Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/04/2014

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Strategies to Improve Communities Introduction Think of this guide as a helium balloon that will help lighten the burden of determining how to put your survey results to work for your community. Most community leaders are buried in information, because running local government requires knowing a lot about your own organization, the organizations of other entities that can inhibit or facilitate your success and your residents' perspectives about what is and ought to be happening. The National Citizen Survey you recently conducted has provided you with reliable reconnaissance about your residents' opinions and activities that you can get from no administrative records or discussions with managers or elected officials. Although the information in your survey is uniquely valuable, knowing what to make of it — as in, what to do with it — benefits from some assistance. First, Take a Deep Breath Pressure mounts to use data wisely. People are saying that data are money. Everyone is talking about how data help managers make the right decisions — to reduce crime, improve the housing stock, expand the tax base, sell bonds. It is true that being data driven does increase the likelihood that your decisions will be better for the community, but we recommend that as managers or elected officials are exposed to valid information about resident perspectives about the local quality of life, governance and reports of residents' engagement in the community, it is best to take off your leader hat and just listen to what the report says. Forget how data driven you must be and appreciate the survey results like you might your favorite music. Take the time to feel your own reaction to what you hear. Rather than pretend that management decisions are made strictly by the numbers and that emotion plays no part in the power of data, the first question a leader should ask of his survey data is not "do they make sense?" but "do they feel right?" Once you've noticed which survey results resonate most with you, then examine them. Do they square with other data you have? Do they confirm what you and others have observed? Finally, as you think about what the survey results mean to you, remember that you are not alone. There are some, probably many, staff who have more direct experience with the areas reported on in the survey. Convene them to participate in the debrief, which may include the one you have with the researchers at National Research Center, Inc. if you have conducted The National Citizen Survey. In that debrief, you will get a sense of how NRC recommends you move forward to put your results to use. Where the Action Is Putting your results to work is precisely why you conducted the survey, so taking the time to absorb the results is the beginning, not the end of the survey process. This Playbook of Strategies provides you with recommendations about how to move forward with your survey results. It includes vignettes of how other jurisdictions used their survey results to improve their communities to help you get started with navigating toward building successful outcomes in your community. The local governments highlighted in this playbook include: • Cartersville, Georgia • Winter Garden, Florida • Paducah, Kentucky • Noblesville, Indiana • Park City, Utah • Boulder, Colorado • Hamilton, Ohio • Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, Washington) • Ankeny, Iowa • Fort Collins, Colorado • Greeley, Colorado • Pocatello, Idaho • Livermore, California • Peoria, Arizona • Longmont, Colorado • Westminster, Colorado • Littleton, Colorado © 2014, National Research Center, Inc. Page 3