Royal Oak Surveys Residents to Prioritize Spending

Royal Oak events are among the areas that will be addressed in the survey. (Photo via City of Royal Oak)

___________

A randomly selected group of 1,500 registered Royal Oak voters will be getting a survey in the mail in October to help city officials gauge their satisfaction with city and better assess the health, quality of life and planning and spending priorities for the city.

Questions on the survey, conducted by Cobalt Community Research, will be identical to those posed in 2013, said Judy Davids, the city’s community engagement specialist.

In the survey two years ago, residents expressed overall satisfaction with the city’s police department, for example, but were less favorable about the jobs City Hall workers were doing.

“We want to see if that has changed,” Davids said. “We’ve done some things to improve services to citizens.”

Stay Connected

• Get the Royal Oak Patch daily newsletter and news alerts.
• Like Royal Oak Patch on Facebook.

Next week, for example, the city is conducting an intense customer service training session for its City Hall workers. “It’s a direct reflection of our last survey, which said we can do better,” Davids said.

The training also shows that residents’ opinions “do matter,” Davids said.

Cobalt Research is selecting the recipients from voter registration lists sent by the city. The survey attempts to reach representative demographics. For example, 13 percent of Royal Oaks 58,000 residents are ages 65 and older, so 13 percent of that group will receive surveys.

Once the scientific survey has been completed, a link will be posted on the website and all residents of the city will be invited to participate, Davids said.

To read the results of the 2013 survey, click here.