City of Dover survey seeks community feedback

posted on: 7/6/2017

The City of Dover is asking residents to participate in The 2017 National Citizen Survey. The survey is designed to provide a baseline of how the City's government is serving residents, to gauge perceptions of the city and to make comparisons with peer cities.

The city contracted with National Research Center, Inc. to participate in The NCS, an instrument that was developed in partnership with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) in 2001 to provide cities with a low-cost, high-quality method to conduct market research.

The survey centers on community livability and includes questions about the quality of life in the community, local policies, demographics, rating of local government services and resident use of services.

A random and scientific sample of 1,400 households will receive invitations to participate in the mail. The confidential responses will be weighted and analyzed.

"Participation in the survey is very important," said City Manager J. Michael Joyal, Jr. "Feedback from this survey helps guide decisions that affect our City."

Residents selected to participate in the survey will receive notice soon. The surveys will be mailed July 12 and July 19, 2017.

The National Citizen Survey was among the first scientific surveys developed to gather resident opinion on a range of community issues, and has been used in more than 350 jurisdictions across 46 states. The NCS is a high-quality cost-effective scientific survey of resident opinion and an important benchmarking tool that allows for comparison among communities. Communities using The NCS have reported that the tool helped improve performance, strengthen communications with community stakeholders, and identify clear priorities for use in goal and budget setting.