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will provide valuable information on whether the City is meeting the needs of its residents, <br />which will also help when looking at the next budget. She stated the survey will be a means for <br />the Council to learn how to do a better job for its residents. <br />Councilmember Kuzma asked if the letter can educate on different initiatives, such as the <br />franchise fee. <br />Assistant to the City Administrator Brama stated the survey can be customized so a nonstandard <br />question relating to franchise fees can be included. The other option is to use the primer letter <br />that is sent out prior to the survey and include that type of information and/or educational <br />information. <br />Councilmember Kuzma stated it is important to educate residents on those matters and to <br />determine whether there is support. <br />Councilmember Tossey arrived at 6:42 p.m. <br />Councilmember Johns stated she did not have `sticker shock' because when you annualize it over <br />two years, it is about 50 cents per head. She stated the Council is not accountable if it is not <br />measuring its progress. <br />Councilmember Riley asked if standard questions will be used or questions specific to Ramsey. <br />Assistant to the City Administrator Brama stated if a Third Party Survey is approved, staff will <br />bring forward an RFP process and customized questions can be discussed at the next level. <br />Councilmember Riley asked if staff advocates for a survey of 75 questions or 150 questions. <br />Assistant to the City Administrator Brama stated 150 questions is a lot and may result in loosing <br />some residents from participating. He stated he is not making that recommendation until an <br />analysis is completed. <br />Councilmember Backous stated he wants to be sure that if a survey is conducted, that something <br />will be done with the results. He stated he has a concern with the cost but some of that has been <br />relieved with the new numbers presented tonight. Councilmember Backous noted a prior <br />Council had spent $35,000 on a telephone survey and because the results received were not what <br />they wanted, nothing was done with the information. <br />Mayor Strommen stated she totally agrees. <br />Councilmember LeTourneau stated he ran his campaign on accountability, transparency, being <br />an effective leader, and had made promises on how he would report back to his constituents. He <br />stated to not take advantage of the survey results, would mean he is going back on his promise so <br />he supports using this tool as a way to measure the Council's performance, learn from it, and <br />make adjustments based on the results. <br />City Council Work Session / April 8, 2014 <br />Page 8 of 10 <br />