Temple City authorizes polling contract and appropriates $56,700 for municipal election research and outreach

The Temple City Council voted unanimously to approve a consultant services agreement with Pinsky Research and to appropriate $56,700 from general fund reserves for municipal election research, community outreach and public education tied to a potential pavement funding measure.

City Manager Cook said he sought authorization to enter into a contract immediately with Pinsky Research to conduct a scientific survey of Temple City voters and residents and to appropriate funds for related outreach work. He told the council the polling proposal has two parts: a traditional random-sample survey of voters and an optional focus group to drill down on survey findings.

Council members asked about the proposed sample size and the polling cost. Staff and council discussed that a 300-respondent scientifically drawn sample can be statistically valid if the consultant ensures demographic representation; staff reported the cost for the 300-person survey would be $29,100 and a single focus-group session would be $7,500. The city manager said he asked for authority to execute the Pinsky contract now and to appropriate funding for a future Grassroots Labs community-outreach agreement; Grassroots Labs would be engaged later and the manager would notify council before finalizing that contract.

After the presentation and a brief question period (no members of the public spoke on the item), Councilmember Chen moved and the council approved the Pinsky agreement and the appropriation by unanimous roll-call vote.

The action authorizes immediate polling to assess community sentiment about pavement funding options (including parcel taxes, sales taxes or bonds) and reserves funding for later public education steps; the council did not finalize a ballot measure or select a funding mechanism at the meeting.