The City of Airdrie has launched its annual citizen satisfaction survey, giving residents the chance to provide their feedback on municipal services until Jan. 27.
Once again, a third-party research and communications firm based in Edmonton, called Y Station Ltd, is administering the survey. The marketing firm will gather both telephone and online responses from Airdronians to provide a report card to the City.
According to Ryan Johnson, corporate strategy advisor with the City, Y Station uses a telephone call centre to contact residents via both landlines and cell phone numbers within the Airdrie area, along with targeted social media advertisements.
“The targeted social media ads have the City of Airdrie logo on them, so residents can be assured that it’s a legit company that’s working with the City,” Johnson said.
He added residents don’t have to wait until Y Station contacts them directly to complete the survey, and they can have their say online now at airdrie.ca/citizensurvey
“In case you don’t get contacted by our consultant, we have an open online web survey that anybody can go to our website and take,” Johnson said. “We really encourage people to, whether you’re contacted by our consultant or not, go fill out [the survey] on our website as well.”
Johnson said Y Station provides the City with two sets of data each year, including a randomized, statistically valid, and reliable sample from citizens of Airdrie, and one procured from the open online survey.
For the last 20 years, the City has been conducting the annual surveys, and Johnson said staff have developed a deep historical trend of data the municipality can use to assist in important decision-making for the year ahead.
“The information gathered from the Citizen Satisfaction Survey gives us valuable insight on the areas we are excelling in and where we need improvements in City services,” said Mayor Peter Brown in a City press release.
As part of the survey, residents will be asked about their quality of life, important issues facing the City today, as well as their satisfaction rating with individual services and facilities.
Johnson said he urges residents who receive a call or find the survey online to not ignore the request and to take the time to share their valuable feedback.
“The insight we receive through this survey is so important to our strategic planning and budget development,” he said. “We strive for continuous improvement and these results are always a strong indicator of where our residents see strengths and gaps in the level of service the City provides.”
The results of the 2023 Citizen Satisfaction Survey will be presented to council in March. Johnson said the feedback will provide staff and council a report card on how they are performing in their service delivery and also identify areas for improvement.
“They help us better understand the needs and perceptions of Airdrie residents,” he said. “We use these results to inform our strategic planning and budget development for next year and beyond.”
Johnson said his team manages the survey every year, but the actual data collection and presentation of the results are outsourced to Y Strategy. He said Y Strategy is the same team the City has been working with for the survey for several years.
Residents can expect to see similar questions as the previous year’s survey related to residents’ satisfaction with service delivery, the value they feel they receive for their taxes, top issues facing Airdrie, and the overall quality of life in the community.
“We try to keep the questionnaire as consistent as possible year over year, but we do sometimes take a break from one or two questions for a year or two, and then we might reintroduce those questions back in future years,” Johnson explained.
Questions reintroduced this year include three questions specific to communications and public engagement. Johnson said they’ve also added a question to the survey regarding the recent launch of the City’s newly improved website.
“That was a big endeavour last year for the entire organization, so we just want to get the public’s perception on the new website and how they feel it compares to the old one,” he said.
Johnson added the City appreciates all the residents who take the time to share their thoughts and opinions on the survey.
“Thank you to everyone that has responded or is planning on responding to this survey,” he said. “We strive for service excellence at the City of Airdrie and we really take pride in what we do.
“So, we take these results to heart and we greatly value and appreciate all the responses we get every year.”
