Polco presents Moline community and business survey results; residents rate safety and public transit highly

Grace, assistant project manager for Polco, presented results of the National Community Survey (NCS) and the National Business Survey (NBS) to the Moline City Council, reporting that residents rated safety and the ease of public transportation strongly while businesses expressed more critical views of the local economy.

The presentation covered methodology and topline findings. "We received a total of 517 responses," Grace said, reporting a 14 percent response rate to the random-sample NCS, with a 4.3 percent margin of error. She said Polco also ran an open participation survey that produced 125 additional responses stored separately to protect the scientific integrity of the random sample. For the NBS, Polco received 135 responses from about 2,000 mailed business invitations, a 7 percent response rate and an 8.5 percent margin of error.

The NCS asked residents to rate 10 facets of community livability. Grace told the council that utilities and safety were among the highest-rated items and the economy was the only facet that scored below the national benchmark. "About 8 in 10 residents gave excellent or good ratings to Moline as a place to live," Grace said. She also reported strong safety ratings: roughly nine in 10 felt safe in their neighborhood and downtown during the day; about seven in 10 felt safe from violent and property crime, results she said were similar to the national benchmark.

On mobility, Grace said residents gave high marks to the ease of travel by car (about 8 in 10) and praised Metrolink bus service; she said bus service ratings on quality and timeliness were among the highest mobility scores. Council members noted that only a minority of survey respondents had actually ridden the bus in the past year. "Only 15 percent of the respondents have ridden the bus in the last year, but they rated it at 79 percent favorable," Alderperson Timmy said, calling the result a "high public perception of the busing system." Alderperson Schmidt cautioned that ridership is fairly low and survey respondents may skew toward more engaged or affluent residents.

Polco combined quality and importance measures into a gap analysis identifying areas where residents rated services as lower in quality but high in importance; Grace said economy, safety, and inclusivity and engagement were notable gaps. She also described a custom benchmark Polco constructed for communities with populations under 45,000 and median household incomes under $65,000.

On business sentiment, Grace reported more critical views: about 6 in 10 businesses rated Moline positively as a place to do business, while smaller shares gave high marks for the city’s work supporting existing businesses, creating jobs, or attracting new business. She summarized: "Business climate can be seen as an area of improvement for Moline. Workforce support shows strengths, and business growth is slow but mostly on par with the national average."

Council members asked about statistical reliability and weighting. Grace said the NCS results were statistically weighted to reflect Moline demographics using the 2020 Census and 2023 American Community Survey data; she said the NBS is not weighted because reliable business demographic lists are difficult to obtain. "With a 135 responses, I am confident that it is statistically accurate," Grace said, while noting the NBS margin of error widens interpretation windows for specific items.

A custom question about passenger rail produced strong resident interest, council members said during discussion after the presentation. Alderperson Castro reported that 57 percent of respondents were "very likely" to use passenger rail between downtown Moline and Chicago, and that 82 percent believed passenger rail would affect the city positively; another figure cited in the discussion said 87 percent would use passenger rail for personal travel needs. Several alderpersons said the results may support continued advocacy for state funding.

Council members and staff discussed next steps: Grace offered to provide case studies showing jurisdictions that used repeated surveys to track and improve specific services, and council members asked staff to share Polco’s datasets and custom benchmarking lists for further local analysis.

Ending: The council heard the full Polco presentation and Q&A before taking a recess; staff said they would follow up with Polco materials and explore how to use the findings in strategic planning and outreach.