Title: Bell Park Walkway
1Sudbury Toronto Montreal
2003 State of the Community Survey
Results Prepared for The Corporate Strategy and
Policy Office of the CAO
Robert C. Sinclair, Ph.D. Paul A
Seccaspina, Ph.D. Vice President
President
2Team Members
- Oraclepoll Research
- Paul Seccaspina Bob Sinclair
- City of Greater Sudbury
- Carlos Salazar
3- CORPORATE PROFILE
- We are a national research firm based in
Sudbury with offices in Toronto and Montreal. - Our staff include 3 senior analysts, 8
support staff, and 40 research staff. - The company was founded in 1995 and has
experienced consistent annual growth since then. - Our call centre is equipped with state of
the art Voxco Computer Assisted Telephone
Interview (CATI) software. - Our experience ranges from client
satisfaction to program evaluation to
advertising / product testing tracking.
4- PARTIAL CLIENT LIST
- BCE (Télébec, Sympatico, Lino, Northern
Telephone, Northwestel, Nortel Télébec
Mobility) - CTV National Sales and Marketing
- Domtar
- Durham Regional Police
- General Motors / Saturn Corporation
- Inco Ltd.
- Johnson Johnson
- Northwest Territories Power Corporation
- OMERS
- Sudbury Regional Hospital
- Toronto Public Health
- World Wildlife Fund
5- Paul A. Seccaspina, President
- Honours B.A., 1986, Laurentian University
- M.A, 1988, University of Western Ontario
- Ph.D., 1997, University of Warwick
- Lecturer, Department of Political Science,
Laurentian University, 1988-1993 - Lecturer, Civic Education Project / Yale
University, Moldova, 1993-1994 - After a career in banking, the securities
industry and academia, Dr. Seccaspina founded
Oraclepoll in 1995. - Since that time he has built a national client
base that spans government, the private sector
(including several Fortune 500 firms) and not for
profit organizations. - He has built the company by offering a quality
product and excellent service to the
corporations clients. - He regularly deals with media inquires and has
been cited in all major Canadian news outlets.
6- Robert C. Sinclair, Vice President
- Honours B.A., 1981, University of Western
Ontario - M.Sc., 1984, The Pennsylvania State University
- Ph.D., 1988, The Pennsylvania State University
- Professor, Department of Psychology, Central
Michigan University, 1987-1991 - Professor, Department of Psychology, University
of Alberta, 1991-2001 - Dr. Sinclair is listed among The 2000
Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century. - He is listed among The 2000 Eminent Scientists
of Today. - He has approximately 100 scientific
publications / presentations / invited talks. - He was a member of the Social Sciences
Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant
Adjudication Committee. - He has appeared on national and international
television networks including CBS, ABC, CNN,
BBC, CTV, CBC, and Global. - He has been interviewed by the New York Times,
Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National
Post, Globe and Mail, and numerous other
newspapers. - Dr. Sinclair has extensive experience
consulting in the areas of Organizational
Development, Organizational Culture, and Program
Evaluation, both nationally - and internationally.
7Methodology Logistics
- Random Sample Survey
- 1200 residences
- 100 businesses
8Rationale for Survey Research
- Informational Benefits
- Importance of Public Opinion / Community
Involvement - Internal Benchmarking
- Development of Action Plan
9Residential Survey Results
10Overview of Descriptive Data
- Satisfaction levels among those residents who
have had contact with the City are low as
comments reveal citizen discontent over reaching
the appropriate person and having their needs,
issues and concerns dealt with. - Discontent among residents is most evident with
respect to infrastructure including roads. - There remains an in and out divide as
residents of the Greater Sudbury Area (GSA) are
more likely to be concerned with, infrastructure
as well as fire and policing issues than those of
the City core.
