What’s Wrong With This Picture?

I was more than a little miffed last week after I took the City of DuPont’s online survey. My first impression was This is it?

No, really. Much of the issue when the survey was first proposed was the cost involved. Never mind that some felt that the City should have already known most of what they were asking; or, that others felt that the questions would lead to whatever end they hoped to achieve. Both are valid coffee shop conversations but hard to prove.

At some level, you had to harbor some hope that this effort would at least signal in a new era of outreach, or whatever term the council and mayor used. They said they wanted to hear from those people who usually do not freely offer an opinion. Broaden their perspective. Hear another point of view.

The actions of City Hall once again do not match their words.

The execution of this survey has been questionable, at best. First, the complaints fielded by council members who rightly highlighted the matter at the last city council meeting. Rude phone conversation, confusion questions. You could only hope it got better online.

It didn’t.

The online survey has its own disappointments. The first that jumped out at me was the use of Surveymonkey, a web based survey tool. It seemed a tad low budget considering how much money was being discussed to be spent.

The questions themselves also disappointed. Some were too vague while some were too specific while some were nonsensical.

You were asked whether you worked for wages but not if you ever participated in a city forum before.

This brings us back to outreach. I wondered why something worth so much to the city was not better advertised to those outsiders who still live within the city limits. How was the city going to reach them?

Well, here are some methods they didn’t use. They didn’t take an ad out in the Home Town Clipper. They also did not print a banner like the one’s advertising OWLOM or some soccer camp. They also didn’t direct mail like the Pierce County Library System did seeking to issue new cards. Nor did they use their reader board; teen night with a cop was offered instead.

It was when the reader board changed last week from the Cop Date to schlepping library cards for Pierce County that I decided to inquire. I wrote the mayor an email and CC’ed the council and Bill McDonald. Their answer may surprise you.

One thing must be perfectly clear. The council is not responsible for getting the word out. They are there to make policy and approve the funds. They decided we needed a survey and how much we should pay. Once approved then the ball is squarely in the court of the mayor’s staff. In this case, the matter rests with Bill McDonald.

I won’t get into the details with the emails that were exchanged. I was told that they could change the sign next week and they were also seeking to get the link sent out in the ROA newsletter (Sorry Historic Village). That is an interesting solution considering that the close date of this coveted survey is Wednesday, September 30th.

Oh, don’t worry, I was told. The survey could be arbitrarily extended, Mr. McDonald said. Well, heck Bill, why not keep it open until Christmas?

There was also mention of preliminary results suggesting citizens preferred another means of communication. Or, perhaps it suggests that the city has the answer they want without your opinion. No need to confuse the matter with reaching out to the outsiders.

Well, when you advertise the survey to your mailing list or your Facebook friends, then it doesn’t exactly suggest that much effort was made to seek out those who usually do not participate. I guess they are just not good followers.

Bill McDonald and Mayor Jenkins would be wise to recognize that good followers follow good leaders. Not a pair marching in circles. The execution of the survey, at great cost, has been poor. Not utilizing a taxpayer resource like the reader board is inexcusable. Not vigorously promoting it suggests either incompetence or apathy.

The mayor’s staff, in response to their recent execution, treat your tax dollars like they are your tax dollars. “It got done so stop complaining you whiners!”

That is too bad because staff’s inaction and comments open the door to question the integrity of the results. There is an old saying about statistics; that they are like a drunk clutching to a lamp post. They are used more for support than illumination.

At least that is what the preliminary results say.