In a strategy and engagement committee meeting yesterday, councillors voted to gather quarterly reports on residents’ opinions of the city instead of yearly.
This was because there was an "inconceivable amount of time" between the survey and presentation of the results to councillors.
Cr Kevin Gilbert said it took 12 months to do the survey, and then another six-18 months from completion for the council to be presented the results, a position he compared to being "on the back foot with gout".
If the performance results of the council were delivered closer to real time, they could make evidence-informed decisions based on what the community needed, he said.
"Regular updates do allow for regular communication ... That can only be a good thing for all involved."
Despite councillors raising concerns about reporting time of issues covered in the survey, satisfaction with overall council response time increased 12 points to 74% on 2020-21 levels.
Modest increases in satisfaction were recorded in several areas, such as overall satisfaction for services and infrastructure delivery which increased from 49% to 53% and satisfaction with the council, which increased from 40% to 43%.
The performance of the mayor and councillors, and community boards, both increased by 1% to 26% and 33% respectively.
More significant gains were recorded regarding the handling of public inquires, which increased seven points to 69%, as did staff communication, which reached 76%.
However, availability of parking held the lowest satisfaction for the second successive year recording 15% satisfaction, followed by peak traffic flow at 29% and the state of city roads at 30%.
Cr Carmen Houlahan said complaints seemed to be similar to previous surveys, and if surveys occurred she was concerned residents would stop bothering to fill them out.
"It’s the same complaints that people have every time, and I’m not sure we’re addressing them ... but it wouldn’t just be an increased number of surveys, it’s mostly about levels of service," Cr Houlahan said.
The motion was passed, despite Crs Marie Laufiso, Lee Vandervis and Christine Garey voting against the increased reporting.
