Consultants report about 500 survey responses, propose focus groups for West Jefferson plan

Consultants working on West Jefferson’s comprehensive plan told the council on July 9 that public outreach has yielded roughly 500 online survey responses and that they plan to supplement those findings with targeted focus groups and a 12-person steering committee.

Matt Stewart, planning director with American Construction Point, said the team spoke with about 40 people at a June 12 in-person event and that “we've had about 500 total responses to the online survey, which is great in our opinion.” Trevor Tropping, who said he is assisting the American Construction Point team, told the council the consultants expect to keep the survey open through the end of July to maximize responses.

The consultants asked the council to provide utility- and parcel-related data to support an existing-conditions report that will inform the comprehensive plan. Council members identified John Mitchell, the public service director, as the point of contact for water and sewer questions and said the Madison County auditor maintains the GIS parcel files; Erica said she had previously emailed parcel numbers and agreed to resend them to the consultants. "I will make sure I put everyone — I'll make sure StructurePoint completely — I'll put on it again just in case and the committee so that everybody has it," Erica said.

Steering-committee and focus-group structure were central to the discussion. The consultants recommended a standing steering committee of about 12 representatives (fire chief, police chief, business owners, long-term residents, pastors and similar stakeholders) who would meet multiple times through the process, paired with a series of one-time focus groups of five to 10 people each aimed at specific constituencies (developers/brokers, city staff, long- and short-term residents, nonprofits and parks users). "These other set of these are one time only — one hour meetings with these representatives of the other groups," Stewart said, describing the approach to gathering targeted perspectives.

To streamline coordination, the consultants proposed biweekly operational check-ins with a small core group (the consultants suggested Carl, Jimmy and Jill Sorensen as local contacts). Attendees agreed to a follow-up Teams meeting on Tuesday, July 28, with 3 p.m. noted as a preferred time. The consultant team said it will summarize survey results by theme and produce an engagement-summary presentation with charts and key findings as an early deliverable.

Council members asked the consultants to probe survey comments — for example, whether comments about parks reflect a desire for more acreage or for more programs and facilities — and the consultants said they would follow up through focus groups and targeted questions. The council also agreed to compile and send names for focus-group invitations and to coordinate with department heads to assemble recommended participants.

The council adopted the meeting agenda at the start of the session and adjourned at 3:39 p.m.