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02-13-12 CC WS Mtg MinCITY OF SHORE WOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012 MINUTES CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Liz6e called the meeting to order at 6:09 P.M. A. Roll Call 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 6:00 P.M. Present. Mayor Lizee; Councilmembers Hotvet, Siakel, and Zerby; Administrator Heck; Finance Director De7ong; Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; and Engineer Landim Absent: Councilmember Woodruff Also Present: Deputy Clerk Panchyshyn; Communications Coordinator Moore; Excelsior Fire District Chief Gerber; Park Commissioners Hartmann, Kjolhaug, and Quinlan B. Review Agenda Hotvet moved, Siakel seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 4/0. 2. PRESENTATION OF CITY SURVEY RESULTS Administrator Heck introduced Laurie Urban with the National Research Center (NRC). Ms. Urban is going to present the results of the City survey conducted by NRC. Ms. Urban stated the City of Shorewood is among an elite group of jurisdictions that survey their residents to find out what the residents think. These types of surveys promote transparency and accountability in jurisdictions. The City survey conducted measures things such as quality of life, quality of services, public trust, trust of the government, rating of City employees and so forth. The survey serves as a window into the City's performance. The survey is a perception survey; it answers the "what's" not necessarily the "whys." The highlights of Ms. Urban's presentation are as follows. The results of the survey can be used to: monitor trends in residents' opinions over time; measure government performance; make informed budget, land use, and strategic planning decisions; and, benchmark service ratings against other jurisdictions. The survey was mailed to 1,330 randomly selected households in the City. Of those, 613 residents returned the completed survey for a response rate of 47 %. NCR typically sees response rates in the 25% — 40% range. NRC weighted the results to represent the demographic profile of City. The margin of error of is + / — 3 percent for the entire survey sample. For subgroups, the margin of error is higher. Ninety -six percent of the respondents said the overall quality of life in the City was excellent or good. Ninety -seven percent rated the City as an excellent or good place to live and to raise CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES February 13, 2012 Page 2 of 5 children. Ninety -two percent rated their neighborhood as an excellent or good place to live. Sixty -nine percent rated the City as excellent or good place to retire. These ratings are much higher than the national and small city benchmarks. Ms. Urban stated that a small city is a jurisdiction with a population of less than 10,000. The survey asked about 23 community characteristics. • The four highest rated community characteristics were: air quality (93 %); quality of overall natural environment in the City (91 %); overall image /reputation of the City (90 %); and, educational opportunities (86 %). These ratings were much higher than the national and small city benchmarks. The four lowest rated community characteristics were: sense of community (60 %); ease of walking within the City (57 %); availability of affordable quality child care (57 %); and, availability of affordable quality housing (54 %). With regard to aspects of community character — 93% strongly or somewhat agreed that the City is a safe community with a low crime rate; 85% strongly or somewhat agreed that the City offers the best schools; 82% strongly or somewhat agreed that the City provides and protects open space; and, 61% strongly or somewhat agreed the City has tight -knit neighborhoods. • With regard to frequency of contact with neighbors — 48% said they have contact with their neighbors at least a couple times a week. The City compares similarly to the national benchmark but lower than the small city benchmark. • With regard to safety — 97 % said their neighborhood is very or somewhat safe during the day; 95% said they are very or somewhat safe from violent crime; 93% said they are very or somewhat safe from environmental hazards; 92% said they are very or somewhat safe in their neighborhood after dark; and, 89% said they are very or somewhat safe from property crimes. All are much above or above the national and small city benchmarks. • The five highest community participation activities were — recycling (96 %); reading the City's newsletter (95 %); providing help to a friend or neighbor (94 %); visiting a City park (87 %); and, visiting the City's website (61 %). For seven of the 12 activities, about two- thirds said they never participated in any of them even once over the last 12 months. • The five highest community participation program and events were — Music in the Park (23 %); Artie Fever (10 %); NICE Summer Rec Program (8 %); free Fridays in Freeman Park (7 %); and, Oktoberfest (7 %). About 60% said they never participated in any of the 13 activities even once over the last 12 months. • The four highest uses of City recreation facilities were — paths / trails (80 %); playground equipment (38 %); ice skating area (26 %); and, warming house (22 %). About 14% said they never used in any of the facilities once over the last 12 months. • With regard to the spring clean-up drop -off program — 43% participated. Of them 94% thought the ease of use was excellent or good; 89% thought the convenience of the drop -off location was excellent or good; and, 74% thought the cost of disposing of items was excellent or good. • With regard to the overall quality of services provided — 80% rated the quality as excellent or good. The ratings were above the national and small city benchmarks. • The