The city of Bothell has hired PRR, a public relations firm, to conduct a citizen survey to understand community needs and service priorities.
In July, a random sampling telephone survey of 400 residents within Bothell city limits was conducted to ask their views of city services and how the city can improve its services.
The survey results reveal that of those 400 citizens polled, a large majority report that Bothell is an “excellent” or “good” place to live, that they are satisfied with the amount of city services they receive, and feel that those services are provided at a high level of customer service.
The final survey results report was presented to the Bothell City Council at its Sept. 2 meeting. The report is available at www.ci.bothell.wa.us.
“It’s essential that the city knows what concerns are out there, in order to address them, and the survey results are just one tool that we have to use for this purpose,” said Bothell City Manager Bob Stowe. “Priorities within communities constantly change — this survey will help the city, as a service provider, focus on specific citizens’ needs and continually provide the best possible services to them.”
Key findings include that 92 percent of the citizens surveyed report that Bothell is either a “good” or “excellent” place to live.
In addition, 75 percent of the respondents think that the city is “headed in the right direction.”
The majority of the respondents also reported that the city provides the right amount of services (86.4 percent) and the right amount of information (71.8 percent).
The majority of citizen respondents who had contact with the police and fire departments rated their experience as excellent.
Overall, the current results compared to the 2004 survey show that citizens are even happier with Bothell as a place to live and have grown more optimistic about Bothell’s future.
Following the survey results report, the information gathered will be used by the Bothell City Council as it makes priority decisions throughout the budget process and long-term strategic planning.
“With this citizen feedback, the city of Bothell can better benchmark the needs and priorities of how to strategically allocate our resources to deliver the high level of service our citizens expect,” Stowe said.
