11-04-87 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES City Council Nov. 4, 1987 Par•k Sur•ve Mor•r~is explained that in conducting a survey, nor•mally a 400 household (Cont. r~andom sampl e i s sel ected and sur•veyed by tel ephone. Morr•i s r•epor~ted that a telephone sur•vey can achieve a mor•e tr•uly r•andom sample than a mai 1 sur•vey as responder•s to a mai 1 sur~vey ar~e usual ly peopl e who ar•e intensely inter~ested in a subject. Mor~r•is r•epor•ted that telephone sur•veys ar•e cost-effecti ve and better•, mor•e r•el i abl e i nfor•mati on can be obtained than thr•ough a mail sur~vey. Mor•r~is r•eported that in doing a sur~vey his firm fir~st focuses on the policy issue to be addr~essed. In the case of Little Canada, the policy issue is par•ks and r~ecr~eation. Demogr•aphics ar~e also looked at to establish a pr•ofile of the r•esidents in the City and the attitudes and opinions of var~ious types of gr~oups ar•e consider~ed. For~ example, the single-family homeowner•'s attitudes ver~sus the multiple-unit dweller•, or• the long-ter•m r~esident ver•sus the shor~t-ter~m r~esident. Income differ•ences, educational differ~ences, and even r•egional differ~ences can be addr•essed. The sur~vey can locate the concer~ns of var~ious gr•oups and aler~t the City to what ar~ecalled pot-hole issues, that is, issues of a par•ticular~ gr•oup or• ar•ea. Mor~r•is r•epor•ted that his fir•m enjoys wor•king dir•ectly with cities. The sur•vey r•e9ults put to9ether• by his fir•m will include a lengthy wr•itten commentar•y. Nis fir•m will a1so make pr•esentations or• conduct workships and follow-up with cities after• sur~veys have been completed. Mor~r•i s r~epor•ted that i f the Ci ty hi r~es hi s fi r•m to do a sur•vey, he will guar•antee that the City will get r•eliable infor•mation in a timely and cost-effective fashion. Fahey asked what cities Decision Resour•ces has done sur•vey wor•k for~. Mor~r•i s r•epl i ed that thei r~ cl i ents i ncl ude Cottage Gr•ove, Rosevi 11 e, Shor•eview, Inver• Gr•ove Heights, Plymouth, Bloomington, Shor•eview and Eagan. Blesener asked when the telephone calls would be made. Mor•r•is r•eplied that calls would be made dur•ing the day and evening with some Satur~day phoning as well. Dlesener• r~epor•ted that in r•eviewing the sur~vey Decision Resour~ces did for the City of Shor•eview, it is appar•ent that Shor•eview's sur~vey was dir•ected towar~d a r•ecr•eational building or• community building. Blesener~ felt the sur•vey was a way for• Shor~eview to deter~mine how it could get something passed thr•ough a r•efer~endum, and not a sur~vey to deter•mine how r•esidents felt about something. Fahey pointed out that the City Council would contr~ol the types of questions asked in the sur•vey, and pointed out that the Council has no pr•e-conceived ideas about what this sur•vey should include. Page -2-