Killeen citizen survey finds streets, code enforcement and crime prevention top priorities; council, staff lay out response

A biennial citizen satisfaction survey presented to the Killeen City Council on Nov. 4 found residents ranked street maintenance the single most important city service while marking it among the lowest-rated for satisfaction.

Robert Haycock, senior project manager at ETC Institute, told the council the survey was administered by mail and online in July and produced 545 completed responses, yielding a margin of error of about B1 4.2 percentage points. He said the pattern of results paired importance and satisfaction measures to highlight priorities the public wants the city to address.

"Street maintenance was the most important," Haycock said, "and it was number 20 in satisfaction. You can't get any more clear in terms of a priority being voiced by the citizens than that." He also flagged code enforcement and crime prevention as persistent problem areas in the survey results.

City officials and department heads responded point-by-point during the council meeting. Killeen Police Chief Fernando Lopez described several near-term staffing and outreach steps already underway: expanding the Community Engagement Unit from six to 10 officers, standing up a downtown unit (with a first sergeant assigned Dec. 1) and increasing traffic enforcement positions from six to 10. He also said the department will begin a outreach product called "KPD Chronicles" on Dec. 1 to highlight crime-prevention and enforcement efforts and to improve visibility of police work.

"We're working on the results of the survey, and we were doing that before even the survey came out," Chief Lopez said, adding that the department plans new staffing coverage for downtown and extended evening traffic enforcement.

Fire Chief Paul Kabinski and other staff emphasized strengths the survey recorded — high satisfaction with ambulance and fire services — while noting equipment and training needs. Chief Kabinski said the department is tracking aging cardiac monitors and other apparatus and will bring budget requests as needs are identified.

Parks and recreation and animal services staff described program expansions to address perception and service gaps. Parks director Michael Murphy said the city is investing in renovations and new park designs, and noted growing youth participation in sports programs. Animal services staff highlighted recent hires and new programs: a part-time veterinarian who began in-shelter surgeries the week of the meeting, expanded adoption events and partnerships with county and out-of-area shelters.

City engineer Brett Zager said the city currently has roughly $300 million in engineering work in progress and asked council to emphasize communicating project timelines and milestones to address perception lags about street work. He recommended use of the city's GIS project map and quarterly reports to keep residents informed.

The presentation and ensuing discussion repeatedly returned to communications. Haycock and city communications staff said residents rely heavily on social media and the city website for local information. Councilmembers pressed staff to "trumpet" successes as well as explain ongoing projects so public perception better matches current work in the field.

Council members also stressed that the survey responses are actionable and urged frequent updates to the community as departments implement changes. "This reflects poorly on us too," Mayor Pro Tem Adams said, calling for more town-hall style outreach and follow-up so residents see how the city is responding.

The survey and the staff'led responses framed the remainder of the meeting: several procurement and capital items that had been budgeted were approved on the consent agenda, and staff committed to more proactive public explanations of projects addressing the survey'identified gaps.