The Town of Irricana is conducting a community survey this month to better understand the needs, priorities, and level of satisfaction of its residents, as well as to identify possible areas of improvement.
The initial survey – which has a deadline of Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m. – will precede future surveys to better gauge resident’s overall satisfaction, according to Town of Irricana CAO Doug Hafichuk.
He said the intent of the initial survey is to gain some “early insight” into how residents perceive the community.
“It will help inform some more detailed surveys and some other engagement activities in the future,” he said. “But right now, we’re just trying to help focus our efforts in the right place.”
He said the preliminary information garnered from the survey will help the municipality determine where they will spend their time and efforts in the next six months to a year.
"The reality is that I would like to see a more fulsome annual survey, but right now we’re just trying to get some preliminary information and understand what people are thinking, broadly,” Hafichuk said.
The survey, which features five sections and takes approximately five minutes to complete, will help guide municipal decision-making, including capital and operational budgets moving forward.
“A wisely put together budget isn’t just numbers. It tells the story of the community – what you’re intending to do, what your service levels are,” he added.
The CAO said by engaging with the community in this way, it will help ensure that service levels are being met, and helps administration prepare a budget for council’s consideration that is representative of community feedback.
“Longer term, all of these things start to tie together, and it all starts with just getting some good information or at least some good initial information to help build out that plan,” he added.
Hafichuk said the survey is focused on collecting information in three subject areas, starting with information regarding the demographics of the community.
“We get information from the Province, but we want a local sample size to make sure all the data marries up correctly,” he said. “And that we’re really clear about who it is that is in our community and who we are serving.”
A second area of consideration is general feedback on how people prefer to stay informed on municipal matters and engage with council and administration. He said the third subject area is to better understand how residents feel about key lines of service and existing facilities.
“From the CAO position, what I really want to understand is how residents feel... broadly about green spaces, roads, maintenance programs, utilities, and getting a good feel for how people perceive and understand those service lines,” he shared.
The survey has been live throughout the month of February and Hafichuk said the Town is hoping to get 100 to 200 respondents in total.
“I think that would be a reasonable sample size to derive some high-level general information,” he explained.
He said the survey is one of the first initial attempts to reach out to the community and solicit information to fine-tune its operations.
“I’ve been the beneficiary of having many wonderful conversations with people over the phone and in person, but I haven’t been able to chat with everybody in the community yet,” said Hafichuk, who became the Town's chief administrative officer in October 2022.
“So, this is a really great opportunity to see broadly what all residents are thinking, so we really urge people to participate and put some time into it.”
Those interested in completing the survey are encouraged to visit townofirricana.ca. The survey end date is Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m.
