Clive



437070559055Memo-1917708890TO: FROM: DATE: RE: 00TO: FROM: DATE: RE: Mayor and City CouncilPete De Kock, Assistant City ManagerJuly 20, 20202020 Resident Survey AnalysisThe City has completed the 2020 Clive Resident Survey in partnership with National Research Center (NRC) and Polco. NRC has been our partner on the biannual survey since 2012, and we now have five surveys (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020) that can help our team identify trends in resident attitudes and opinions over time. We conduct the survey once every two years because…It allows us to benchmark our performance against over 500 communities across the country including 8 jurisdictions in the Des Moines Metro (Altoona, Ankeny, Des Moines, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Polk County, Urbandale, West Des Moines) and 12 other Iowa jurisdictions (Ames, Bettendorf, Carroll, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Indianola, Iowa City, Knoxville, Sioux Center, Marion, Newton, Waverly)It helps us monitor progress on City goals and evaluate resident awareness of specific topicsIt informs strategic planning and priority settingIt supports long term neighborhood planningIt is a good tool for community engagement and listeningWe can compete for national recognition through the Voice of the People awardSurveys were mailed to randomly selected households in in mid to late March 2020 to generate a statistically significant geographic datasets (district 1 being the furthest east and district 7 being the furthest west). To get comparable groups, survey responses from districts 1 and 2 were combined; responses from districts 4 and 5 were combined; responses from districts 6 and 7 were combined; and responses from district 3 stand alone. Districts 1, 2, and 3 are east of the interstate. Districts 4, 5, 6, and 7 are west of the interstate.From year-to-year, NRC/Polco improves the base survey instrument by rewording questions, cutting outdated material, and organizing questions in different groups. Despite these changes we’re still able to get accurate trend over time data. In the 2020 survey, the City also elected to make two changes. First, we changed our demographic subgroup categories. In 2018, we sorted data by sex, age, presence of kids, housing type, and length of residence. In 2020, we removed the length of residence category and replaced it with income. Second, we included a special battery of questions about water resources. Our goal was to evaluate general resident awareness about the water they use inside and outside their homes, the water that falls on their property as rain and snow, and their relationship to the broader watershed.Over the past month, the City Manager has been sharing reports prepared by NRC/Polco that summarize 2020 results. Those reports and the technical appendices are included in your packet. The Community Livability Report and Trends Over Time Report are particularly useful. Staff has reviewed the data with NRC/Polco analysts and identified the following key findings.Over the past 8 years--but especially in 2020--residents across demographic groups and neighborhoods report that Clive is an extremely desirable place to live, and trust in City government is high. NRC/Polco analysts write: As in previous years, almost all residents rated their overall quality of life and Clive as a place to live as excellent or good and would be likely to recommend living in Clive to others. Additionally, about 9 in 10 residents would be likely to remain in Clive for the next five years. Nine in 10 residents offered positive ratings to Clive as a place to raise children, and their neighborhood as a place to live; these ratings all exceeded national averages. High ratings across almost all facets of livability have generally remained stable over time. In evaluating Clive governance, at least 8 in 10 respondents positively rated their overall confidence in Clive government, the overall direction that Clive is taking, generally acting in the best interest of the community, being honest, being open and transparent to the public, informing residents about issues facing the community, the job Clive does at welcoming resident involvement, treating all residents fairly and with respect, overall customer service, Public information services, and the quality of services provided by the City of Clive. Not only were most ratings higher than the benchmarks, but some of the ratings were among the highest ever recorded in NRC’s benchmarking database. Clive ranked #1 out of hundreds of other jurisdictions nationwide for the job the government does at being honest, being open and transparent to the public, informing residents about issues facing the community, and treating residents with respect.Residents put high value on safety, have high opinions of Clive law enforcement, and these trends have been persistent over time. NRC/Polco analysts write: Safety was once again selected by residents as a priority for the Clive community in the coming two years. Ratings within this facet tended to be strong, stable over time and higher than national averages. Almost all residents gave excellent or good marks to the overall feeling of safety in Clive, which was higher than the national benchmark. Further, almost all respondents felt safe in their neighborhood and in Clive’s downtown/commercial area. Clive residents also felt safe from property crime, violent crime, as well as fire, flood or other national disaster. Safety service ratings were strong and generally higher than the national averages; about 9 in 10 gave positive marks to police/sheriff services, crime prevention, ambulance/EMS, fire, and fire prevention services.While the City wide averages and trends over time for safety and law enforcement are stable