The City of Denison Main Street Advisory Board on a voice vote approved a timeline for an online community survey and scheduled a public meeting to gather input on updated mission and vision statements for Downtown Denison.

Board members said the survey will be used to refine a new mission and vision that reflects recent planning work and Denison’s newly earned Great American Main Street recognition. The board set a July 11 deadline for the online survey, a public meeting on July 17 at 6 p.m. for in-person community input, and a target date to present the results for board approval in late July (noted as July 24 during the meeting).

The board’s discussion centered on how to structure questions and whom to target. Donna (board member) summarized the framing materials the group will use, listing the draft “transformation strategies” the board had identified: 1) streetscape, 2) family-friendly entertainment and 3) healthy, clean and safe downtown spaces. Members debated question length, answer format and whether to use segmented questionnaires for different audiences (residents, business owners, building owners and city staff) to get more actionable feedback.

Board members favored short, constrained responses (one-word or short-phrase options) for many items to improve response quality and recommended including a few scale questions (for example, 1-to-5 importance ratings) followed by an optional open-ended “why” prompt for respondents who want to elaborate. The board discussed separating questions about arts, history/Texas heritage and business growth rather than grouping them together.

Donna said the group could test phrasing with ChatGPT for formatting but emphasized the board would decide final wording. The board also discussed adding values questions (for example, preserving a single high-school community identity was given as one example of a community value raised during the meeting) and making sure the survey asks whether the city or private parties should assume responsibility for historic buildings if preservation becomes costly.

A motion to accept the proposed deadlines and steps (survey deadline July 11; public meeting July 17, 6 p.m.; board approval presentation July 24) was made and seconded and passed by voice vote.

Next steps outlined by staff included preparing a shortened survey instrument, distributing it online (staff offered to use Microsoft Forms), tallying responses in time to present summary findings before the July 17 public meeting, and using the meeting to confirm whether any question sets need further refinement prior to final board approval in late July.

The board did not adopt final mission or vision language at the meeting; it approved the outreach and schedule that will produce community input for the eventual statements.