QLDC defends new survey to measure community trust in council

The Queenstown Lakes District Council is defending its decision to drop questions about council performance from its annual Quality of Life Survey, which launched on Monday.

Instead, the community will be asked to take part in a separate survey that will zero in on the topic early next year.

In response to Crux, a spokesperson for the council says the existing survey costs $33,000 a year, and the new survey is estimated to cost up to $15,000 a year.

However, the council is backing that it will be money well spent.

The idea to remove the council performance questions from the Quality of Life Survey was pitched to the mayor and councillors by staff at a workshop in July.

At the workshop staff pointed out how much the community "trusts" the council "to focus on the right issues and deliver value for money" had been listed as a priority area for the council's boss Mike Theelen - with no means for measuring achievement.

The council spokesperson says there is "currently a lack of information to assess trust in council, as distinct from customer service and satisfaction".

"The Quality of Life Survey is focused on wellbeing but has included questions relating to satisfaction with council performance and elected members since its inception in 2018.

"Following research and a workshop with elected members, it was determined that being able to measure trust is an important performance measure, and that asking these questions in a survey dedicated to council performance and services would be a more appropriate place for these, rather than including them in a wellbeing survey."

It is a move supported by Queenstown-Whakatipu ward councillor Niki Gladding, although she is clear it was made by management and not elected members, despite the workshopping.

In response to social media backlash to the news the council will not be canvassing locals on council performance this year, Councillor Gladding says "in theory it should work".

"A more comprehensive questionnaire will give people a chance to think about and comment separately on the different functions of the council, and because questions will be function-specific, staff and councillors won't easily be able to dismiss any poor grades - I've watched that happen when workshopping past surveys."

She thinks the new approach "is more likely to result in improvements".

Crux has asked the council whether there are concerns the two surveys run the risk of 'cannibalising' each other, resulting in less engagement as people feel 'surveyed out'.

"This is a risk that’s considered in relation to all consultation processes," the spokesperson says in response.

"In this case, the advantages of separating wellbeing questions from those about satisfaction and trust in council outweigh this."

They say the Quality of Life Survey is "relatively large and covers a broad range of topics", while the new council-focused survey will have questions that are "very targeted that can deliver better insight into what we can act on rather than canvassing high-level sentiment".

"This approach will further enable continuous improvement at council."

Councillor Niki Gladding thinks a separate survey will make it harder for staff and councillors to 'dismiss any poor grades'.

Meanwhile, a seperate survey is underway by the chief ombudsman to gauge how transparent and open the QLDC is.

The council is among three selected by chief ombudsman Peter Boshier for investigation alongside two council-controlled organisations.

Mr Boshier is particularly interested in hearing from people who have experiences of requesting information from the council or attending a council meeting.

The survey is open until Friday, November 29 and can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HYZV8DR

At the same time, the council's Quality of Life Survey is open until Sunday, November 10 and can be found here: https://letstalk.qldc.govt.nz/qol

Crux has also launched an exact copy of the council performance questions from the 2023 Quality of Life Survey, and they can be responded to here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QLDC-Performance-2024

Main image: The Queenstown Lakes District Council offices on Gorge Road in Queenstown.