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Council committee considers funding a community satisfaction survey; mayor reportedly reluctant this year
Summary
Committee members discussed commissioning ETC to run a citywide resident satisfaction survey (last performed in 2020), debated timing because of political perception, and moved to pursue budgeting for a repeat survey while avoiding politicized questions.
Committee members discussed whether council should commission a community satisfaction survey similar to prior Cleveland Heights efforts run by the firm ETC; the last city-run survey noted in committee materials was conducted in 2020.
Members said they had asked the mayor about administration support and were told the mayor was reluctant to run a survey this year for political reasons. Several council members nonetheless said a repeat survey would provide useful benchmarking for services and budget priorities and recommended pursuing the same or similar question set to allow trend comparisons. One member recommended avoiding politically sensitive questions (for example, questions about the mayors performance) or delaying the survey until after the election; another suggested commissioning the survey now but not releasing results until after the election.
Councilors discussed earlier survey items, such as measuring support for enforcing exterior maintenance of residential property, and suggested the survey could help identify services that need funding or operational attention. Shaker Heights and other neighboring cities were cited as recent examples that used ETC and as possible comparators. Members asked staff to obtain cost estimates and to clarify whether council or the administration would run the procurement; one councilor offered to contact ETCs project manager for a price estimate.
Ending: Committee members expressed general support for commissioning a survey for benchmarking and budgeting purposes, asked staff to obtain a cost estimate from ETC, and discussed timing and question wording to avoid politicization; no formal procurement or budget allocation was approved at the meeting.
