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Council adds aquatics and boards-and-commissions questions to annual resident survey
Summary
The Ames City Council approved several additions and clarifications to the city's annual resident satisfaction survey at its Feb. 25 meeting, including adding indoor/outdoor aquatics usage, clearer boards-and-commissions participation questions, and a language-barrier question.
City staff brought the 2025 resident satisfaction survey discussion to the council on Feb. 25 and invited council additions or deletions to the annual instrument. The survey is a long-running, January-to-October process administered by mail and electronically to a sample of residents and Iowa State students for benchmarking.
Council members approved a motion to add a subcategory to the parks-and-recreation table for aquatics (indoor and outdoor) and to clarify the community-involvement table so that board-and-commission participation (city advisory boards vs. nonprofit boards) is distinct and measurable. The council also approved adding a question to measure whether residents or people they know face language barriers in accessing city services.
On human-service funding the council asked staff to add a question asking respondents to rank or prioritize human-service funding categories (Asset-funded programs) so the city could better compare resident priorities with current Asset allocations; staff will draft a compact version suitable for the survey or consider a short separate outreach if the list becomes too long.
Staff said the student response rate is strong; the overall margin of error has widened slightly with lower response rates in recent years, but the professional statistical vendor reports the instrument remains valid. Staff and council discussed promoting the survey to increase response rate and adding a web-based sign-up and notice option.
Ending: Staff will add the aquatics line, clarify the boards-and-commissions language, include a language-barrier item, and work with Asset staff on a concise, prioritized human-services question to include in the 2025 resident survey package.