11Quality of Life
12Community Pride
13Top of Mind Issues
2001 2002 2003
TAXES 16 JOBS / EMPLOYMENT / UNEMPLOYMENT 15 ROADS 19
HEALTH CARE 16 ROADS 11 JOBS / EMPLOYMENT / UNEMPLOYMENT 15
JOBS / EMPLOYMENT / UNEMPLOYMENT 16 TAXES 10 TAXES 12
ROADS 9 HEALTH CARE 9 HEALTH CARE 8
EQUAL SERVICE ACROSS CGS 5 WATER 8 HYDRO / HYDRO RATES 6
WATER QUALITY 3 ECONOMY 7 HOSPITAL / COMPLETION OF INFRASTRUCTURE 4 each
14Economic Confidence
15Healthy Community
16Level of Interest in Local Politics
17Budget Issues
18Contact with City Staff
19Top 5 Issues in Terms of Importance
- Fire Protection
- Winter Road Maintenance
- Maintenance of Main Roads
- Ambulance Services
- Police Services
20Bottom 5 Issues in Terms of Satisfaction
- Maintenance of Main Roads
- Winter Road Maintenance
- Economic Diversification
- Providing Quality Land Development
- Child Care Funding
21Gap Analysis
22Time-Related Changes in Satisfaction
23Time-Related Changes in Satisfaction
24Satisfaction with City Services Collapsed Across
Time
25Time-Related Changes in Satisfaction
26Ward-Related Differences Satisfaction
Importance Performance Indicators
- Mean scores were computed based on the ratings of
the performance indicators falling into each
organizational unit of the City of Greater
Sudbury, for both satisfaction and importance
ratings - Reliability analyses were also conducted
27Ward-Related Differences Satisfaction
Importance Performance Indicators
- 7 (City Service) X 6 (Ward) mixed-model analyses
of variance were conducted on the satisfaction
and importance ratings based on the performance
indicators - Tests
- Are there significant differences among the city
services? - Are there differences among the wards?
- Are there City Service X Ward interactions?
(i.e., are there different patterns of ratings of
city services in the different wards?)
28Ward-Related Differences Satisfaction
29City Services Satisfaction
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39Conclusions Recommendations
- Ensure that the GSA does not feel disenfranchised
- People are most satisfied with Emergency Services
and Public Health - People are least satisfied with Public Works and
Economic Development Planning - Target Public Works and Economic Development
Planning - Target Gaps in Public Works, Police Services,
Emergency Services, and Economic Development and
Planning
40Problems/Solutions Regarding Performance
Indicators
- Halo Error
- On performance indicators involving multiple
measures/categories (e.g., Economic Development
Planning), responses on one measure color
responses on other performance indicators within
category addressing individual measures could
be misleading use mean responses - The general public does not always perceive
performance indicators as representing the
appropriate organizational unit in the city
thus, responses on one organizational unit can
color responses on another (e.g., providing
affordable housing can color responses on the
Social Services indicators) increase public
awareness regarding the functions of the
organizational units use multiple indicators
that map appropriately onto the organizational
units use mean responses
41Problems/Solutions Regarding Performance
Indicators
- Single Indicators
- Single indicators (e.g., Police Services, Public
Health) are notoriously unreliable and lead to
invalid inferences - Multiple indicators are needed in order to
address each aspect of a particular
organizational unit (e.g., measures of
satisfaction with the various multifaceted
aspects of Police Services would increase
validity and provide more important information
regarding the aspects of Police Services that
need to be targeted cf. On a scale from very
poor to very good, please rate the level of
Police Service that is currently provided)
develop multiple indicators and use mean
responses
42Problems/Solutions Regarding Performance
Indicators
- Need for Transactional Data
- Satisfaction measures on performance indicators
on which respondents have no experience are
extremely problematic (e.g., asking people to
evaluate satisfaction with libraries, when they
have not used a library can distort the data
associated with libraries) move toward
transaction-based (i.e., experience-based)
surveys involving multiple indicators and mean
responses - Conduct focus groups
43Business Survey Results
44Top of Mind Issues
(Excluding responses of Dont Know)
45EconomicConfidence
46Budget Issues
