Council reviews proposed 2026 community survey: methodology, cost and question edits to align with strategic plan

Assistant City Manager Rebecca Olson presented proposed updates to the city’s community survey to strengthen alignment with the strategic plan and generate actionable baseline data for the 2027 budget. Key details: a statistically valid phone sample of about 400 residents (±5% margin of error), inclusion of cell phones, a typical completion time of about 22 minutes on the prior survey, and a base budgeted cost of $28,000 for 130 questions with $250 per additional question.

Council debated question‑level edits. Members generally agreed to remove several items tied to the now‑completed sales‑tax referendum (questions 56–63) and to consolidate or reword park‑building questions (26–30), with consensus to retain a single awareness question (question 27) to preserve trend comparability. On housing items (77–83), council favored reframing from a 'too many/too few' approach toward asking whether existing housing options meet residents’ needs across life stages. Staff proposed adding a high‑level safety question and considering multimodal transportation items; members cautioned about phone‑survey length and urged staff to consult the vendor on wording and sampling.

Olson said staff will work with the survey provider to finalize statistically valid question wording, preserve trend comparability where possible, and meet the timeline to run the survey in June and present results in July for budget planning.