Politics & Government
How Do You Like Royal Oak? City Launches Survey to Find Out Residents' Satisfaction
Survey feedback will be used to help city officials make potential decisions, including whether or not to sell less-used city parks.
The City of Royal Oak is conducting citywide research to measure satisfaction with its employees and services.
The mailed survey from Cobalt Community Research – a Lansing-based nonprofit organization – is designed to involve residents in municipal decision making.
"You have been selected to participate in a study assessing the health, quality of life and planning priorities for the City of Royal Oak," reads the survey sent to Royal Oak households selected at random. "Only a small representative group of city residents have been invited to share their views."
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The six-page survey asks residents to think about and then rate on a scale of 1 to 10 everything from law enforcement to the public school system to local government leaders.
The feedback will be used to help city officials "see where improvements can be made that will have the greatest benefit for the community and help ensure tax dollars are being spent wisely."
Find out what's happening in Royal Oakwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Should City sell less-used parks?
In addition to rating city services the survey also asks residents to sound off on the level of interaction between ethnic groups, the range of community event offerings and budgetary actions among other things.
Survey-takers are also asked to chime in on potential decisions city officials are considering, including whether or not less-used city parks should be sold to "improve parks that are used more often" and if they would "support a modest tax increase dedicated to maintain and reconstruct local roads."
Instructions indicate the survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and recipients are encouraged to respond by Dec. 6.
City Manager advises yearly surveys
City Commissioners approved the survey on Sept. 16 by a 4-2 vote. (David Poulton and Peggy Goodwin were nays. Mayor Jim Ellison was absent.)
Cobalt Community Research conducts large national and regional surveys, and uses the results to create an index, said City Manager Don Johnson in September. The index allows Royal Oak to compare itself to other communities of a similar size, in the same region, or across the United States.
The Cobalt survey differs from the survey conducted last year by Public Affairs Research Laboratory (PARL), Johnson said. One type of survey is for setting goals; the other is for evaluating performance, he told commissioners, advising the city to do yearly surveys and rotate the type of survey.
[Read: Swimming Pool, Rodents: Survey Shines Light on Public Opinions]
Sound off
Cobalt’s proposal calls for mailing surveys to 1500 registered voters. The cost of the Cobalt survey is estimated at $12,085.
Didn't get a survey in the mail? Take the survey online above or sound off in the comments!
We'll reveal Patch's survey results on Friday.
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