Local residents have been receiving calls from Praxis Analytics recently as part of a citizen satisfaction survey initiated by the City of Estevan.
Between 300 and 500 Estevan residents will be randomly selected and contacted by Praxis to participate in the phone survey. The city encourages everyone contacted to participate.
The survey is expected to wrap up this month, and results should be known later in the fall.
City manager Amber Smale said the survey is among the projects the city wanted to complete this year after tourism and economic development became in-house services. The survey is also part of the city’s strategic plan for communicating with the public.
“The citizen satisfaction survey is about getting information from the public on the city’s performance, their satisfaction with our performance and the delivery of services that they expect, and the overall quality of life in Estevan,” Smale told the Mercury. “That data, in itself, is very valuable to a city in determining where they need to put their focus to make it a better community.”
Questions will focus on such issues as housing, parks, roads and community pride. Residents will also be asked for their thoughts on the city’s communications
strategies.
The survey is expected to cost about $19,000, which was a few thousand dollars more than the projected amount of $15,000.
“These surveys run anywhere from $10,000 to $60,000, depending on what’s being looked at,” said Smale.
The city doesn’t have the resources or the expertise to handle such a survey in-house, she said. They don’t have statisticians on staff, and they don’t have the ability to randomly select and contact 300 to 500 people.
“If we committed those resources, I am almost certain the cost of it would be much higher than having a company do it for us,” said Smale.
Praxis is also a neutral company, so their representatives don’t have a bias when receiving and compiling the
results.
“It’s true information with a very high confidence rate that we can use,” said Smale.
Her previous employer, the City of Regina, would do the survey annually. Smale said most cities will tackle a survey once a year or every two years.
“It’s never been done in Estevan, and that’s why I wanted to do it,” said Smale.
Smale believes it’s a valuable tool. While the survey might reinforce some things about operations and services to the city’s management team, Smale said it could also bring forward some things that aren’t as well known.
She’s not concerned the results will be overly negative.
“Whether it’s good or bad, I think the information is valuable because it’s what we’re looking for to make the community better,” said Smale. “That’s the ultimate goal: to make the community better. And we’re inviting the public to be part of that.”
The results of the survey will be reviewed with city departments and Estevan city council. Smale said it will help the city to prioritize its budget, and it will help frame some upcoming strategies for tourism and economic development.
