SEQUIM — Are city management and staff doing their jobs?
Why do you live in Sequim?
How should the city of Sequim spend transportation benefit district dollars?
These and other questions are suggested for a community survey the City Council is fashioning to find what services are wanted by people living inside the city and nearby.
A separate survey asking for residents’ opinions on parks and recreation programs and facilities also has been designed by the council and its parks advisory board.
The council last year budgeted $30,000 for ETC Institute, based in Olathe, Kan., to formulate and conduct the survey.
ETC has a 100-person staff that has conducted 3,000 such surveys over the past 40 years, said ETC consultant Ron Vine, who worked with the City Council on the surveys Monday night.
To improve city services, “it is crucial to have accurate information from our customers/citizens,” said a memo from Barbara Hanna, city communications and marketing manager.
The survey will help the City Council establish priorities, she said.
Council members Monday night were joined by members of the Citizens Park Advisory Committee to suggest questions for the parks and recreation survey.
Vine said about 1,200 survey forms would be sent out.
The expectation is that about 600 — 300 inside the city limit and 300 outside — would be completed and returned.
The survey will take about six weeks to administer and another 12 to 13 weeks to process, Vine told the council.
Sample surveys from other cities were studied for questions and approach.
After council and parks board members shared their suggested questions, City Manager Steve Burkett said city staff a∫nd ETC would take the questions and produce drafts.
“When we think it’s ready, we’ll send it to the council for comments,” Burkett said.
The idea, he said, is “to get a statistically valid idea of what the public thinks.”
Suggested questions
Questions council members suggested for the customer service survey included:
■ What are Sequim’s traffic issues, and how would you prioritize them?
■ How should Transportation Benefit District dollars be spent to improve traffic problems?
■ How do you find out what the City Council is doing?
■ What are your shopping habits — small retail or big-box stores?
■ How should the city spend money on charitable services?
The parks board and council came up with questions about parks and recreation facilities, such as:
■ Is it time to move to a programs-based parks system?
■ What types of programs do you want?
■ Should the city acquire land for two more softball fields?
■ Should the city acquire more parkland for future use?
■ Should Sequim consider forming a parks district with Clallam County?
Also recommended was the city sharing its questions with Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center officials.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladaily news.com.
