CITY OF SHORELINE
SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL
Monday, October 9, 2006 Shoreline Conference Center
6:00 p.m. Highlander Room
PRESENT: Mayor Ransom, Deputy Mayor Fimia, and Councilmembers Hansen, McGlashan, and Way
ABSENT: Councilmembers Gustafson and Ryu
STAFF: Robert Olander, City Manager; Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager; Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director
GUEST: Ron Vine, ETC Institute
At 6:20 p.m., Mayor Ransom called the meeting to order.
Mr. Olander introduced Ron Vine, Vice President of ETC Institute, who will be conducting the citizen survey for the City. ETC Institute conducted the City’s satisfaction survey in 2004, as well as a parks survey and a survey for the Bond Advisory Committee in 2003.
Mr. Olander reviewed how we conduct surveys and why the survey results are useful to us. He said these surveys help us track our performance measures; that part of the data can be collected internally, but some effectiveness measures are better accomplished via a survey. It is also important to measure the public’s perception and satisfaction with our services and level of customer service.
He said his firm employs 70 people, is located in Olathe, Kansas, and the vast majority of its clients are local governments. He congratulated the City Council and the community on a successful bond levy for parks.
Mr. Vine discussed the importance of asking people not only what’s important, but how satisfied they are with the service. This “importance-satisfaction analysis” is critical in helping sort out the difference in rating and in setting priorities.
He described how the survey will be conducted – by mail and phone, with a guarantee of at least 500 responses. They will process as many responses as they receive from a random sample of 2,000 residents. People will receive a voicemail message two days before the surveys are mailed out telling them it’s coming and asking them to fill it out and return it. People will also receive a phone call after the surveys have been out for several days to remind them to send it back.
Deputy Mayor Fimia asked about how they decided how to target for the household income levels and whether it is representative of the median for the community.
Mr. Vine responded affirmatively, noting they use it as a device when looking at the overall demographic distribution.
Councilmember Way asked about a potential scenario in which the age of the person responding is over 18 but they are not head of household.
Mr. Vine said they usually ask for head of household, and that the 18-25 year old demographic is the hardest to reach.
Mayor Ransom noted the high number of questions and the length of the survey.
Mr. Vine said the survey is seven pages, which is the longest survey they will do. He asked Councilmembers to tell him what questions they want to drop or add, as well as their overall goal for the survey.
Mr. Olander said the 2006 survey needs to reflect new Council goals. He suggested adding questions relating to:
Folowing a discussion of the questions, Councilmembers generally agreed on the following:
Issues where there did not appear to be agreement:
Mr. Vine then outlined the next steps. He said he would revise the 2004 survey document and incorporate Council comments. He outlined the proposed schedule and timeline, which includes having a final draft survey by October 19; printing and mailing surveys and follow-up calls through beginning of November; and presentation of the findings to City Council at its November 27 meeting. He cautioned that this is an ambitious schedule and we’ll have to push to meet it.
At 7:25 p.m., the meeting was adjourned.
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Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Director