Agenda - Council Work Session - 06/17/2014

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CC Work Session 2. 2. Meeting Date: 06/17/2014 Title: Review & Amend Preliminary Resident Survey Information Purpose /Background: Purpose of Case: Review and amend preliminary resident survey. NOTE: this case will be reviewed by the Council again in the future. The proposed survey questions /format included in this case is preliminary /draft format. The purpose of this case is to get high level /general /initial feedback from the Council. Staff is not proposing each question and document be individually reviewed; and a detailed conversation to occur regarding a finalized product. Staff is attempting to move this process forward efficiently, this preliminary step will provide Staff with a working framework and parameters. Background (resident survey): During the 2013 Strategic Planning process, discussion ensued related to initiating a resident surveying process. Generally speaking, survey results would benefit the City in a wide range of applications. However, relating to the Strategic Plan specifically, a resident survey allows the City to clearly analyze organizational performance measurements; including, the City's Strategic Plan balanced scorecard. Background (case): Council reviewed this case a number of times, starting in October of 2013, and most recently in April 2014. As a result of these discussions, the Council selected a 'Third Party Mail' survey method for a regular resident survey program; and directed Staff to select a broker and develop a draft survey for Council review. Funding /Budget $7,500 was budgeted in 2014 for a resident survey. Furthermore, the City participates in the State of Minnesota's "City /County Performance Measurement" (CPM) program. Annually, the State allocates about $3,350 to the City of Ramsey for performance measurement related costs. In summary, the City has about $10,850 in funding budgeted for a resident survey in 2014. If additional funding is required, survey questions specifically related to individual departments or enterprise funds can be allocated accordingly. Staff Comments - -Staff has selected the National Research Center (NRC) to perform a "Third Party Mail" survey. This organization is based out of Colorado and is backed by the International City /County Managers Association (ICMA). Quotes were obtained from five firms. The NRC was selected based on competitive pricing, quality of product and experience working with municipalities. - - Attached to this case are two surveys: (1) the original /template survey provided by the NRC; and (2) a revised survey- -known by the NRC as a "custom" survey. - -The revised or "custom" survey includes preliminary changes /amendments suggested by Staff. With direction received from this meeting, Staff anticipates conducting a detailed review of the revised survey; with more amendments and format modifications. - -As the Council may recall, the original /template survey was included in previous cases. Initial feedback provided by the Council was to reduce the size of the original /template survey. The attached revised survey includes about 40 less questions than the original /template survey (hence the white space at the bottom of each page).