San Rafael, CA – The County of Marin is eager to receive a report card from its residents. As a measure of customer service, the County government is mailing 3,200 surveys to randomly selected residents in mid-November. All other residents will have an opportunity to participate in the survey online in December.
The 2018 Resident Survey will be sent to several thousand people and includes questions about quality of life, local policies, demographics and a rating of local government services.“It’s valuable to ask residents for their opinion on services and their quality of life in Marin,” said Board of Supervisors President Damon Connolly. “This is an opportunity to hear how our residents are doing, to help us make decisions. Every voice matters, we encourage everyone to participate.”
Responses are anonymous, and recipients will have an option to return their surveys in a postage-paid envelope or complete an online version in English or Spanish.
“This will be the first time we get solid benchmark information from a survey to compare ourselves to other communities nationwide,” said Dan Eilerman, Assistant County Administrator. “We want to understand the needs of our communities, and the only way we can do that is by talking to our customers.”
Eilerman said he expects the survey will provide data with which the County can dive deeper in some areas using other tools, like focus groups or listening sessions, in 2019.
The County has contracted with the National Research Center to conduct the comprehensive, scientific survey. Prenotification postcards in English and Spanish will be mailed November 6 to those who will receive the mailed surveys, and the surveys will be shipped out in two waves later this month. Survey results will be available in spring 2019 via the County’s website and will be discussed during a public workshop with the Board.
The survey includes questions about general quality of life, local policies, demographics, and rating of local government services. In addition, residents can provide perspectives about the Board of Supervisors’ current priorities, identified in this year’s budget to help inform initiatives including emergency preparedness, affordable housing, equity in County programs and policies, climate change, and investing in County infrastructure. At the end, there will be an open-ended question asking residents what they think should be the biggest priority for the County to focus on over the next two years.
The National Research Center will be paid up to $40,000 for handling the survey. Evaluators will be able to parse the responses in several ways, including by Supervisorial district, by town or city limits, and by various demographic factors such as monthly housing cost, income, age and other factors. The survey is expected to have less than a 5 percent margin of error.