City presents Zen City community survey: satisfaction up, housing and living‑wage jobs flagged

City staff summarized results of the latest recurring community survey conducted through Zen City for the council on Monday, reporting generally high satisfaction scores but identifying affordability and living‑wage jobs as areas for attention.

Angie Sharp, the city’s community engagement manager, told the council the survey ran in May–July 2025 and recorded 447 respondents. The headline question — overall quality of life — produced a satisfaction score of 81 percent, up 4 percentage points from the previous cycle. Sharp said combining positive and neutral responses raises the combined score to 96 percent.

Nut graf: The Zen City results give the council a running, near‑real‑time measure of resident sentiment. While many categories scored highly (parks/recreation, cleanliness, waste and recycling), the survey flagged availability of affordable housing and availability of jobs that pay a living wage as lower‑scoring, high‑impact challenges.

Findings and priorities - Highest positives: quality of parks and recreational amenities, overall cleanliness and maintenance, access to quality education, and quality of waste and recycling services. Sharp noted parks have consistently scored high and that summer engagement events likely reinforced that result. - Lower scores/high‑impact challenges: availability of affordable housing and acceptance of residents of all backgrounds; Zen City’s priority matrix categorized those as “high impact challenges” deserving attention. - Jobs and wages: availability of jobs that pay a living wage scored lower but improved by 5 percentage points compared with the prior cycle; council members discussed connecting the workforce report and local job opportunities.

Sharp also reviewed benchmark comparisons: Bettendorf’s overall quality‑of‑life score was about 8 percent higher than comparable communities and 14 percent higher than the national average, according to Zen City’s cohort analysis.

Council discussion and next steps Councilmembers asked whether the survey can be drilled down to identify specific safety or park complaints. Sharp said free‑text responses (several hundred) are available and staff can extract comments referencing particular topics; Zen City also offers targeted follow‑up surveys that the city can authorize to probe specific issues before goal‑setting.

Ending: Councilmembers asked staff to bring survey matrices and free‑text analyses to upcoming goal‑setting sessions and to consider targeted follow‑ups where the data suggest a need for deeper understanding.