5.4. SR 05-11-2009Item #5.4.
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MEMORANDUM
TO: City Council
FROM: Lori Johnson, City Administrator
DATE: May I I, 2009
SUBJECT: Community Survey
Conducting a community survey is one of the items the Council identified that it wanted to
accomplish in 2009. The first step in the process is for the Council to provide direction to
staff including defining what the Council wants to accomplish with the survey. There are
several different ways to approach this project depending upon the Council's intent.
Here are a few of the topics for Council discussion on Monday night to help define the
intent, method, and focus the Council wants for the survey:
Method of Survey:
o In House -City Staff could develop a survey accessible from the City's
website. The survey would be available for residents to complete on-line or
they could request a copy by mail if they did not have Internet access.
o Hire aconsultant - A neighboring community conducted a survey of 400 of
its residents asking 81 questions at a cost of approximately $13,500 in 2007.
This type of survey may offer more statistically accurate results and would
provide professional interpretation of the results; however, that comes at a
significant cost. No funds were budgeted in 2009 to conduct a survey.
o Use other on-line survey services -The City could use Survey Monkey or
other survey providers. The challenge would be to get the survey link to the
residents. This method is very efficient if an email data base is available.
However, the City does not have a data base of resident's email addresses
and some residents do not have email or Internet access.
Number of residents who will be surveyed:
o If the Council wants to survey all residents, the best method is an in-house or
on-line survey. It would be cost prohibitive to have a consultant survey all
residents.
S:\Council\Lori\2009\Community survey 05 1109.doc
Intent and topics:
o What is the intent of the survey? What information does the Council want to
gather?
^ General customer service questionnaire including questions about
how the City is performing in various areas, resident priorities, and
how services can be improved.
^ Focus on specific departments or areas of significance; for example a
survey about City parks.
^ Ask specific questions to address a single item or issue the Council is
considering.
At Monday's meeting, I will have samples of various surveys and survey questions for the
Council to review. I have not included them in the packet due to the volume of material If
you would like to see the samples before the meeting, please contact me. This item will
come back to the Council for review and approval at a future meeting based on input
received at this work session.
S:\Council\Lori\2009\Community survey 05 1109.doc