Thumbs Up? Town of Herndon Releases Citizen Survey

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The following release was provided by the Town of Herndon.

• Click here to view a summary of the 2014 Citizens’ Opinion Survey.
• Click here to view the 2014 Citizens’ Opinion Survey in its entirety.

Release, Town of Herndon:

An overwhelming 93.7 percent of Town of Herndon citizens are satisfied with their quality of life living in the town, according to a just-completed telephone survey conducted on the town’s behalf by Norfolk, VA-based Continental Research Associates, Inc. (CRA).

Between October 20 and November 18, CRA conducted the survey of 331 citizens, asking for opinions on a range of topics including customer service at town facilities, the condition of town streets and parks, satisfaction with town services and more. Citizens were randomly selected to participate in the survey; both landlines and cell phones were contacted. Because scientific selection techniques were used in conducting the survey, the results represent the views and opinions of Herndon residents and would vary only slightly from a complete census.

Town services that ranked particularly well in the survey included:

• customer service at the Herndon Community Center (99.4 percent satisfied);
• services and playing conditions at the Herndon Centennial Golf Course (99.3 percent satisfied);
• the variety of town activities (97.6 percent satisfied); town services overall (97.3 percent satisfied);
• the condition of town parks (97.3 percent satisfied);
• customer service at the Herndon Municipal Center (96.1 percent satisfied);
• the town’s overall appearance (95.5 percent satisfied);
• information provided by the town about services and events (95.4 percent satisfied);
• programs and services at the community center (95 percent satisfied); and
• activities at the Herndon Festival (95 percent satisfied).

All told, 10 town services and programs received satisfaction rankings of 95 percent or higher; seven were ranked between 90-95 percent; one was ranked between 80-90 percent; and one – the flow of traffic on town streets – was ranked below 80 percent, with 74.9 percent satisfied.

“Without question, Herndon has much to be proud of,” CRA wrote in its executive summary, presented to the Herndon Town Council at a work session on January 6. “The proportion of ratings that exceeds ’90 percent satisfied’ is definitely among the highest we see.”

Said Mayor Lisa Merkel, “The town is constantly striving to provide excellent service to our citizens. These survey results indicate that we are achieving – and even exceeding – our service goals, and they provide a benchmark against which to measure our efforts going forward. We will use these results to budget town resources in ways that our citizens have indicated are important to them.”

CRA has conducted citizens’ opinion surveys for the Town of Herndon in the past, most recently in 2008. Results from the 2014 survey are compared to prior results, providing an indication of how satisfaction levels are trending over time. The complete 2014 Citizens’ Opinion Survey is available on the town’s website; visit www.herndon-va.govand click on the “living” tab.