Review Proposal for Resident Survey

During the 2013 Council and Staff Strategic Planning process, discussion ensued relating to a resident survey. Staff has since received a proposal and a prototype survey from The Morris Leatherman Company. Both the proposal and the prototype are attached for Council review and discussion.  While $7500 is budgeted in the General Fund for 2014,Staff would like to discuss the merits of moving forward with a survey in 2013, to allow for a baseline of information to be used for strategic planning in early 2014.

Performance Measurement
 The proposed community survey plays a role in the City's performance measurement.  In order to achieve the goals of the Three - Year Strategic Action Plan, it’s critical to focus on results.  The City of Ramsey has implemented a Balanced Scorecard performance measurement tool that will help the Mayor, City Council, and staff be focused on the critical areas of work that must be accomplished each year.  Several of the key criteria for our customers/stakeholders (e.g.,Achieve a 70 percent or higher rating amongst residents’ customer satisfaction for overall public services and safety in the community) will be measured by data gathered by some type of community survey.  In addition, the newly designed Department Plans include appropriate measurements for the respective departments. 
 
Three-Year Working Mission Statement
To work together to responsibly grow our community, and to provide quality, cost-effective, and efficient government services
 
2013-2015 Balanced Scorecard
 

Fiduciary Perspective “If we succeed, how will we look to our property owners?”	Customer/Stakeholder Perspective “To achieve our vision, how must we look to our customers?”
Maintain the City’s AA+ rating (ongoing) Maintain a stable tax levy rate Economic Development Director to initiate economic development efforts in 2013 (ongoing)	Achieve a 70 percent or higher rating amongst residents’ customer satisfaction for overall public services and safety in the community (ongoing) Achieve 8 minutes, 36 seconds or better for average police response time (ongoing) Achieve the ISO rating of 5 in serviced areas (ongoing) Achieve 8 minutes, 39 seconds or better for average fire response time (ongoing) Achieve city’s ratings of 6.5 average of road conditions (ongoing) Achieve a 70 percent or higher rating for business customer satisfaction with Economic Development and Police Business Services (ongoing)
Internal Perspective “To satisfy our customers, property owners, and mission, what business processes must we excel at?”	Learning and Growth Perspective “To achieve our vision, how must our people learn, communicate, and work together?”
Achieve 70 percent or higher satisfaction rating of policy makers by providing timely, pertinent, comprehensive information with options and recommendations to policy-makers and staff by 2013 (ongoing) Monitor Development Review timeline (ongoing)	Achieve 100 percent of revised job descriptions, development plans, and develop a performance rating strategy for employees by December 2013 Achieve a 70 percent or higher rating among employees’ satisfaction with Leadership Team (ongoing)

 
Cost
The cost of the survey will be driven by two factors; sample size and number of questions.  The proposal recommends a random sample size of 400 households and a minimum of 50 questions.  The cost for this 50-question survey would be $13,000.  The proposal indicates that typically a City will have 120-150 questions, costing $18-22,000.  Each question added after the base amount cost $135.

Options
Staff can delay the survey until 2014, in which case information would likely be available around March 2014.  The length of the survey can be kept to fifty questions to reduce cost, focusing on just the metrics outlined in the strategic planning documents.  Also, the City can consider other options, such as a mailed survey which may not be as statistically valid, would incorporate more work by City staff, but would be less expensive.  Other price quotes from other firms can also be obtained.
 

Approximately 15 minutes.

Funding for the survey is proposed to come from the General Fund, and Enterprise Funds allocated by question type.  The City has $7,500 budget for the survey in 2014, as driven by the strategic plan.

For staff to receive direction with regard to the resident survey process.