Photo: Shaun Penner

By Shaun Penner

Citizen Satisfaction Survey

City looking for citizen’s opinions on services and operations with satisfaction survey

Jan 14, 2020 | 12:20 PM

The City of Grande Prairie wants to know how its citizens feel about its services and operations.

The City has commissioned a satisfaction survey through the month of January, where the contracted research firm Forum Research will be calling 400 random residents to get their thoughts on municipal services and understand the priorities of residents. That information will be used to help inform City budgeting and planning.

Senior Executive Advisor Candace Bilodeau says there are several core areas they are focussing on in this survey.

“So, the core areas included in the Citizen Satisfaction Survey touch on public safety; so, police, fire and emergency management. Also, public works and utilities, parks and recreation and communications,” said Bilodeau. “But also, the quality of life and the overall city services and satisfaction with city services.”

Citizens all have an equal chance of being selected for the survey, whether they have a landline or a cell phone. The random sample selected by Forum Research is meant to provide an objective and statistically valid sample of the views and opinions of the city as a whole.

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If you are not one of the people selected by Forum for the phone survey, you can also fill out the survey online through the City’s engagement website. Bilodeau says that the results from the online survey will be kept separate from the telephone results, to maintain statistical validity.

“The feedback from the online component will be very valuable in providing feedback as well,” said Bilodeau. “So, it will be applied.”

As municipal services and operations can be a driver of much debate and conversation, Bilodeau thinks, and is hopeful, that they get a lot of engagement through the survey.

“It really is an important tool; in that it allows us to gain valuable feedback on how residents feel about our community.”

“It allows the City to not only identify (its) strengths, but it also allows us to find out what aspects of our city citizens want us to improve upon, whether through increased outreach and education or through operational enhancements.”

She further goes on to add that the ultimate goal of the survey is to see how Grande Prairie compares to other municipalities, as well as provide the city a measuring tool for goal setting and moving forward.

“Our goal is to build citizen satisfaction, confidence and trust in the City’s service delivery and operations management.”

The survey is available until January 31.