South Tempe residents and their neighbors in other areas of the city have voiced significant satisfaction and offered valuable feedback about the services, programs and facilities provided in their community, according to newly released survey data.
In late 2010, more than 800 residents weighed in on questions focusing on water service, parks, trash collection, public safety and more.
Their ratings give the city of Tempe important information about how well it is providing services, according to city spokeswoman Nikki Ripley.
For the fourth year in a row, Kansas-based ETC Institute conducted the survey, comparing Tempe to its database of cities across the country. Tempe rated above ETC’s national average in almost every area that was assessed.
The 2010 survey shows areas with high satisfaction ratings as well as areas that could be improved.
Satisfaction with the overall quality of city services rated 32 percent above the national average (89 percent in Tempe vs. 57 percent U.S.)
Satisfaction with the quality of local transit service rated 33 percent above the national average (76 percent in Tempe vs. 43 percent U.S.)
Satisfaction with adult recreation programs rated 19 percent above the national average (70 percent in Tempe vs. 51 percent U.S.)
Relating to lower satisfaction ratings, Ripley noted that the survey results suggest room for improvement in code enforcement, library services and golf courses, all of which dipped slightly below the results gathered for 2009.
Shelley Hearn, the city’s community relations administrator, said the results will help launch a thorough review of services.
“We will be looking at the information from the survey, along with the actual cuts in staff and services, to evaluate if we made the right decisions, and to look at what can be done to address some of the areas of lower satisfaction.”
Using code enforcement as an example, she said, city planners will evaluate possible changes that could address residents’ issues of concern without increasing staff.
For example, Hearn said, “We are in the process of redoing our website and creating a customer-relations center to take calls. If the center took the complaints and sent out the work orders, and any worker in the field could use their electronic device, phone or laptop to report a problem, that could free up code inspectors to follow up on citations.”
Although she said that, at this stage of the review, no such approaches have been finalized, the city is taking a look at all reasonable solutions. As to the discussion of a potential answer to code enforcement issues, she said, “It’s just a possibility, but that is the kind of solution we will be looking at moving forward.”
Complete survey results are available at www.tempe.gov/2010residentsurvey