four highest rated services provided by the City or special districts were — Fire District's response to calls (98 %); public schools (96 %); City parks (94 %); and Fire District's services overall (93 %). Of the 36 services provided, 26 received excellent or good ratings from two - thirds or more of the respondents. Overall most of the services were much above or above the benchmarks. • The four lowest rated services provided by the City or special districts were — street lighting (48 %); street resurfacing (45 %); street maintenance /repair (44 %); and, cable television (39 %). • With regard to code enforcement issues such as rundown buildings, weed lots, junk vehicles, etc, — 85% thought this was not a problem or the issues were minor. • With regard to municipal water — 46% have municipal water. Of those — 94% rate the dependability of service as excellent or good; 78% rate the quality as excellent or good; and, CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES February 13, 2012 Page 3 of 5 48% rate the cost as excellent or good. The reasons for not connecting to municipal water were — 69% had no connection was available; 27% thought it was too expensive; 19% had some other reason; and, 7% were concerned about municipal water quality. • Identifying the most important characteristics of a transaction or product is called a Key Driver Analysis (KDA). The key drivers come from statistical analyses of the predictors of behaviors. Nineteen of the 36 services were included in the KDA for the City. Three of the services were identified as key drivers of overall quality of services for the City — snowplowing on City streets; storm drainage; and, land use, planning and zoning. Each key driver was rated much above the national benchmark. • With regard to City employees — 54% of the respondents said that had contact with an employee in the last 12 months. Of those — 8 in 10 or more rated the employee's courteousness, knowledge, responsiveness, timeliness, follow -up, and their overall impression of the interaction as excellent or good. Where benchmarks were available, the ratings were much higher than the national and small city benchmarks. • With regard to government performance —67% rated the overall direction the City is taking as excellent or good; 62% rated the opportunities to participate in City government decisions as excellent or good; 59% rated running Shorewood's local government in the best interest of residents as excellent or good; 56% rated the value of services for the taxes paid as excellent or good; 53% rated the City's government as an example of how best to provide services; and, 53% rated the City's elected officials' consideration of what people like themselves think as excellent or good. Overall, the ratings were much above or above the benchmark. • With regard to aspects of City administration performance — 78% rated the quality of the City's website as excellent or good; 70% rated the online services available on the City's website as excellent or good; 69% rated public meetings about City plans as excellent or good; 63% rated response to resident complaints and concerns as excellent or good; 62% rated information about City plans and programs as excellent or good; and, 57% rated the City's transparency and accountability as excellent or good. There were no benchmarks to compare to for these. • With regard to the importance of six potential general improvements over the next five years — 76% rated road improvements as essential or very important; 67% rated environmental improvements e.g., diseased trees, lake water quality as essential or very important; 52% rated expanding trails and walkways as essential or very important; 47% rated municipal drinking water system improvements e.g., expansion, additional treatment as essential or very important; 28% rated park improvements as essential or very important; and, 21% rated expansion of recreational and social programs for all ages as essential or very important. • With regard to the importance of seven potential park and recreation projects — one -third or more of the respondents indicated that each of the seven was not at all important. Of those that indicated there is some importance — 25% rated programs for seniors and older adults as essential or very important; 19% rated lights on balls fields at Freeman Park as essential or very important; 18% rated new recreational /Community Center programs as essential or very important; and, 14% rated updated skate park facilities as essential or very important. No respondents indicated they had used the skate park in other questions. • With regard to support for or opposition to five City initiatives — 89% strongly or somewhat support increasing recycling options for residents; 82% strongly or somewhat support providing organic material collection; 78% strongly or somewhat support encouraging more community gardening; 76% strongly or somewhat support increasing environmental education and public awareness programs; and, 50% strongly or somewhat support having a single trash hauler contracted by the City rather than multiple haulers. With regard to residents' awareness about City issues and operations — 43% indicated they were either very or moderately informed. With regard to internet access from home — 94% responded they have access with 52% through cable, 45% through DSL and 26% through cell phone/PDA. