Wednesday, June 22, 2011

City of WL Survey shows satisfaction with City Services

Editor's Note - please note that 400 people who participated in the survey out of 11,525 is roughly 3.5% of the total City of WL population or 5.2% of the voting public (roughly 7,700 voters' in the City) and keep this in mind while deciding if the results are in line with the majority of the public

See here for this story from the Rush here

City Council received the results of a 400-person citizen Survey conducted in May at the Council meeting Tuesday evening, and the results show that respondents are pleased with City services.

Respondents were very satisfied with curbside garbage and recycling collection (67% very satisfied), protective (66%) and police services (61%) , and city beautification (62%) Respondents felt there was room for improvement in snow and ice removal (19% not satisfied), sidewalks (16%), and street maintenance (22%).

On the question of what was the single most important issue facing Williams Lake, 37% of respondents answered crime and the safety of citizens, most notably in Boitanio Park. 17% of residents felt the most important issue facing the City of Williams Lake was lack of jobs and poor economy and 7% felt the most important issue was road conditions and maintenance.
Those interviewed also found City of Williams Lake staff friendly (84% rated staff friendliness as excellent, treated people fairly (85%), and willing to go the extra mile (79%).

On City spending, 69% of respondents would advise the City to maintain the same level of services with taxes unchanged, and 18% said improve services with higher taxes. Eight per cent would advise the City or reduce the level of service and lower taxes.

The survey found the favourite thing about living in Williams Lake is the proximity of wilderness, with 24% of respondents giving this response. .

Other favorites included friendly people (13%); recreation and available activities (12%) and the size of the community (11%). The top environmental concern was air quality (31% of respondents), but the majority of citizens are satisfied with air quality in Williams Lake. . Other environmental concerns included wildfires (11%), water quality (10%) and water supply (10%).

“The results of this citizen survey tells Council that we are moving in the right direction, where we need to continue to work hard, and reinforces what we already knew: the City of Williams Lake has an excellent staff delivering excellent services,” says Mayor Kerry Cook. “Thank you to all who participated in the survey – this provides a baseline to measure future results against, and it will assist Council and staff as we go forward in our decision-making.”

The City of Williams Lake contracted Discovery Research of Victoria to undertake a Citizen Survey during the month of May. The survey involved 400 respondents who were contacted by telephone over a two and a half week period and asked a range of questions in order to: Measure citizens’ satisfaction levels with the various City services. Determine the public’s views as to the types of changes needed in City services. Identify areas for improvement. Establish a base-line measurement in the perceived level of service provided by the City. Summarize the public’s views as to the priority of any future operational or facility improvements.

The report is accuarte within ±4.9%, at the 95% confidence interval (19 times out of 20).

The Discovery Research report is available on the City of Williams Lake website at www.williamslake.ca.

For more information please contact:

Brian Carruthers - Chief Administrative Officer
The City of Williams Lake
250 392-1763 or bcarruthers@williamslake.ca

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Editor's Note - please note that 400 people who participated in the survey out of 11,525 is roughly 3.5% of the total City of WL population or 5.2% of the voting public (roughly 7,700 voters' in the City) and keep this in mind while deciding if the results are in line with the majority of the public

This from the guy who thought his dinky blog survey of 19 people would predict the municipal election? Get real.

Anonymous said...

The report is accuarte within ±4.9%, at the 95% confidence interval (19 times out of 20).

This is science.

95% confidence is fairly high and a good overall sampling of residents.

Anonymous said...

The survey is scientifically valid so get over it.

I'm fairly certain that they didn't pick and choose who they called and your Editor's note simply shows you bias.

I'm positive had the results been "negative" you would have endorsed them whole heartedly.