For many, the year 2025 has flown by but there is no rest for Council as they tackle a loaded business paper that was all resolved at their mid-year meeting last Tuesday.
One of the many items Council discussed was the Waste Service Review which saw a lengthy report land on the desks of Councillors. The review also considers the recently conducted user survey which indicated a moderate to high level of satisfaction with the waste services in general.
The review provides specific options and potential efficiency improvements but recommends that service levels should remain the same with continued efforts to increase operational efficiency.
Council said the primary works delivered in the Waste Services area include four key delivery items:
• Collection of Domestic Waste, Recyclables, Food and Garden Organics (limited) and Public Place Bins.
• Rural Transfer Stations and Collection.
• Junee Waste Facility and Collection.
• Community Information
The purpose of the Service Review is to ensure that Council are delivering the agreed quality and level of service to our community through increased sustainable performance according to Council.
This can beachieved through:
• Alignment of services to community needs resulting in amore satisfied community.
• Identification of ways to increase income generation and realise cost savings.
• Increasing the capacity of staff to respond to the changing needs of the community.
• Increasing efficiency of often limited resources.
• Adoption of the most efficient mode of service delivery.
• Increasing staff productivity, collaboration across departments and reduced operational cost. The aforementioned Waste Services Survey which was open for seven weeks did not have significant feedback numbers according to Council. Those who did fill it out gave positive feedback for the town and rural collection services, indicating a high level of satisfaction with the service.
People seem to consider the service a business-as-usual service and the concerns raised were primarily around the Junee Waste Facilities.
The three highest priority areas of service for the community into the future, were Waste Collection Services for Domestic Waste, Green Waste Collection and Processing and the Community Recycling Centre. Council said the review is a strategic document.
“It gives a picture of community satisfaction with the collection services and cost trends along with potential service improvements in the future. Waste Services is considered a business-as-usual activity of Council and ensures that the community disposes of waste safely and without negative environmental impacts. Compared to similar council’s usage, levels are high with an estimate of over 50,000 visits during the 2023/24 financial year.”
Options for reducing costs and increasing efficiencies are presented in the review for consideration, based on current operational needs, current cost areas and the user survey. It is felt that reducing services would decrease customer satisfaction and would be challenging from a legislative compliance perspective.
“The waste services are functioning well as a business-as-usual delivery service for the community. In general, community satisfaction from the survey with the service is high.”
Other items within the business paper include a change in Canola Trail memberships. During the opening of the meeting, Mayor Bob Callow briefly discussed positive talks with Junee Correctional Centre since its transition into Government hands. Mayor Callow said, “The Junee Safety Precinct meeting was quite enlightening from the Correctional Centre’s point of view.
“From the Correctional Centrepoint of view, it looks like we stand a good chance of having things like line marking at the Schoolboys Carnival and things like that to continue, so that’ll be good.
“At this stage, they are still working out what they’re doing with the bakery and things inside and out. It’s looking quite positive for us anyway, as a town.”
-Jack Murray
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