Washington County commissioners reviewed results of an ARPA-funded community opinion survey on county services and economic recovery that DHM Research presented during a work session. Michelle Nies, president of DHM Research, told the commissioners, “We talked to 800 Washington County residents” in a mixed-mode survey conducted in mid-to-late September and available in 11 languages.

The survey found a majority of respondents rate their quality of life as “excellent or good,” but other findings pointed to substantial hardship. “Majority of residents say their quality of life here is excellent or good,” Nies said, while presenters also reported that 65% of respondents said they were worried about their personal financial situation and about one in five were “very worried.” Aster Pitcher, research and evaluation analyst in the Office of Access and Opportunity, said, “about 30% of our community is really struggling.”

Why it matters: the poll was designed as a baseline to measure public awareness of county services and perceived ease of access, and to track economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. County staff said the project is ARPA-funded and that the county will repeat the survey to track trends. Anne Ober, assistant county administrator, told the board, “We do have funds to do 1 additional community survey, so we are going to use the ARPA funds next year as well.” Staff said the next fielding is planned for September 2026.

Key findings and context: DHM said results were weighted to be representative and carry a margin of error of about 3.5 percentage points. Other headline results presented to commissioners included:
- Primary concerns: When asked open-endedly what officials should address, homelessness rose to the top of respondents’ lists, followed by public safety. DHM emphasized that this question (an open-ended prompt) yields different responses than the earlier question asking what single change would most improve an individual’s quality of life.
- Service familiarity and access: Libraries and community spaces were the most familiar and easiest-to-access county services (DHM reported about 86% said libraries are easy to access). Housing services had much higher "don't know" responses (about 40% said they did not know how easy housing is to access) and were rated the most difficult to access by those who had tried them.
- Demographic differences: Older, non‑Hispanic white, English-speaking, college‑educated homeowners tended to report higher quality-of-life ratings. DHM also reported Native American respondents were more likely than the county average to report barriers accessing county services (with the exception of health services, which they reported as easier to access).

Methodology and availability of data: Nies described the instrument as a roughly 11-minute mixed-mode survey (phone and online) with demographic oversamples to allow analysis of smaller groups; the firm said full cross tabs and verbatim open-ended responses will be published in the full report. Commissioners requested and staff affirmed district‑level disaggregation will be provided in the full materials.

Next steps and policy uses: Commissioners and staff discussed how the poll’s priorities align to current budget and program work — including supportive housing programming and a recently passed public safety levy — and how the county can use trend data for budgeting, advocacy and planning. The county confirmed ARPA funds will pay for one more wave of the survey in September 2026 to establish trend lines.

What the survey does not show: Presenters cautioned respondents’ answers to different question wordings can emphasize personal priorities (what would improve an individual’s day-to-day life) versus community priorities (what officials should address) and urged commissioners to review the full cross tabs and verbatim answers before drawing firm conclusions about causality or the effectiveness of specific current programs.

The work session ended with staff confirming data release plans and the board adjourning the meeting.