HomeMy WebLinkAbout7.c. Citizen Attitude Survey / Public Relationsh
Deciltion �{
Resources Ltd.
January 120 1988
Mr. Rolland Hoke
Mayor of Rosemount
City Hall
1367 145th Street East
Rosemount, Minnesota 55068
Dear Mayor Hoke:
Thank you for your recent inquiry into the services provider)
cities by Decision Resources, Ltd. For your information, I have
assembled this kit of materials on our company". It provides a
summary of our capabilities, recent client list, examples of our
work, and several newspaper articles covering a few of our
projects. I hope it provides a good overview for you.
Decision Resources, Ltd., is in the business of reducing
uncertainty for city decision -makers. We are a frill -service
market and survey research firm specializing in needs assessments
and quality of life studies. We provide elected officials and
city staff with unbiased_ information about the attitudes and
expectations of city residents But, beyond just the "numbers,"
we work with city officials and staff in deriving realistic
strategic recommendations based upon the data.
During the past five years, DRL has conducted studies for a wirtr
range of Twin Cities suburbs: Plymouth, Bloomington, Inver Grove
Heights, Cottage Grove, Woodbury, Shoreview, Eagan, Saint'
Anthony, Little Canada, and Roseville are numbered among our
clients. Each study was individually tailored for the needs of
that community. In some cases, economic development has been the
main focus; in others, recreational needs or city services.
Several municipalities were interested in current service or
facility usage data; others wanted guidance for future policy
directions. Very often we are able to combine seriesof
questions into one study and provide answers to multiple city
concerns.
One of the strengths of our company is the ability to
realistically and accurately project current attitudes and
opinions into the future. Because of the many different types of
cities we have worked with, and several Metropolitan Area-widf,
studies we have completed recently, we are able to derive
implications about the shape of future decade for a community.
As you may know, suburbs follow a pronounced "life cycle" - DFL
3128 Dean Court 9 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416 e (612) 920-0337
has worked with municipalities at various stages of their life
cycles. Consequently, we are able to anticipate probable change,
and its affect on residential needs and perceptions, based upon
the present.
Usually DRL is retained to conduct a detailed random sample
survey of city residents, to seek opinions on current city
services, policies, future problems, and changing demographics of
the population. We recommend this method because it is the only
way to assure a. statistically sound representation of city-wide
views. The questionnaire is assembled during a series of
meetings with city officials and staff. We work very closely
with city personnel to assure that the research questions they
have are fully and accurately answered by the survey. After
telephone interviewing by our trained and supervised phoneys, the
company prepares a final written report which assesses the
current state of the city and prospects for the future. We also
verbally present the highlights of the findings to a group
specified by the client and will work with city officials and
staffs until they are comfortable with the data and its
implications.
DRL prides itself on the amount of individualized attention we
provide clients. As part of our contractual arrangements for the
study, we are available for both workshop sessions and
presentations thereafter. Naturally, as questions arise,
telephone aid will be provided on an on-going basis. We do not
believe in dropping the data off, collecting our fee, and
disappearing! If survey research is to be successful, the imple-
mentation of the findings is just as important as the method-
ological quality.
I hope this kit contains the information you need. If there it
anything else we can provide, please do not hesitate to contact
either Diane Traxler or me. We would be most interested in
working with you and the City on this strategic planning project.
It is unfortunate that other municipalities do not approach this
issue with the same care and consideration!
Thank you again for your inquiry.
Sincerely,
•
William D. Morris�Ph.D
President
WDM:bbk
e,ncls.
TO:
FROM:
RE:
(qi1l, of
osena ou n i
City Council and Staff
Rollan Hoke, Mayor
Citizen Attitude Survey
0 21175-14511-1 St W
ROSEMOt N1. MINNESOTA 5506A
612 423-4411
AGENDA ITEM 7(C)
January 14, 1988
Many of you have expressed interest in a professionally done
citizen attitude survey. In order to educate myself to the
benefit of such a survey, I talked with representatives of three
city staffs, Shoreview, Roseville and Inver Grove Hts., all of
which have recently conducted professionally done citizen
attitude surveys. The three cities that I talked to, including
cities of Cottage Grove and Woodbury, have all went through a
vendor called Decision Resources who conducted their citizen
attitude survey.
I would like to share with you a few of the responses from the
three different cities. The city manager of Shoreview felt that
it would have taken their staff years to generate and formulate
questions that wouldn't be bias and to even conduct such an
attitude survey. They were also very pleased with the quick turn
around. Once the survey was formulated and the questions
composed, it only took them two weeks to do the survey and
computerize the results.
Ron Morris of the City of Roseville advised the cost to them for
their survey by Decision Resources was $7,200. He responded the
survey gave them excellent information --demographic Information
and information about services. They also found the results very
helpful in long range planning. For example, he found that they
didn't have good sources of information to the public. He also
found out that the people did not know the focus of economic
development in their community. He was also very complimentary
about the sophistication of the results which included cross
tabulations of responses so you would know who said yes and who
said no; and excellent analyses, as he put it, as he felt they
really dig into the data. tie also stated there is a very quick
turn around once you determine what you want to find out.
Bruce Anderson from the City of Inver Grove Heights said that
they paid $4,500. They were very pleased with the results. He
said that "it's as much data as I've seen for $4,500." He too
was impressed with the way they broke each question down by age,
income level and other components. tie said "it is very
practical, it is not something that is going to sit on the
shelf."
City Council and S sf
Citizen Attitude Survey
Page 2
I talked with Diane Traxler, one of the associates of Decision
Resources. In her discussion she conveyed to me they are very
willing to come out for presentations to the council, to staff or
both. They will come to meetings until everyone is comfortable.
The process generally used is that each department, commission
and committee come up with their vision of what they want to
learn from this citizen attitude survey. By telling Decision
Resources what you want to learn, they pose and formulate the
questions to find out what you want to know.
There are four main components in the assessment:
First Component: The Use Assessment -- general questions about
the services the city provides.
Second Component: Parks & Recreation
Third Component: Development -- questions that help survey where
people shop, where they would like to shop, what kinds of other
development they would like to see or not see.
Fourth Component: Referendum Probe -- would give the city some
background on what kind of tax referendum or bond referendum you
might want to run, whether it would be successful or not, based
on the results of the survey.
While I realize Decision Resources is not the only vendor and
that we need to perhaps look at more, I was impressed with the
willingness of Decision Resources to work with the Council and
staff before the survey is conducted; and especially important,
after, to help interpret it, to work with citizen advisory
committees, and to review the data. There is just a whole range
of different areas with which they are willing to help.
I am convinced a professionally done survey can give us the input
necessary for setting goals and constructing a vision for the
City's future. The action I would recommend at the January 19
Council meeting, Item 7(c), is to recommend to have staff
research various avenues or methods of conducting citizen
attitude surveys.
The Cities of Shoreview, Roseyille, and Inver Grove itts, have all
sent me copies of the citizen attitude surveys and the tabulation
of results if anyone is interested in seeing those.
smj