The opinions of hundreds of Olds residents may be solicited by a world leading marketing research firm to help municipal officials benchmark operations performance.
The survey is conducted by Ipsos Reid throughout the country and would allow the town to compare itself against other municipalities of the same size. Ipsos Reid would provide the town with results from Olds citizens and then compare that against a norm of similar-sized municipalities.
The town has budgeted $8,500 for the survey, and participation is pending passing of spring budget adjustments expected to be considered during last night's council meeting.
During the April 18 Policies and Priorities meeting, town administration floated the idea of participating in the citizens' survey in which residents would be asked a series of questions about town operations.
The survey would be conducted later this spring by Ipsos Reid and would give the town a good benchmark by which to measure its performance in different areas, according to administration.
“This is sometimes not always flattering,” Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer, told councillors, noting that participating in the survey would nonetheless provide good feedback to administration on how the town could improve.
He said the town would use the results to improve service plans going into the future.
Cliff McDonald, the town's director of corporate services, said the survey would provide council with a good handle on what the citizens believe the town should be focusing on.
“It establishes benchmarks and it also provides council with some research as to what the citizens are expecting council to have as priorities,” he said.
In order to get useful information out of the survey, a sample size of between 300 and 350 is needed.
Mayor Judy Dahl said she believes there are many benefits for the town of participating in the survey.
“I think the benefits for the citizens survey … are great. It certainly allows the municipality and partners to target resources where they're needed most. It provides a way of measuring progress against targets. We like the idea that we can track it,” she said.
Dahl said the most important aspect of the survey is it allows council and administration to hear what is important to residents.
“It builds dialogue and engagement and that's what we care about. You can say what you want but unless you have a means to measure that … you're going to be challenged,” she said.
