It's positive to see that Rocky View County (RVC) is conducting a citizen satisfaction survey this spring. From March 21 until April 17, the County will be collecting responses from residents, both in the form of phone calls with staff members and an online questionnaire.
That being said, our newsroom was quite surprised to learn the County's last such survey was all the way back in 2009.
We cover other municipalities as well, and would point out the City of Airdrie conducts its citizen satisfaction survey annually. The survey always provides Airdrie's councillors with a good snapshot of how residents are feeling and what concerns them most.
We feel RVC should implement a similar yearly schedule for gauging community feedback in the form of a citizen satisfaction survey. Waiting 12 years between surveys should be unacceptable.
Yes, there are other means of public engagement that a municipality can employ to see measure the contentedness of its constituents – town halls, budget feedback sessions, etc. It's not as if RVC hasn't done any public engagement in the last dozen years.
But the benefits of an annual citizen satisfaction survey are plentiful. They can provide the County data on how residents are feeling about a variety of topics, issues, projects, and events. Doing a survey every year would provide RVC valuable information that would help the County strategize and prioritize its budgets and focuses for the year.
The County stated information collected in the survey will be used to guide future decisions surrounding municipal services, communications, public engagement activities, budgets, and planning. The communication part is a big one for us – we will be keen to hear if residents express to the County that they would like to see more RVC advertising reinstated in the newspaper.
If you are a Rocky View County resident, we would encourage you to share your views by taking part in the County's survey this year. Visit Rockyview.ca/survey to learn more.
