2008 Direction Finder Survey Executive Summary
Purpose
The City of Lee’s Summit conducted its second DirectionFinder® Survey during the summer of 2008 to assess satisfaction among residents with the delivery of major city services and to help determine priorities for the community so that tax dollars are spent wisely. The City’s first DirectionFinder® Survey was conducted in 2004.
Methodology
A seven-page survey was mailed to a random sample of 1,800 households in the City of Lee’s Summit in May 2008. Approximately seven days after the surveys were mailed, residents who received the survey were contacted by phone. Those who indicated that they had not returned the survey were given the option of completing it by phone. The survey was administered in both English and Spanish. Of the households that received a survey, 405 completed the survey by phone and 302 returned it by mail for a total of 707 completed surveys. The results for the random sample of 707 households have a 95% level of confidence with a precision of at least +/- 3.7%.
In order to better understand how well services are being delivered by the city, ETC Institute geocoded the home address of respondents to the survey. The map to the right shows the physical distribution of survey respondents based on the location of their home. The results for selected questions are shown by Census Block Group in the maps provided in Section 2 of this report.
The percentage of “don’t know” responses has been excluded from many of the graphs shown in this report to facilitate valid comparisons of the results from Lee’s Summit with the results from other communities in ETC Institute’s DirectionFinder® database. Since the number of “don’t know” responses often reflects the utilization and awareness of city services, the percentage of “don’t know” responses has been provided in the tabular data section of this report.
This report contains:
- an executive summary
- charts depicting the overall results of the survey along with comparisons to the results from previous surveys
- GIS maps that show the results of selected questions on the survey
- benchmarking data that shows how the survey results for Lee’s Summit compare to other cities, including cities in Kansas and Missouri
- an importance satisfaction analysis
- tabular data that shows the overall results for each question on the survey
- a copy of the survey instrument
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Major Findings
- Satisfaction with City Services. The highest levels of satisfaction with City services, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion were the quality of public safety services (92%), the quality of parks and recreation programs and facilities (84%) and the quality of water services (80%). The City service that residents were least satisfied with was the flow of traffic and congestion management (32%).
- City Services that Showed a Significant Increase. Five of the eleven City services assessed showed a significant increase from the 2004 survey results. These findings are listed below:
- Maintenance of City streets and buildings (54% in 2008 vs. 34% in 2004)
- Flow of traffic and congestion management (41% in 2008 vs. 32% in 2004)
- Quality of water services (80% in 2008 vs. 72% in 2004)
- City’s stormwater management system (54% in 2008 vs. 48% in 2004)
- Quality of public safety services (92% in 2008 vs. 87% in 2004)
- Services that should receive the most emphasis from the City. The areas that residents thought should receive the most increase in emphasis from the City were: the quality of public safety services (80%), the maintenance of City streets and building (56%), and the flow of traffic and congestion management (39%).
- Residents are generally satisfied with the overall quality of life in the City. Eighty-four percent (83%) of those surveyed, who had an opinion, indicated that they were satisfied with the quality of life in Lee’s Summit; 13% gave neutral ratings and only 3% were dissatisfied.
- Public Safety. The public safety services that residents were most satisfied with, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion, were the overall quality of local fire protection (91%), the overall quality of local police protection (86%), the number of fire stations (84%) and how quickly the fire department responds (81%). There were no significant changes from the 2004 survey results.
- Perception of Safety in Lee’s Summit. Based upon the combined percentage of residents who felt “very safe” or “safe,” those residents who had an opinion felt most safe in their neighborhood during the day (97%) and in their neighborhood at night (87%). In addition, 89% of residents indicated they felt an overall feeling of safety in the City. There were no significant changes in safety perceptions from 2004.
- City Leadership. There were significant increases in the ratings of the effectiveness of appointed boards and commissions (57% in 2008 vs. 49% in 2004) and the effectiveness of the City Manager and professional staff (61% in 2008 vs. 56% in 2004).
- City Maintenance. There were significant increases in eight of the twelve City maintenance services that were accessed on the survey. The maintenance services that showed the most significant increases (increases of at least +9%) are provided below:
- Maintenance of City streets (49% in 2008 vs. 29% in 2004)
- Maintenance of City buildings (81% in 2008 vs. 70% in 2004)
- Snow removal on major City streets (74% in 2008 vs. 64% in 2004)
- Maintenance and preservation of downtown (82% in 2008 vs. 73% in 2004)
- City Codes and Ordinances. Residents generally showed the same level of satisfaction with the enforcement of City codes and ordinances compared to the 2004 survey results. There was a significant decrease (49% in 2004 vs. 43% in 2008) in the enforcement of the mowing and trimming of private and public property.
- Parks and Recreation. The highest levels of satisfaction with parks and recreation services, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses among residents who had an opinion were the maintenance of City parks (86%), the number of City parks (77%) and the quality of outdoor athletic fields (76%). There was a significant increase in the satisfaction of the maintenance of City parks (86% in 2008 vs. 80% in 2004).
- Communication. Residents were most satisfied with the availability of information they received about City services (69%) and the City’s efforts to keep residents informed (66%). There was one significant increase in the percentage of residents who indicated they were satisfied with the user friendliness of the City’s webpage (56% in 2008 vs. 51% in 2004).
- Customer Service. When asked to indicate how often City employees displayed various behaviors, eighty-seven (87%) of residents indicated City employees were “always” or “usually” courteous and polite and 76% of residents indicated City employees “always” or “usually” gave prompt and accurate answers. There was a significant increase in the percentage of residents who reported City employees “always” or “usually” gave prompt and accurate answers (76% in 2008 vs. 70% in 2004).
- City Growth. There was a significant increases in the percentage of residents who indicated they were satisfied with how well the City’s is managing growth (54% in 2008 vs. 46% in 2004) and with the percentage of residents who are satisfied with the rate of growth in Lee’s Summit (64% in 2008 vs. 59% in 2004). There was a significant decrease in the percentage of residents who were satisfied with the quality of the City’s business growth (62% in 2004 vs. 55% in 2008).
- Stormwater Issues. Over half (58%) of residents indicated they were “very” or “somewhat concerned” about stormwater in Lee’s Summit; 32% were “not concerned” and 10% did not have an opinion. The stormwater objectives residents felt were most important for the community to accomplish were: minimizing property damage (94%), mimimizing contaminants in stormwater runoff (91%) and minimizing environmental damage to lakes and streams (90%). There were no significant changes in the objectives residents felt were most important to accomplish when compared to the 2004 survey results.
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Other Findings
- There was a significant increase in the percentage of residents who indicated they were satisfied with the reliability of water pressure in their home (89% in 2008 vs. 84% in 2004).
- Over three-fourths (76%) of residents indicated they had not had any flooding problems in the neighborhood they currently live; 23% indicated they had flooding problems and 1% did not respond to the question.
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