Local News

Council wants resident input

Marc Valero | Highlands Today
Published: November 19, 2012

AVON PARK - City Councilman Parke Sutherland wants more resident input for the city council to consider.

"I was having to go out and find folks and talk to folks about issues that were pending before the city council," he said.

He mentioned his concern to the city manager of Fort Lauderdale.

Sutherland said the Broward County city receives input twice a year through a resident survey.

The National Research Center Inc. has a service called the National Citizen Survey, which can compare and analyze the data economically and geographically, Sutherland said; the company can do a "monstrous amount" of work with the survey information.

The NRC does this survey for a large number of municipalities, but mostly large municipalities, he said.

"When I look at it, I think it is relatively expensive; it runs about $10,000 a pop every time you do a survey," he said.

The company has a standard survey, and if you vary from the standard it will cost more money.

The sample standard survey showed numerous questions about housing, transportation, shopping, availability of health care, crime and city services.

"The idea is good; the cost is a concern to me, but I would love to get more citizenry input and it would be a way to get that done," Sutherland said.

Mayor Sharon Schuler asked if it was something the city could do on its own without hiring a company.

Sutherland responded the survey is probably trademarked and could not be copied and sent out. Staff could put something together that is more specifically tailored to this community, but the service the company performs is a concise report from the survey's data.

Sutherland has not checked for any other companies that might do this service at a lower price. He said if the council likes the idea, he will look for additional vendors.

Both Councilmen Paul Miller and Terry Heston believed the survey would be helpful.

"It would give us goals to work toward," Heston said.

Schuler said on some issues council only hears from a few people who have complaints, so council needs more input from residents so it knows what the whole city wants.

Sutherland said he would search for other survey companies and provide council with an update at its next meeting, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 27.

mvalero@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5826