The comment came from new councillor Russell Lund and seemed to be aimed mainly at returning councillors.
A quarterly update on the Dunedin City Council residents’ opinion survey showed satisfaction in the performance of the mayor and councillors dropped to 17% in the September quarter — just before the election — falling 10 points on the June quarter.
At a meeting on Thursday, Cr Lund encouraged his colleagues not to make excuses for an approval rating he called abysmally low.
"This is on us and let’s hope for a better result in the future," she said.
Ms Barker said she had noticed a pattern of low satisfaction before elections.
"That happens in the electioneering period because, unfortunately, everyone is talking about the current councillors and what job they may or may not do well," she said.
"It usually bounces back after the election and that’s an opportunity for all of us around the table to manage our performance."
There was a change of provider between surveys and Ms Barker wondered if a change of scaling — from 1-10 to 1-5 — might affect results in some way.
Council staff said there had been robust discussions about that and it would be followed up.
Cr Lund said he did not agree election campaigns caused dips in satisfaction.
This was probably the only time many people focused on the council in any detail, he said.
"I think, particularly for returning councillors, we should all look in the mirror."
Cr Andrew Simms urged everyone in the room to "stare this in the face".
"I look forward to a much better result, going forward from here under your leadership, mayor Barker."
Last month’s election brought change to the council — Jules Radich lost the mayoralty, and five councillors lost their seats.
The September quarter survey was the first to use data from new provider EnlightenMe Research.
A report for the new council said it should be noted the first quarter with the new provider coincided with the election campaign period, potentially affecting public perceptions.
Cr Radich, who was mayor during the survey period, highlighted a series of satisfaction metrics had fallen significantly, including the perceived performance of community board members diving by 16 points.
"At least we’re at the lesser end of that bad scale."
Cr Radich noted the supplier change and wondered if there had been a shift in the way questions were asked.
Council corporate policy manager Nadia Wesley-Smith said there had not been material changes to the questions and she did not think there had been a fundamental change in the way satisfaction and dissatisfaction were measured.
The full annual survey was weighted against census demographics, but quarterly results were not and the margin of error was significantly higher for the quarterly updates, she said.
