The City of Dayton has begun mailing its annual resident survey to roughly 13,000 randomly selected households as part of a scientific effort to measure community sentiment and guide programming, city staff told commissioners.

“The survey will send out about 13,000 surveys to residents. They are randomly selected,” said Nat Gann, division manager in the management budget office. He said the city is working with ETC Institute, the third-party vendor handling mailings and analysis.

Gann said the city hopes for about a 10% response rate—roughly 1,300 returned surveys—to produce statistically valid results, and that respondents in the randomized pool who return completed surveys will be entered into a drawing for a $500 Visa gift card handled by the vendor. He said respondents will receive a PIN so they can complete the questionnaire online if they prefer and that ETC Institute operates translation services for residents who need them.

The city said the survey is anonymous: respondents’ answers are returned to the vendor for analysis and the city receives aggregate results. Gann asked commissioners to tell constituents to watch for the mailing and not to ignore it: “If you see the letter, please don't ignore it and make sure you fill it out,” he said.

Gann said the survey instrument and most questions remain unchanged from prior years so the city can track trends over time. He said minor language clarifications were made but no new questions were added, and that departments review the questionnaire annually for relevance.

Results will be posted on the city’s public dashboard when available; staff said a work session presenting the full 2025 results and trend analysis will be scheduled after ETC Institute finishes its analysis. Commissioners asked about related police-customer surveys; staff said Dayton Police use a different vendor (MyACSON) and that summary results from that vendor have been shared with the city in the past.

Staff also described how residents can verify the mailing: the letter will carry the City of Dayton logo and the vendor’s return address; Gann said his contact information appears on the materials for residents who want to confirm authenticity.

Commissioners thanked staff for the update and said they look forward to the full report when analysis is complete.