Questions associated with Community Engagement included opportunities to volunteer and participate in community matters, the openness and acceptance of the community, how often someone attended a public meeting or social event, and customer service.
According to City Manager Jim Arndt, one of the survey questions asked citizens to rate their confidence in city government. Paducah’s numbers increased 11 points over the 2016 survey.
Another question that showed a significant increase asked citizens to rate their opportunities to participate in community matters. This question had a ten point increase with the positive results increasing from 53 percent in the 2016 survey to 63 percent in the most recent survey.
The question asking citizens to rate the overall customer service by Paducah’s employees has remained steady, with 69 percent of respondents giving a favorable rating.
“The community engagement process currently underway for the Parks Master Plan is a perfect example of how the City is asking for public input as important decisions will be made to guide the future. In the Citizen Survey, I also was thrilled to see that more citizens are attending and/or watching local public meetings. The phrase knowledge is power is true.” said Public Information Officer Pam Spencer.
“One of the newly adopted organizational values for the City of Paducah is Customer Experience. The value states that we believe in providing excellent service delivery for both our internal and external customers through a welcoming and respectful environment. We want to see the customer service results increase; therefore, we are focusing on this value by providing customer service feedback cards at City Hall and the Parks and Police Departments in addition to a link to the short survey online. We want to know what we are doing well and what we can do to improve.” Arndt said. He added that the city is looking at various ways to improve the overall customer experience.
The National Citizen Survey, which asks questions about a community’s livability, was mailed to 1500 randomly-selected households within the Paducah city limits. Each question on the survey is connected to one of eight facets: Safety, Mobility, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Economy, Recreation & Wellness, Education & Enrichment, and Community Engagement. For more information including Paducah’s survey instrument and reports, visit the link below.
On the Net:
2018 Citizen Survey Results
