Know Your Council, launched by the state government on Thursday, puts the community satisfaction with council decisions at 47/100, compared to an average of 54/100. 

Mayor Des Hudson said some decisions would be unpopular with the public. 

“Leadership is not always about making the popular decision,” he said. 

“Making the unpopular decision is sometimes...the best way forward. That may mean the community doesn’t always understand the decision and the rationale.” 

Cr Hudson also recognised that some frustration with council came from a perceived lack of decision-making. 

“I can see that it’s a valid response by the community – there are varied opinions in relation to those big projects, and people say ‘we just want the council to make a decision either way’,” he said. 

“(But) we’ve made a decision on the saleyards, and we hope to make a decision on Civic Hall in the next 12 months as well.” 

The website gave council above average rankings in many areas, including finances, service delivery and transparency, which Cr Hudson said underlined the good work council employees did. 

The attention paid to the new pool was also evident, with the City of Ballarat registering more than three times the average number of health inspections to aquatic facilities than similar councils.  

But another issue where the City of Ballarat was rated behind similar councils, however, was the planning application process. 

An average application takes 71 days to be decided in Ballarat. 

The City of Greater Bendigo takes 54 days on average, according to Know Your Council. 

Cr Hudson, who was at the launch of the website on Thursday night, said it was a valuable tool for engagement with the community. 

“We encourage members of the public to have a look on the site,” he said. 

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