Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward took to Facebook on Friday to announce the third annual Pensacola Community Survey by the UWF Haas Center.
“One of the values I focus on as mayor is being responsive to the ideas, opinions, and needs of City residents,” wrote Mayor Hayward. “Your responses will help us balance priorities and improve services so that Pensacola remains a great place to live, work, learn and play.”
In the past, the survey has been conducted over the phone. This year, Haas Center researchers will also conduct live, in-person surveys of city residents at various weekend festivals and farmers’ markets.
The Pensacola Community Surveys have replaced the monthly town hall meetings that were Mayor Hayward’s “Taking City Hall to the Citizens” initiative. From Jan. 2011 to Dec. 2013, Mayor Hayward conducted 23 town hall meetings to listen to his constituents. While he touted the town halls in his campaign materials, Hayward held no town halls in 2014 while he was seeking re-election.
During his second term, he hasn’t brought back the meetings where citizens could address issues face-to-face with the mayor and his leadership team.
The first Pensacola Community Survey was done in July 2014. The Haas Center surveyed city residents 18 years of age or older, not just registered voters, across each of Pensacola’s seven city council districts. In total, 581 people completed the entire questionnaire, which coincided with an approximate 4 percent margin of error (+/-) at a 95 percent confidence level.
In 2014, Pensacola residents gave Fire Department Services the highest mean satisfaction score (4.26). In fact, nearly 85 percent of all residents reported that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the Fire Department’s performance. Respondents were also highly satisfied with Waste Collection Services, which received the only other B+, with a mean satisfaction score of 4.19.
On the other end of the spectrum, city residents were most dissatisfied with Pensacola’s Economic Health, which received a grade of C and a mean satisfaction score of 2.74. Public Works received a mean satisfaction score of 3.24, or C+, which followed closely behind Housing Options (3.28) and City Communication (3.30). Read 2014.10.01_Pensacola_Community_Survey__2014_-_Final_Draft.
The 2015 survey was conducted in last quarter of 2015, and the results were not released until late January of this year.
Again Fire and Waste Collections were the highest rated services, followed closely by City Parks. Police and other Parks & Rec services–Community Centers, Rec Opportunities, and City Athletic Facilities–received B ratings.
Public Works was subdivided into several categories. Of those, only street lighting and city appearance & cleanliness were rated a B-. See study.
Communications was changed to “Ease of Obtaining Info on City Services,” and it was again rated low (3.27), despite the emphasis the mayor had placed on social media, Constituent Services (which he formed in 2014), and the city’s 3-1-1 automated service. Â “Value of Services for City Taxes” was only slightly higher (3.29) than Communications.
City residents were least satisfied with city streets and stormwater infrastructure.
The mayor has never said how he has used the community surveys to lead the city.
However this summer, Mayor Hayward borrowed $15-million to complete a decade’s worth of paving over the next three years. The city’s largest stormwater project, Government Street at Corrine Jones, suffered several setbacks and will not be completed sometime next summer. Last month, the City announced it had a Hazardous Mitigation Grant to expand the stormwater pond at Lee and Fisher streets.