During March/April ETC Institute, a professional survey, planning and technology company from Olathe, Kansas, conducted and analyzed a detailed community survey for the City of Branson. According to Chris Tatham of ETC, during his overview of the report given at the May 12 meeting of the Branson Board of Aldermen, its purpose was to evaluate the satisfaction of the city’s residents and businesses with the delivery of major city services and to help determine priorities for the community as part of the City’s ongoing planning process. Two different surveys were conducted, one for residents and another for businesses.
In terms of the residents survey, Tatham said that the process involved the mailing of a six-page survey to a random sample of 1,200 households in the city with a follow up phone call made to those receiving the survey about seven days after mailing. He said that of the households that received the survey 309 completed it by phone and 259 returned it by mail for a total of 568 completed surveys. He pointed out that the results for the random sample of 568 households has a 95% level of confidence.
One thing that particularly impressed Tatham was the fact that 88 % of the residents surveyed were proud that they lived in Branson and that it made very little difference whether they lived in Branson for less than five years or more than 20 years. He also complimented the city on the fact that 78 % of the residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the way they were treated by City employees.
The report also indicated that in general Residents were generally satisfied with the overall quality of services provided by the City of Branson. Major categories of city services with the highest satisfaction, based upon the combined percentage of “very satisfied” and “satisfied” responses indicates resident satisfaction with the overall quality of fire service (90%), police service (78%), and City parks and recreation programs and facilities services (74%).
About 81% of residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or complaint in the past year reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with how easy the City was to contact. In the same vein, 78% of residents who had contacted the City of Branson with a question, problem or complaint during the past year reported they were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the way they were treated by City employees
About 92% of the residents surveyed rated Branson as an “excellent” or a “good” place to live and 89% of residents surveyed rated Branson as an “excellent” or a “good” place to raise children. Not surprisingly, the survey also indicates that the vast majority of Branson’s residents, 82%, feels safe and 71% are satisfied with its quality of life.
In some areas the survey indicated that residents were less satisfied. Those areas primarily involved drop off recycling, the condition of neighborhood streets, code enforcement, and communications. Interestingly, the survey showed that more residents get their information about the City of Branson from the Branson Daily Independent than they do from radio, television, or other newspapers.
In concluding his report, Tatham suggested that the study is not an end all but rather a guide that can be used by the city as it plans for and sets its priorities for the future. The complete survey is available on the city’s website at www.cityofbranson.org.
Furnished Courtesy of the Branson Daily Independent.
