Seeking Satisfaction: Texas-side citizens can let city know how it's doing in survey

Texarkana, Texas, wants to know what its citizens think the city is doing well and what can use some improvement, and it will be seeking this information through a citizen survey.

Postcards alerting residents of the upcoming surveys through the International City/County Management Association were mailed today. The initial survey will be mailed April 20, with a second wave being mailed on April 27. The survey will be going to 1,500 random households.

Texarkana, Texas, City Manager John Whitson said he is unaware if the city has done a similar survey in the past, but said he and other city staffers are looking forward to seeing what the survey reveals.

"The company we are contracting with keeps track of things and sees where you are improving and not improving and also benchmarks us against other cities, so we can compare and do a lot of different things," Whitson said. "The reports can see how we compare to big cities and cities of different sizes and cities within the state and outside of the state. They can arrange information across a lot of comparisons."

Whitson said the survey is customized for Texarkana as officials are allowed to remove questions that aren't pertinent to the city.

Lisa Thompson, public information officer for the city of Texarkana, said the information gathered from the citizens will help the city know how to do a better job in specific areas. The city will use the information gained from the survey to evaluate the city's evolving needs according to the community, according to a city press release.

"It is vitally important anyone who receives the survey complete it and return it in a timely manager," Thompson said.

No personal information will be published or shared, and individual responses will not be singled out so citizens can communicate on the survey and rest assured their identity and privacy will be maintained.

For more information about this survey, call Joel Cooley at 903-798-3262 or [email protected].

 

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