Special Rate Variation Community Engagement Report - Shoalhaven City Council

Path analysis showed that counter services and provision of development application
assessments should be given priority to generate community understandings about Council’s
responsibilities. Once the administration services are reviewed, the focus should turn to direct
services, more specifically services for footpaths, garbage collection and local flooding.
Finally, if information about the services that monitor hygiene standards of retail food outlets
can be effectively communicated to the community, this will generate positive perceptions
towards Council’s responsibilities and in turn lead to higher support for a rates increase.
It is important to note that, despite having no significant impact on community support,
Shoalhaven’s vision is an important variable in explaining the community support. Therefore,
its management should be considered along with management of Council’s responsibilities.
Again, administration services should be given priority to manage the perceptions towards
Shoalhaven’s vision. In particular the effectiveness of counter services would increase the
perceptions towards Shoalhaven’s vision. The effectiveness of services provided for
footpaths, sealed and unsealed roads are important and significant drivers increasing
understandings of Shoalhaven’s vision. Improvements made in these services would lead to
higher community support for a rates increase by creating more positive perceptions towards
Shoalhaven’s future vision.
In conclusion, path analysis provided invaluable information about community management
to generate higher support for the rates increase. It showed that effective service provision
becomes a strong factor for community support if the perceptions towards Council’s
responsibilities and Shoalhaven’s future vision are improved among the community.
Shoalhaven City Council should focus on designing strategies that communicate its processes
and methods to undertake its responsibilities to set community expectations correctly.
Finally, Council should share its plans and vision about the Shoalhaven’s vision with
residents.
This research generates directions for future research that produces insightful information
about the ways to identify community communication strategies. Results of this research
showed the importance of community understandings about Shoalhaven City Council’s
responsibilities and vision. Market research should be designed to derive information about
effective communication strategies that meet the community expectations and improves
dialog and mutual understandings between Shoalhaven City Council and the Shoalhaven
community.
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