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES February 13, 2012 Page 4 of 5 With regard to how frequently respondents used 10 different sources to get information about the City in the last 12 months —91% used the City's newsletter; 87% used word of mouth; 75% used the Sun Sailor newspaper; 64% used the City's website; 48% used the Excelsior Bay Times newspaper; 46% used the Laker newspaper; 40% used email messages; 30% used local cable government access stations; 18% used social networking sites; and, 14% used the Lake Minnetonka Communications Commission website. Ms. Urban noted that because Staff and Council have much more knowledge about the City they may draw different conclusions than NRC has. She reviewed the conclusions NRC came to after reviewing all of the survey data. NRC concluded residents enjoy a high quality of life, rate the community's characteristics highly, feel safe, have quality interactions with City employees, and rate the services provided by the City and special districts very highly. Opportunities for improvement include increasing the sense of community, increasing and enhancing communications with residents, and making changes that make the City an affordable and desirable place to retire. Ms. Urban stated she would entertain questions now. Director DeJong asked Ms. Urban what the results of only 21 % of the respondents indicating they would strongly support and 29% indicating they would somewhat support having a single trash hauler contracted by the City meant. Ms. Urban explained that because those results were split between support for, and opposition to, the results are basically a toss up. She stated because of the split she thought it would be difficult to gain support for doing that. She then noted NRC has asked the same question in other jurisdictions and found it to be a difficult sell. Councilmember Siakel stated Council has discussed that initiative. She then stated if the City eventually wants to go to a single trash hauler there would be value in educating residents about the rationale for considering that little by little. She noted that an article published in the Star Tribune newspaper last fall stated Shorewood was number three community in the terms of recycling. Even though the residents in the City do a good job of recycling, some indicate they want even more recycling opportunities. EFD Chief Gerber stated as people's lives have continued to become busier he asked Ms. Urban if NRC has found the sense of community to lessen at the same time. He then asked if the low rating for the characteristic of sense of community is unique for Shorewood. Ms. Urban explained NRC has asked the question about sense of community characteristic throughout her 10 -year tenure with NRC in many communities across the nation. Generally, ratings of that characteristic remain stable and continued to do so even after the economic downturn. Because it is a perception survey, there is no way to know what is behind the residents' ratings of sense of community. She noted the City's rating is similar to the national benchmark but lower than the small city benchmark. Because residents tend to know each other in smaller communities there could be an opportunity to improve the residents' perceptions of sense of community. Mayor Lizee stated the survey provided an area for responders to write comments. She asked if for sense of community people identified events in the other four cities also considered part of the South Lake community. She asked if more information would help solidify a Shorewood identify. Ms. Urban stated the survey did not ask questions specific to those areas. Ms. Urban then stated the survey did ask one open ended question asking residents if they had any other comments they would like to add. NRC did not do an analysis of the responses to that question. The responses were provided to Administrator Heck and she thought he analyzed them. Councilmember Zerby asked if the information is available on a location basis, noting that Shorewood is 7 miles long and 1 mile wide. The City was developed at different times; east versus west. There is some CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES February 13, 2012 Pane 5 of 5 dichotomy between the east side of the City and the west side. Ms. Urban noted that for this survey NRC did not do any geographic tracking. Shorewood staff did not think there was a need to do that for this survey. Ms. Urban explained because the surveys are confidential, NRC did not collect residents' address information. Mayor Lizee asked Mr. Urban how frequently other cities conduct surveys. Ms. Urban stated generally every two years. NRC has some clients that do a survey every year alternating between a general survey and a policy related survey. Councilmember Siakel stated she thought there could be value in doing another general survey in five years. She then stated there could be value in doing a survey specifically related to municipal water, which is a very complicated topic. Ms. Urban stated NRC offers short follow -up surveys to the general survey. She said these are web based. NRC sends out a postcard to randomly selected households with a link to a website to complete a short survey. Mayor Lizee stated the City discussed doing a survey for years and she thought the decision to use NRC proved to be a great decision. She thanked staff, Council, the Commissions, and the residents that took the time to answer the survey. She commented that in casual encounters with residents they commented to her that they received the survey and although they thought the survey was quite long, they did complete it. She stated the results were fantastic and she again thanked the residents for taking time to complete the survey. Ms. Urban reiterated the response rate to the survey was terrific. She stated out of all the other jurisdictions she has worked with there is only one other that gets a response rate similar to Shorewood's. Mayor Lizee thanked Ms. Urban for coming. k - \ar1611190 Siakel moved, Zerby seconded, adjourning the City Council Work Session of February 13, 2012, at 6:48 P.M. Motion passed 4/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED Christine Freeman, Recorder Christine Lizee, Mayor ATTEST: