By Colin Killian, Public Communications Director
As a kid, I adored sports statistics. Batting averages, shooting percentages, passing efficiency – you name it, I ate it up. I never dreamed I would someday be just as enamored by the vast array of statistical data in your average citizen satisfaction survey.
The nationally renowned ETC Institute conducted the City of College Station’s survey from late April through May. Thanks to ETC’s efforts, several hundred pages of the raw data sit on my desk. What kind of stat nerd would spend hours of his life poring over this stuff?
Yep, this guy.
In sports, a .325 batting average may be impressive, but what if the player only ranks 50th in the league? What if he hits .300 but ranks 8th? We compare sports statistics to provide context on how athletes perform relative to their peers. Well-administered citizen surveys can achieve a similar context for municipalities.
We conduct these surveys periodically as part of the City Council’s strategic plan, allowing us to measure and compare our performance over time.
We received a solid response from a randomly selected sample of 418 residents who received mailed surveys. Another 189 people responded online, but to maintain statistical validity, ETC excluded those responses from the data if they were not part of the random sample. Because all voices have value, the non-random comments were preserved and presented to the City Council with the rest of the survey data.
All surveys and polls have flaws, but with a margin of error of +/- 4.8 percent at 95% confidence, the results are a statistically valid assessment of the views of our residents. I was struck by how similar the numbers were to those of our past surveys, especially when accounting for the margin of error.
We Stack Up Well
The survey includes a benchmark comparison of our services and perceptions with those of various Texas and U.S. cities in recent surveys. On average, we rated significantly higher on a national level in 21 of 23 areas. At the state level, College Station was rated higher in 22 of the 23 areas.
The overall numbers were positive, illustrating that a large majority of residents believe College Station is an exceptionally well-run city. Our ratings as a place to live (84% excellent/good), raise a family (83%), image/reputation (83%), quality of city services (75%), and customer service (81%) were considerably higher than the rest of the state and country.
In addition, about 86% of respondents rated their neighborhood as an excellent or good place to live, and about 8 in 10 would recommend College Station as a place to live.
Respondents assigned a high degree of importance to all 20 measured City services. The highest-rated services were fire (93%), trash and recycling (89%), police (86%), wastewater (86%), water (84%), library (80%), and electric (76%). Our Police Department’s rating is a whopping 42 points higher than the state average.
Public Safety Shines
The most impressive results may be related to the question “Do you feel safe in your neighborhood?” Over 99% feel very or somewhat safe in the day, with 89% feeling that way at night. About 47% feel crime is increasing, but that’s a 16-point decline from 2019.
The problem areas are what you’d expect, especially traffic congestion. Only 21 percent gave College Station an excellent or good rating for that. Still, the benchmarks show traffic being a concern everywhere in Texas, which reflects the rapid population growth in our state. It doesn’t rate all that well outside of our state borders, either.
The most important community characteristics (based on being among the respondent’s top three choices) were medical and health care facilities, the ease of car travel around town, quality affordable housing, job opportunities, the community’s overall appearance, and the availability of open space.
Ultimately, the survey results indicate what most of us already knew – College Station is recognized as a clean, safe, well-run City that stacks up well across the board. But City leaders also acknowledge that we have many areas that need improvement, making that feedback even more valuable than the feel-good stuff.
ETC has also created a robust online dashboard. It’s fairly intuitive, but each section includes a link to instructional videos for those who need guidance.
Check out the complete survey results when you have a chance and let us know what you think. As the survey illustrates, your opinion is always valued.
About the Blogger
Colin Killian has been with the City of College Station since 2010, following a 23-year tenure as associate media relations director for the Texas A&M Athletics Department. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and Lewisville News. A native of Hobbs, N.M., Killian graduated from Texas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in journalism/political science.
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