Press release
Washington County will seek input with a residential survey of 1,500 of its residents when the mailed survey arrives in mailboxes soon after Feb. 1.
Residents will be randomly selected to participate in the mailed 2013 Residential Survey, 300 from each of the five commissioner districts in the county.
Those selected for the survey will receive a postcard in early February telling them that their household has been selected and when to expect to receive the survey itself. The first surveys will be mailed Feb. 11. For those that do not fill out and return the first survey they receive, a second survey will be mailed sometime in mid-February. It will include a postage paid return envelope.
The county wishes to hear from those who are impacted by county programs, and responses will be used to improve service and to measure the performance of its programs.
The survey is being administered by National Research Center, Inc., but surveys will be recognizable by the Washington County logo. Responses will be anonymous, and National Research Center will not share its mailing list with Washington County. Results will be available in May or early June.
Washington County has done several opinion surveys of residents throughout the past 20 years, which provide county residents an opportunity to rate their quality of life in the county, service delivery, and their satisfaction with county government.
Washington County conducted a residential survey in 2006 through a collaboration with Dakota and Scott counties and, most recently, in 2008, with Carver, Dakota and Olmsted counties. In 2013, Washington County will be administering the 2013 Residential Survey in collaboration with Dakota, Olmsted, Scott and St. Louis counties, which has the benefit of providing cost savings and richer comparative data.
Susan
7:32 pm on Thursday, January 24, 2013
Kris J., I'm curious about the cost of this survey. Any way to find that out? Thanks.
Kris Janisch
10:19 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
I'll ask Susan.
Susan
10:44 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
Thank you, I really appreciate it.
Stillwater is conducting it's own survey of 2000 residents and businesses (about something else) and has authorized $15,000 for it. Besides the fact that this could be done online for signifigantly less, I am curious how much Washington County is spending on their survey, to use for comparison.
Kris Janisch
11:12 am on Friday, January 25, 2013
Just heard back from the county's communications person: The county has authorized $25,000 for the survey.
Susan
12:00 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Wow, I am really in the wrong business! I think I will start a new business conducting surveys and polls, as I cannot believe the profit margins!
I may end up retracting some pretty strong comments I made, but of course not until I check into a couple more things. It seems that Stillwater, surveying more people for less money, seems to be doing it better than the county.
Thanks again, this is good info.
Kris Janisch
12:09 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
No problem Susan.
Randy Marsh
12:58 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
I would be shocked if the county actually gained $25,000 worth of insight or learned efficiencies from the last useless survey it conducted. For a board that constantly pats themselves on the back for low tax rates and other alleged fund conservation they sure throw the money around rather frivolously.
Kris Janisch
1:39 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
The city of Woodbury does its own biannual survey for that amount. But it calls 400 residents at random.
Susan
1:56 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Woodbury pays a company $15,000 to phone 400 people and tabulate the results? Where can I get that job?
Susan
2:00 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
I just answered my own question after following a couple links....it's $25,000, not the $15,000 I thought. Simply shocking!
"The survey costs $25,000 to conduct, according to staff, leading resident Linda Stanton, a regular fixture at council meetings, to question if that is money well spent. She said residents have other avenues to approach city staff and council members with questions or concerns."
Carbon Bigfuut
1:48 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
I once worked for a company that did a national survey of employee satisfaction. The local results were so poor that the company never released the information to the employees.
I hope Wash. Co. does better.
Kris Janisch
1:51 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Interesting Carbon. I will say that people generally love the Wood. http://patch.com/A-gNmV
Carbon Bigfuut
2:39 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Kris, I think Wash. Co. generally does a good job. As for Woodbury, people either love it or hate it. The haters generally don't live there, and use it as an example of "urban sprawl". Myself, I prefer to live in a rural setting - but that's MY choice, and the "urban sprawl" complainers don't like me, either.
Kris Janisch
2:40 pm on Friday, January 25, 2013
Very true of Woodbury. I used to hear all the time when I was at the Gazette: "We don't want to be another Woodbury." But I like it here.
Dawn Christie
3:48 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
Where can the results be viewed of the last study?
Kris Janisch
3:51 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
Not sure Dawn, I did search the county's website but I couldn't come up with anything. The county updated its website recently though, and I've run into a few kinks.
Susan
4:09 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
I have no idea regarding Woodbury, but I know that survey results are sometimes kept quiet as those who commissioned the survey don't always like the results.
Susan
4:10 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
I also have no idea about the county....oops.
Kris Janisch
4:11 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
I actually have a post about Woodbury's biannual survey today. Links to the city's website, where people can see results going back several years. http://patch.com/A-1Cpd
Susan
4:17 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
Good for them...if the tax payers are paying, they should be able to see all the questions and all the results. It's nice to see a city be transparent.
Kris Janisch
4:18 pm on Monday, February 4, 2013
I've found Woodbury to be good about that sort of thing in general.