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Madison reviews 2026 communication survey; staff to craft resident-focused action plan
Summary
City communications staff presented the 2026 resident survey (241 respondents), which showed generally positive weighted sentiment but asked for clearer timing, easier access to information and more resident-centric delivery. Commissioners asked staff to streamline documents, explore a push-notification-capable app and return with an action plan.
Madison’s communications staff presented findings from a 2026 resident survey and asked the commission for direction on an action plan to improve clarity, timing and access to city information. Savannah, the communications presenter, said the survey repeated questions from 2024 to allow direct comparison (241 respondents in 2026, 246 in 2024) and found more residents asking for clearer, easier-to-find information and more timely notices on projects such as utilities and local development.
Savannah framed communication as service: "service is communication and communication is service," she said, arguing for resident-centric materials that center how people use information rather than department-produced outputs. Open-ended feedback flagged that utility descriptions and project timelines were not always clear; many respondents said the information exists but is scattered, making it hard to find a single source of truth for agendas, minutes or resolutions.
Key preferences and findings: staff reported roughly 51.7% of respondents wanted more information; survey questions about preferred channels allowed multiple selections (so percentages are not mutually exclusive). Commissioners noted the survey skewed toward older or longer-term residents, similar to the previous sample; staff said demographic participation was comparable to the prior survey.
On tools and next steps, commissioners and staff discussed options including: improving website searchability for agendas and resolutions, encouraging residents to customize subscription preferences instead of unsubscribing from all texts, and replacing the city app with one that supports push notifications. Staff said existing mobile-app usage is minimal and that a more capable app could support targeted, resident-centric push messages (for outages, service changes or other timely items) while allowing residents to tailor their subscriptions.
Action: staff will draft an action plan that addresses discoverability, personalization of alerts, and pilot approaches (app improvements and targeted text/push notifications) and will report back with a proposed rollout and timeline.
