bumbling along, as the alternative is pretty damn ugly.
We certainly do need change. Single ward reps might make a difference in the mix. But I think we will just get the same old conservative fuddy-duddies warming the chamber seats.