Glencoe Awarded For Top Ranking In Resident Satisfaction Survey

GLENCOE, IL — Glencoe has won one of the first-ever "Leading the Way" awards in recognition with residents' level of satisfaction with village services. The prestigious designation is based on the results of a community survey completed last year, according to village.

Out of the nearly 200 communities surveyed between August 2019 and July 2020 by the ETC Institute, Glencoe residents were the most satisfied in areas of cleanliness; public transportation services; police safety education; visibility of police around town; water utility services and being "rated as a good place to live."

“The Village is incredibly honored and humbled to receive the ‘Leading the Way Award’ in recognition of Glencoe resident satisfaction levels,” Village President Larry Levin said in a statement.

“This designation reflects the Village Board and staff’s ongoing commitment through prudent strategic planning and budgeting efforts to providing Glencoe residents with the highest quality of services both now and into the future," Levin added. "We will continue striving to make Glencoe the best possible community for our residents to live, work and play.”

The survey compares local governments by their constituents' satisfaction with the overall quality of services, customer service from staff and the value residents believe they receive in return for their local taxes and fees, according to the institute.

“The areas where Glencoe scored highest clearly underscore our community’s commitment to excellence," Village Manager Phil Kiraly told Patch via email. "Public safety, the quality of our utilities and the services we provide are all areas of significant pride for us. We work very hard to ensure these services — and all Village services — are delivered to our residents at the highest quality. Likewise, our special community charm and convenient location for travel and commuting add to the many reasons that make Glencoe an exceptional place to live.”

The village was one of 16 municipalities in the country to receive the designation from the Kansas-based institute, which had administered its benchmarking survey for more than 20 years. The questions are mostly identical across the country, although they are customized depending on what municipal services are offered or called in different regions.

To determine winners of the award, institute staff reviewed about 425 towns' survey results from recent years and developed a threshold for what level of satisfaction would qualify for the top 10 percent in the top three categories, according to CEO Chris Tatham.

The institute had not formally recognized top performing towns until Wednesday, although it had previously allowed communities to compare their results to average scores.

"We've been being asked to do this for years. People have wanted us to have an award and COVID-19 provided us a period of two months where the country was shut down for our staff to put this together," Tatham told Patch.

"When Glencoe got their previous report, you'd see the report compared to the national and regional averages, but Glencoe didn't realize it's not just above, it's actually in the top 10 percent. We weren't able to share that information because we hadn't systematically analyzed it ourselves yet," Tatham said. "Now communities can actually know who the best communities are, and the intent is communities can then look at other communities for best practices."

Of the 16 initial winners of the ETC Institute's Leading the Way Award, only two towns — a pair of Missouri suburbs in the Kansas City metropolitan area — had smaller populations than Glencoe.

St. Charles was the only other Illinois municipality to make the cut. It tied for No. 1 in a single category: feeling safe in neighborhoods during the daytime.

While some of the surveys were conducted after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, levels of resident satisfaction were not especially lower in places surveyed more recently, Tatham said.

"Interestingly the results were not affected as much as you might expect. Areas related to police in some communities were some of the areas that went down the most, but it some areas they were unaffected. Ultimately, it comes down to people's expectations being met," he said. "All in all results are a little bit lower this year but not dramatically lower, as you might have expected."

Next year, Tatham plans to add awards for towns where resident satisfaction is most improved from the previous year.

In addition to the Glencoe's village's top rating in six categories, it rated in the top 10 percent in 14 others, out of over 80 subcategories:

• Overall Value of Services Provided to Residents
• Availability of Information about Local Government Services and Activities
• Condition of Street Signs, Traffic Signals, and Sidewalks
• Effectiveness of Communication
• Efforts by Police to Prevent Crime
• Enforcement of Exterior Maintenance of Residential, Public, and Private Properties
• Enforcement of Local Traffic Laws
• How Quickly Police, Fire, and EMS Respond to Emergencies
• Library Services
• Overall Image and Appearance of the City
• Parks and Recreation Facilities and Programs
• Quality of Public Schools
• Level of Public Involvement in Local Decision Making
• Timeliness of Information Provided by the City

See a dashboard of top performers and regional results »