Survey Results: Residents Pleased With City Services But Still Waiting for a Viable City Website

North Canton officials will have a better idea of what the city needs to improve upon after taking a look at the newest Citizens' Survey results.

The results, which were presented by the Citizens' Survey Committee at the March 11 North Canton City Council meeting, shed light on residents' feelings about their neighborhoods, city council, public services and communication from the city.

It asked questions like, "Has city council acted responsibly and respectfully with our tax dollars," "Would you support a 1 mill additional tax levy that would provide funding for only business development" and "Do you use North Canton's website www.northcantonohio.com?" Most questions asked for yes/no answers, or for residents to rate their satisfaction, but residents also were able to provide written feedback.

Larry Breckenridge, member of the North Canton Citizens' Survey Committee, said the response from the community was great.

"The people in North Canton really care about the community, and that was obvious from the feedback we received on all of the areas, whether we solicited it or if they came forward and volunteered it," Breckenridge said.

Deadline to fill out the survey, which came through the mail and was available online, was the end of September. Then, committee members set to compiling the information.

So, what did citizens have to say? You can see the full results in an attached .pdf, but below are some highlights.

• 96 percent of those filling out the survey were homeowners, while 4 percent are renters (Compared to 68.8 percent ownership rate in North Canton, according to 2010 Census)
• Nearly 16 percent of people said the quality of life in North Canton was changing for the worse, while 35 percent said quality of life is getting better and nearly 43 percent said it was staying the same.
• Out of all city services, the North Canton Police Department had the highest approval from residents, with 93.6 percent saying the department is "excellent or good." 
• One of the lowest approval ratings was with sewer and storm drainage, with 54.2 percent of residents saying they were happy with those services. Street repair was just above storm drainage, at 55.4 percent saying they were pleased with those services.
• 52.3 percent of North Canton residents believe city services should not be privatized, while only 7 percent said they should. 

Something that stood out to Breckenridge was nearly 59 percent of residents said they do not use the city's website. That mirrored what citizens said back in 2010, when the survey committee presented results from its first city-wide survey.

Citizens feel the the city's communication with its citizens could be improved through a better website, he said.

"That was one of the biggest complaints from the citizens, that the city needs a better communication tool," Breckenridge said. "And they think the website would help that immensely."

"We also did find out a vast majority of people who want to use the website are, by definition, the younger citizens — not a surprise," he said. "(Many) said the website has got to be better for us to use and there needs to be more info forthcoming from the city on the website.”