Article Sphere Logo
News And Society Article

Municipal Opinion Surveys – Assessing and Enhancing City and Community Government Performance

By Expert Author: Howard Deutsch
Word Count: 667 words | Views: 1981 view(s)
Assessing Satisfaction With Municipal Services and Municipal Government – and Being Responsive to Voters

Many cities and towns are run well, some aren’t. All cities and towns can be governed more effectively, regardless of how well they may already be governed. A large part of governing cities and towns effectively is to listen to residents and to be responsive to them, taking action where appropriate.

Municipal opinion surveys (community opinion surveys) enable residents and business owners/leaders to share their perceptions and suggestions about municipal government, specific public issues, and the various services provided to them with their mayor/city manager and city/town council. The results of municipal surveys can also be shared with residents and business owners/leaders.

Mayors, city managers and city/town council members often have to make important decisions with limited information and input from residents and businesses. Residents often do not have the time or inclination to attend town council meetings to express their opinions. Unfortunately, as countless mayors and city/town council members have experienced too late, the first opportunity constituents often have to voice their opinion is in the voting booth, unless municipal surveys are conducted first and the results are acted upon.

Municipal surveys are designed to gather perceptions about many important issues and to aggregate the results to get the pulse of the city/town. Surveys are usually customized to meet the information needs of municipal leaders.

Mayors and town councils are able to learn from municipal survey results and establish priorities and budgets based on feedback from residents, taxpayers and businesses. Municipal surveys provide an easy, proactive and very cost-effective way for municipal government leaders to gather feedback and suggestions from and be more responsive to all of their constituents.

Municipal Opinion Survey Metrics

Survey ratings provide a clear indication of current and ongoing levels of city and town resident satisfaction. Verbatim comments and suggestions provide critical actionable information and insight for achieving results and being responsive to constituents and voters.

Following are some of the municipal services and issues that can be included in municipal opinion surveys.

• Overall satisfaction with services provided by cities/towns
• Adequacy of public recreational facilities
• Maintenance of public recreational facilities
• Availability and effectiveness of youth programs
• Parking availability in the business district
• Road maintenance
• Trash removal
• Frequency of street cleaning
• Snow removal
• Leaf removal
• Police department performance
• Fire department performance
• EMS performance
• Effectiveness of traffic control
• Effectiveness of the elementary school
• Effectiveness of the middle school
• Effectiveness of high school
• Responsiveness of the mayor and town council
• Control of municipal finances and spending
• Adequate public notice of important issues/decisions
• Responsiveness of zoning board
• Effectiveness of municipal clerk's office
• Effectiveness of attracting and facilitating/supporting businesses
• Results broken down by resident/business demographics
• Enforcement of zoning regulations

Examining Municipal Opinion Survey Results by Resident Demographics

We recommend including demographic questions in municipal opinion surveys, enabling residents to identify the section of the city or town where they live, their age range and other pertinent demographic information. This makes it possible to get survey results reports not only for the city or town overall, but also by demographic criteria.

Reasons for Conducting Municipal Opinion Surveys / Community Opinion Surveys

• Municipal opinion surveys provide significant benefits for mayors, city managers, city and town councils and their constituents, the residents and business owners/leaders:
• Enable all municipal constituents to easily and cost-effectively voice their opinions and suggestions
• Mayors/city managers and city/town managers are able to be more responsive to their constituents and be more confident that they know the opinions of their constituents
• Municipal budgets and priorities can better reflect the opinions of voters
• Surveys let constituents know their opinions are valued
• Acting on municipal survey feedback increases popularity of mayors/city managers and city/town councils
• Increase value of municipal budget dollars spent

The best way to understand the value of municipal opinion surveys is to look at the results from an actual survey (see link below).
Howard Deutsch

About the Author:

Howard Deutsch is CEO of Quantisoft, a full service survey company. Quantisoft conducts IT customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, customer opinion/satisfaction, sales force opinion, business risk assessment and other types of surveys. Quantisoft - Cost effective online surveys. Contact Howard Deutsch at (609) 409-9945 or hdeutschatquantisoft.com. Survey Reports Sample Municipal Opinion Survey Reports Survey Information Community/Municipal Opinion Survey Information

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/Municipal-Opinion-Surveys--ndash--Assessing-and-Enhancing-City-and-Community-Government-Performance/182644

 This Article has been viewed 1981 times.
  

Related Videos



 

Related Articles

 
 

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "News And Society" article category.

People interested in the above article "Municipal Opinion Surveys – Assessing and Enhancing City and Community Government Performance" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

 
Change is the only constant, and life is full of it. Everyday something is different, be it something small or something revolutionary. Your life is never the same for two days in a row; in fact it sometimes feels like it's changing with every moment. There are the positive ones, there are the negative ones, and there are the seemingly neutral ones.
Due to our hectic schedules, we hardly find time for our family, let alone caring for aged relatives. For most families, it is not possible to keep them under watch all the time because both spouses are working and they may have to take care of their children too. But what if your elderly relative or parent suffers a bad fall when you are not at home or worse, has a heart attach? Their condition might worsen as time passes, so how can you prevent such situations?
A New Hampshire father was given a speeding ticket on his way to the hospital while his wife was in labor. The trooper escorted the couple to the hospital where their son was born 6 minutes later. The trooper than issued them a speeding ticket.
Racist, religious, and ethnic jokes are generally reprehensible. However, when properly used, they can do much to bring people together rather than tearing them apart. I love racist jokes. If you are shocked by this declaration, you shouldn't be because what I mean by the term is not those disgusting, brutal - and generally false - observations designed to cause offense and injury. These do not qualify as jokes, because there is nothing funny about putting people in degrading pigeonholes.
I recently did an Internet search to find out why polygamy is banned in some places in the world and is not, and even encouraged, in others. Why? Because a few years ago I did a similar search and came up with essentially nothing. Those sites that talked about the illegality of polygamy basically listed where such bans were in effect but gave no reasons why, which of course was object of the exercise. The first time I did the search I was still an Internet novice, so I thought perhaps I hadn't done it right. However this second search, undertaken several years later, turned up essentially the same result.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a place where for over a decade a brutal war known as the African World War has raged killing millions of people. The reason for the fighting is for the control of minerals from the earth vital in the manufacture of electronic parts, computer chips and mobile phones.
Responses are many in online dating. But you decide on and choose the most ideal candidate and fix a date for connection. Many factors are to be considered for this crucial attempt. Persons devoid of minimum experience could ruin the entire effort in impressing the person. They become nervous and begin making silly mistakes. When you encounter a woman on a first date the lady anticipates you to appear impressive, clear thinking and speaking capability. The body language is quiet expressive about you attitude and behavior.
Article Directory Home All Categories News And Society Municipal Opinion Surveys – Assessing and Enhancing City and Community Government Performance
 

Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search!
 
Copyright © 2005 - by Larry Lim, Singapore - Article Search Engine Directory at ArticleSphere.com™
All Rights Reserved Worldwide. All Trademarks and Servicemarks are the property of the respective owners.