County’s citizen satisfaction survey provides important feedback

As part of its ongoing commitment to results-driven management, Pinal County commissioned its first ever citizen satisfaction survey. Dr. Tom Miller, president of National Research Center, presented the survey findings to the Board of Supervisors at their June 16 meeting.
 
The survey methodology called for 3,000 surveys to be mailed to randomly selected households. The 35% response rate was based on 963 completed surveys being returned during the results tabulation period. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.
 
Results of the survey, coupled with the Managing for Results program, will be used to communicate priorities for planning and potential resource allocation. The survey provided valuable information on residents’ baseline awareness of county services.
 
Some key results of the survey are as follows:

· 71% reported their neighborhood was a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ place to live
· 66% considered Pinal County a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ place to retire
· Pinal County was rated a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ place to live by 65% of respondents
· 58% consider the overall quality of life in Pinal County as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’
 
Another question asked the likelihood of remaining in Pinal County and fully 81% expect to remain here for the next five years. Surveys indicated that 79% would recommend living in Pinal County to someone who asks, and 65% expect to retire in Pinal County.
 
Community characteristics that resulted in high ratings included:
· Quality of overall natural environment in Pinal County, 58%
· Availability of affordable housing, 58%
· Openness and acceptance of the community toward people of diverse backgrounds, 58%

The lowest ratings came in for the availability of affordable child care, ease of bicycle travel in Pinal County and employment opportunities.  Miller explained that the ratings for employment opportunities had taken a serious hit in nearly every survey his firm has tabulated in recent months.
 
When asked to rate the quality of county services, high ratings were given for:
· Pinal County Sheriff services at 75%
· Voter experience during the last election at 67%
· Law enforcement response time at 64%

The lowest ratings came for street repairs and maintenance at 29% and code enforcement services (weeds, dumping, over-crowded housing, etc.) at 25%.
 
The county asked people what issues were most important for county leaders to focus on; 89% indicated crime, and 79% indicated decreasing substance abuse among youth. Low ranking priorities were mass transit and increasing the amount of affordable housing.
 
Residents were asked to indicate where they turn for information about Pinal County, its government, activities, events and services. Not surprisingly, 81% turn to local newspapers.  Word of mouth accounts for 75%, and 62% got their information from mailings, publications and online newsletters from the government or elected officials. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter received a rating of just 21%, but that is expected to increase in the coming years.
 
One of Pinal County’s ongoing struggles will be addressing air quality and developing plans to reduce the amount of particulates in the air. The countywide survey indicated that 54% consider the county’s air quality to be good or better, while 34 percent said it was fair and 12% rated it poor.
 
Survey participants were asked, “Overall, how would you rate the quality of services provided by the Pinal County government?” Excellent or good garnered 43%, while 47% said the quality was fair. Ten percent reported levels of service as poor.
 
“Our commitment is to increase awareness of, the quality of and residents’ satisfaction with county services,” said County Manager Terry Doolittle.  “We have good baseline data now, and our task now is to motivate the employees, department heads and elected leaders to continuous improvement.”
 
The survey results and an accompanying PowerPoint presentation are posted on the main page of the Pinal County website at www.pinalcountyaz.gov.
 
File photo