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Charter review commission plans citywide survey, aims for late‑October/November launch with college partners for analysis
Summary
The Charter Review Commission set a near‑term timeline to finalize a city charter survey and agreed to target grassroots outreach and college partnerships for data processing.
The Charter Review Commission agreed to place a revised charter survey on the agenda for next week and discussed an expedited schedule to distribute and collect responses. The chair said the commission wants to "roll out" the survey and reach grassroots communities through door‑to‑door outreach and resident councils. Commissioners discussed using the 2019 survey as a starting point and limiting the questionnaire to roughly 10 questions so it would not be "long and drawn out."
Commission members debated demographic items. One commissioner recommended limited demographic fields (neighborhood, age range, gender and language) to ensure responses reasonably reflect the city without overburdening respondents; another noted that U.S. Census data exist but argued surveying is needed to capture current opinions. The chair asked commissioners to identify target populations and distribution lists.
Members discussed measurable targets. Commissioners referenced a 10% target and gave examples such as 1,000 responses as a realistic initial goal but described higher totals as aspirational. They agreed to distribute surveys quickly and to assess response rates after one to three weeks; "if we have a 100 people responding, then we know we need to do more. If we have 2,000 people responding, we know we've done pretty well," one commissioner said.
To process open‑ended answers and perform statistical analysis, commissioners proposed asking Alvernia University to assign students or a class to input and code results; Dr. Rodney Ridley at Alvernia was identified as a contact. Commissioners also discussed using city media channels, college social media and targeted flyers and a press release to boost reach.
No formal vote on survey content was taken; commissioners instructed staff and solicitor to collate proposed questions in advance of next week's meeting so the group could finalize the instrument and distribution plan.