and high, there are statistically significant differences among geographic and demographic groups. Across almost all safety categories, 18-35 year olds give lower ratings than older residents, though they’re still very positive. Residents in districts 1-2 rate the quality of protection from property crime lower than residents in all other districts. Residents in district 3 rate the quality of emergency preparedness services lower than residents in all other districts. Note that this survey does not reflect shifts in attitudes since the nationwide protests and policy reforms in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by former police officers.Residents’ opinions of the overall quality of the transportation system in Clive is declining; opinions on street repair work are noticeably lower in 2020 compared to 2018. Residents’ opinions of the overall quality of the transportation system—which takes into account snow removal, street sweeping, ease of travel by different modes, street repair—has decline from 93% good or excellent in 2014 to 79% good or excellent in 2020.Street repair work in particular saw a drop from 2018-2020, with residents in districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all giving statistically significant lower ratings than residents in districts 6 and 7. We believe this reflects actual street conditions, but may also be the result of the difficult 2019 winter and the City’s increased communications on street repair funding and planning. The City continues to receive overall high marks for snow removal services with 84% rating the City good or excellent. Modest differences between “east of interstate” and “west of interstate” neighborhoods persist, though all neighborhoods continue to give high ratings to the City for governance, quality of life, and built environment. As noted above, residents east of the interstate have lower perceptions of the overall quality of the transportation system than residents west of the interstate. This is also true of perceptions on City government being honest, treating all residents fairly, treating residents with respect, and overall quality of new development. Again, the overwhelming sentiment in the community is that Clive is a very livable, safe, and desirable community, but there is a persistent geographic difference. Younger respondents give the City lower marks than older respondents. In general, the demographic quality that generated the most statistically significant differences among respondents was age. 18-35 year old respondents have lower opinions than older cohorts on confidence in city government, value of services for taxes paid, the City acting in the best interest of the community, City government being honest, public information services, informing residents about issues facing the community, overall economic health of Clive, snow removal, quality of new development, internet access, stormwater management, crime prevention, cleanliness of the City, sense of civic/community pride, and neighborliness of residents, among many others. The prevalence of this split suggests there is something beyond actual conditions in Clive at work, such as generational trends and/or differences in cumulative life experience. 18-35 year olds were especially pessimistic about high speed internet service with only 48% rating it good or excellent.Clive’s economy is a valued asset but resident optimism is on the decline, likely because of the COVID-19 pandemic (survey responses were collected from mid-March to mid-April). NRC/Polco analysts write: As in previous years, the economy continued to be a key focus area for the Clive community. Ratings within this facet were generally strong and tended to be higher than the national comparisons, including overall economic health of Clive, overall quality and variety of business and service establishments in Clive, Clive as a place to work and employment opportunities. Perceptions of economic development and the cost of living in Clive were much higher than national benchmarks. Residents’ assessment of cost of living also ranked #1 when compared to all other jurisdictions in NRC’s benchmarking database. Areas that were on par with the rest of the country included vibrancy of the downtown/commercial area, shopping opportunities, Clive as a place to visit, and not experiencing housing cost stress. The challenge, possibly highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis, was residents’ perception of their own personal economic futures. This was the only area of the economy facet which was lower than the national benchmark and lower than all other prior iterations of The NCS. Clive entered this period of economic uncertainty with a strong economic foundation and positive resident perception well ahead of peers nationwide.The table below outlines multiple economic sentiment trends overtime. Note that the decline in 2020 housing costs stress was driven by respondents in districts 1 and 2.Residents are not particularly concerned about water related issues in Clive and have not been changing their water management practices. Our special topic area was water resources. Most residents are not concerned about water shortages, water quality issues (taste, color, or odor), or water contamination (health concerns). Most respondents have not adopted indoor or outdoor water management strategies beyond those associated with plumbing system maintenance and lawn aerating, and the overwhelming majority report not changing their water management activities from the year before. This data doesn’t reflect any negative attitudes to changing behaviors, but more likely a lack of knowledge about water issues facing the City and possible solutions. ................
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