The City of Sebastian has launched its inaugural public environmental poll as part of the Sustainable Sebastian five-year implementation plan, board members heard on Jan. 6.

Staff (speaker 2) said the poll went live and attracted many responses within its first hour; to manage submissions the city has created a separate inbox for poll replies. Speaker 2 said the poll will remain open into late January with a cutoff in early February, at which point responses will be tallied. Because many of the poll questions solicit open-ended comments rather than structured numeric responses, staff said the responses will be exported into a spreadsheet and reviewed manually.

Board members asked staff to confirm whether the poll includes a question that identifies whether respondents live inside City of Sebastian limits; staff confirmed the survey does ask about residency status and whether a respondent is full-time or seasonal, allowing the board to separate resident responses from out-of-town input.

Several board members praised the poll’s design, particularly the open-comment boxes, and asked staff to circulate the poll link to the board so members can share it with local groups and nearby communities (Barefoot Bay, Fellsmere and Vero Beach). Staff said local media outlets had already posted the poll link and that the Internet/communications team may later consider features such as an on-site chatbot to help direct visitors to board resources.

Staff pledged to provide compiled results to the board after the poll closes and to use the findings to inform future Sustainable Sebastian priorities.