47Satisfaction withContact with a Municipal Staff
Member
- 58 contacted a municipal staff member
- Only 54 rated the experience as positive (a 10
decline from 2002) - A lack of response/action and poor service were
cited as areas for improvement
48Top 5 Issues in Terms of Importance
- Fire Protection
- Maintenance of Main Roads
- Winter Road Maintenance
- Planning for the Citys Future
- Ambulance Services
49Bottom 5 Issues in Terms of Satisfaction
- Maintenance of Main Roads
- Developing Job Creation Initiatives
- Child Care Funding
- Economic Diversification
- Winter Road Maintenance
50Gap Analysis
51Satisfaction Importance Performance Indicators
- Mean scores were computed based on the ratings of
the performance indicators falling into each
organizational unit of the City of Greater
Sudbury, for both satisfaction and importance
ratings
52Satisfaction Importance
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54Gaps
55Area-Related Differences
56 57Type of Business-Related Differences
- Businesses were categorized as
- 1) Hospitality (tourism, restaurants, lodges,
hotels, bars, motels, lodges, cottages, tent
grounds, entertainment and recreation, movie
theatres, etc.) - 2) Retail (sell anything to the general public,
except hospitality services) - 3) Service (hair dressers, barbers, travel
agents, couriers, etc.) - 4) Other (communications/technology, government,
manufacturing, nonprofit, professional, natural
resources, transportation, wholesale, and other
businesses that did not fall into the other
categories) - Analyses tested for statistically significant
differences on all measures as a function of Type
of Business
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61Conclusions Recommendations Business
- Businesses were most satisfied with Citizen
Services and Public Health - Businesses were least satisfied with Public
Works, Economic Development Planning, and
Social Services - Largest Gaps in Public Works, Police Services,
Economic Development Planning, and Emergency
Services - Target Infrastructure (Note Businesses view EDP
as their realm) - Conduct focus groups/detailed surveys to
determine reasons
62General Conclusions Recommendations
- Residents place a high priority on infrastructure
issues followed by economic development issues. - Businesses most want their local government to
deal with issues related to having a stable
infrastructure so that they can conduct their
business and are less concerned with economic
development issues. - In summary, the City needs to reach out to the
community and make people feel empowered (i.e.,
more a part of the process). As it stands, many
residents feel left out. Interventions could
include public consultation and reassurances over
emergency services and road maintenance.
Furthermore, providing the general public with
details regarding plans to shore-up services will
likely go a long way to increasing public
confidence. Often, information is power.
63General Conclusions Recommendations
- Communication
- Consultation
- Inclusion
- Visible Action
64Benchmarking
- Quality of Life, Satisfaction with the Range of
City Services, and Confidence in the Communitys
Economic Future Ratings were Collected from
Residents of - North Bay (n 76)
- Timmins (n 75)
- Sault Ste. Marie (n 85)
- Thunder Bay (n 76)
- Toronto (n 74)
- Other (n 242)
- Statistical Tests were Conducted to Test for
Differences in the Mean (Average) Ratings of
Residents of These Cities Versus the Ratings of
Residents of the City of Greater Sudbury
65Benchmarking
66Benchmarking
- Sudbury Residents Rate Quality of Life as
Significantly Lower than do the of Residents of - 1) North Bay
- 2) Timmins
- 3) Other
- Sudbury Residents do not Differ from the
Residents of - 1) Sault Ste. Marie
- 2) Thunder Bay
- 3) Toronto
67Benchmarking
68Benchmarking
- Sudbury Residents Rate Satisfaction with
the Range of City Services as Significantly
Lower than do the of Residents of All Other
Areas
69Benchmarking
70Benchmarking
- Sudbury Residents have Less Confidence in
the Economic Future of the Community than do
Residents of - 1) Toronto
- 2) Timmins
- 3) Other
- Sudbury Residents do not Differ from
Residents of - 1) North Bay
- Sudbury Residents have More Confidence than
do Residents of - 1) Sault Ste. Marie
- 2) Thunder Bay
71Benchmarking
Take Home Messages There are definitely issues
to address! Sudbury should be on top! More
broad-based benchmarking might be useful.