The Town of Scarborough is launching a town-wide community survey to seek feedback from residents. The survey covers questions regarding satisfaction with town services and the direction the community is headed. It is expected to be in the mailboxes of a random sample of households in town by the end of October.
This survey comes two years after the last one was conducted in 2021. Before the 2021 survey, it had been11 years since a similar type of community survey had been administered. The Town now seeks to more regularly survey the community every couple of years or so as a way to benchmark levels of satisfaction over time. The data also helps inform elected and appointed leaders of the objective sentiments of the community. It has been a critical tool for guiding Town Council goals and prioritizing community investments. “Understanding your satisfaction with Town services, departments, and issues is critical to helping us better serve you and will inform our council goals for 2024,” Town Councilor April Sither said. Sither also serves as chair of the Communications and Community Engagement Committee, which has led the work to carry out this council initiative.
The 2023 survey retains many of the same questions from the previous iteration, as well as new questions regarding more recent issues (Library expansion project, management of growth, etc.). The survey is administered through a third-party vendor, ETC Institute, to ensure validity and to maintain anonymity. Their goal is to obtain a minimum of 600 completed surveys in order to be considered statistically valid. In 2021, this goal was far exceeded, with 862 residents completing a survey. Using a nationally recognized survey company also allows results from Scarborough surveys to be compared with regional and national averages.
The Town of Scarborough expects to receive final results of the survey by the end of the year in order to help inform council goals for 2024. Results will be made available in a Findings Report on the town website when available. Additionally, the survey company will prepare digital maps showing the results of specific questions on the survey by geography (Addresses of survey respondents are geocoded to the block latitude and longitude coordinates to ensure the exact location of a respondent’s household remains anonymous). This representation of data visually shows how well the Town is delivering services to various parts of the town.
While the survey will be mailed to a random sample of households in order to be statistically valid, the Town of Scarborough wants to hear from any resident who would like to offer feedback. Once the target for completed mailed surveys has been met, an online version of the survey will be made available to anyone who has not received the mailed version. This is to avoid duplicates and retain accuracy. A link to an open online survey is expected to be available by December and will be communicated through the Town website, Leader, Scarborough Town Newsletter, and Town of Scarborough Facebook page at that time.
After being compiled and analyzed, survey results will be presented to the Town Council and a comprehensive report will be made available on the Town’s website. For any questions regarding the survey, please contact Liam Gallagher, Assistant Town Manager, at (207) 730-4026.
View the results of last year’s survey in the Findings Report and mapped results at https://www.scarboroughmaine.org/stay-connected/municipal-projects/townwide-community-survey.
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