I tabled the following as my last motion for this term of Council during our final meeting on Tuesday 23 November. It puts Council's verge maintenance service on the agenda for the next Budget, given the consistency of complaints we receive from residents over the warmer months, and the costs involved in increasing the service. I'm pleased to say it passed unanimously. As ever, I'd love to know what you think.

MOTION: That a report be brought back to the March 2022 Ordinary Council Meeting on service standards for grass verge mowing, including consideration of how the Sustainable Streets program will contribute to this. 

Background

Last summer, there were numerous complaints about the frequency and quality of Council’s grass verge mowing. 

The current service standards for verge mowing are every 20 working days from November to March, and 40 working days April to October. With the warmer weather approaching, it would be useful for the incoming Council to consider whether these service standards are appropriate, or if further budget needs to be allocated to deliver shorter turnaround times.

I am therefore proposing that the incoming Council receives a report on its performance in this area that details cycle times delivered over summer, analyses the number of complaints received for our current service standards over summer compared to previous years, and provides options for amending cycle times to be considered as part of the budget process for 2022/23.