Colleyville staff outline 2025 citizen survey plan; council offers question changes

Assistant City Manager Adrienne Lothry presented a draft plan for Colleyville’s 2025 citizen survey at the Aug. 19 work session and said staff intends to run the questionnaire online in October and return results by year-end, pending council feedback on draft questions and measures.

Why it matters: The city uses recurring citizen surveys to measure satisfaction with services and to gather public input that can inform budgeting, economic development and recreational programming. Colleyville has conducted surveys for more than a decade and staff said online response rates here historically have been higher than average.

Lothry reviewed timing and format: staff proposed reviewing and finalizing the draft in August, spending September with the survey vendor to set up the online form, going live in October and closing in early November with the option to extend, then compiling results for a report to council by the end of 2025. The survey will include a set of standard questions for longitudinal comparison, alternating topical questions, and a demographic block.

Topics proposed for alternating questions - Economic development and open space: Draft items would ask whether citizens support purchasing commercial property for redevelopment, whether they would pay more in property taxes to enable such purchases, and whether the city should place a ballot question to raise property taxes for that purpose. Similar questions would ask about prioritizing open-space purchases, willingness to pay more in property taxes for preservation and whether a ballot question should be used to fund open-space acquisitions. Staff recommended adding a funding-source question so respondents could compare options (property taxes, TIF, or reserves) rather than only asking about taxes. - Village area development: Council members requested one or more questions to measure resident interest in developing “the village,” including whether residents would visit more retail and restaurants there and views on incentive programs. Staff said the online format allows embedding a short explanatory sentence or map for clarity. - Community events and facilities: Draft questions would ask about attendance and preferences for community events, recreation center use and programming, senior center visits and impressions since its reopening, and library visits and programs (including a forthcoming makerspace). Staff said open-ended response fields will be included to capture suggestions.

Data quality and participation Lothry said Colleyville has about 9,000 households and cited prior surveys with strong response rates (the presentation cited a prior response of about 1,841 completed responses). The survey vendor can flag obvious duplicate submissions; staff also plans to allow responses from nonresidents but to mark and filter them for analysis. For residents without internet access, city staff said respondents can use library or senior center facilities to complete the online survey.

Council comments and proposed edits Councilmembers asked to: (1) include funding-source options instead of only property-tax questions; (2) add a monetary parameter (a cap) for open-space funding question(s) so respondents understand scale; (3) add clarifying text or a map for the village-area question; and (4) expand the rec-center and parks utilization options so respondents can indicate which parks or programs they used and how often. Staff agreed to revise the draft and return with edits; no vote occurred.

Next steps Staff will revise the draft questionnaire to reflect council feedback, finalize vendor setup in September, and run the survey in October with results compiled and delivered to council by year-end. No ordinance or formal council action was required at the Aug. 19 work session.