Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

DATE:	February 4, 2015
TO:	David Corliss, City Manager
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager; Casey Toomay, Assist City Manager
FROM:	Kevyn Gero, Management Intern
RE:	Recommendation of firm to conduct 2015 Citizen Survey

Background

The City of Lawrence conducted its first citizen satisfaction survey in 2007 to assess the satisfaction of our residents with the overall quality of city services and programs. A second citizen survey was administered in 2011. The citizen survey has been a useful management tool for prioritizing resources and a significant part of the City’s performance measurement system. To continue with these efforts the City plans to conduct another survey in 2015 as part of ongoing efforts to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the services the city provides. The survey will be a useful tool in Commission goal setting and budget priority discussions for the 2016 budget. The City is also planning an employee satisfaction survey to be conducted internally for 2015.

In January the City received quotes from vendors for the development and conducting of a 2015 citizen satisfaction survey was distributed to appropriate vendors.  Responses were received from three firms – ETC Institute, National Research Center and Center for Urban Studies at Wichita State University.  Staff recommends ETC Institute based on the following:

¦ Experience and familiarity with Kansas municipalities;

¦ Competitive price;

¦ Extent of their client base which will provide us with the ability to benchmark our performance with data from the Kansas City metro and a national survey;

¦ Recent work for the City conducting the 2011 and 2007 citizen survey, and a survey for the comprehensive plan conducted in 2014 ;

¦ Project approach using mail, phone, and internet to administer the survey;

¦ Ability to use data from the prior survey instrument to identify trends over time;

¦ Optional services they can provide;

¦ Ability to return a final product in 12 to 14 weeks;

The quote ($26,610 plus travel costs) from the National Research Center (NRC) proposes an “ala carte” pricing structure. The NRC specializes in their trademark survey, the National Citizen Survey. Benchmarking data is only available for the National Citizen Survey and not customized surveys. The quote for travel costs and other optional services were not competitive against local vendors. 

The Center for Urban Studies’ quote ($38,000 to $53,000 plus printing and mailing) included an extensive engagement process pre- and post-survey to develop a survey instrument. In 2007, ETC coordinated a similar large-scale engagement process with focus groups and interviews to get feedback on the design and construction of the survey. This feedback was incorporated in the 2011 citizen survey as well.  Since the survey was recently conducted and a high level of engagement was previously organized an extensive engagement process would not be efficient use of resources.

Project Scope, Timeline, and Budget

ETC Institute proposes administering a survey using a combination of mail and telephone to gather a sample size of 800.  They also provide the option to make the survey available on the internet.  ETC will tabulate the data and present a final report to the City’s management team and the City Commission.  The proposed timeline for the project from the initial meeting to discuss the survey goals and objectives until the formal presentation of the survey results is 12 to 14 weeks.  The quote also contains a number of optional services such as stakeholder interviews, benchmarking analysis, and geo-coding of data. 

The quote for a 20-minute survey with 800 completed responses and all the optional services was $29,950.  Funding will be provided by a combination of City funds, given the variety of departments involved in the survey.

Action Request

Authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with ETC Institute in the amount of $29,950 for the 2015 Citizen Survey.