Gilpin County on Aug. 26 released results of a county-conducted quality-of-life and communications survey showing residents value the county’s rural, small-town atmosphere and recreational opportunities while citing roads, health care access and child care as the most pressing needs.

Melanie Blyler, the county’s community engagement officer, said 260 respondents completed the online and paper survey between June 26 and July 31 — roughly 5% of the county’s adult population. “The biggest ones were the rural small town atmosphere, sense of community, recreational opportunities, public events, sheriff first responders and safety, and fire mitigation,” Blyler said.

Key findings in the staff report and slides presented to commissioners: 32% of respondents said quality of life has worsened over the past five years while 16% said it improved and 45% said it stayed about the same; road maintenance and access to health care ranked highest among needs; residents indicated interest in more information about watershed and forest-health issues; and communication preferences skewed toward email and social media, with many respondents requesting emergency alerts and community-event information more frequently.

Survey respondents skewed toward higher educational attainment and higher household income than the county’s census profile, and the presenter noted responses overrepresent women relative to census gender data. The county reported a margin-of-error of about plus-or-minus 6 percentage points given the sample size.

Blyler told commissioners the survey was conducted in-house with paper and online options and that staff will post the full report and charts on the county website. Commissioners praised the outreach work; Chair Commissioner Hollingsworth publicly thanked Blyler for her “incredible hard work” on outreach and noted the survey’s findings should guide communications and service priorities.

Ending: The county will post the full survey report and continue outreach steps the board supported, including more email sign-ups, more visible leadership communications and public meetings in varied formats.