Weekly comments from Dale

Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
April 19, 2019 12:00 p.m.

City Manager Dale Martin

Two key surveys are on the horizon for City residents. The first survey is another edition of the National Citizen Survey and the second survey is the 2020 Census. While the NCS will likely be distributed over the course of the next few weeks, the Census is sill approximately one year away.

The National Citizen Survey (NCS), considered one of the premier community assessments, is conducted by the National Research Center in partnership with several other organizations, including the International City/County Managers Association and the American Association of Public Opinion Research. The survey has been conducted in thousands of communities, and provides “a comprehensive and accurate picture of livability and resident perspectives about local government services, policies and management.” Since the survey is standardized, the local survey results can be compared to the results generated in other communities in the same state, region, or nationwide.

The City first conducted the survey in 2017. The results of that survey are available for review on the City’s web site: http://www.fbfl.us/DocumentCenter/View/17244/The-NCS-Community-Livability-Report-Fernandina-Beach-2017?bidId=.

As with the conduct of that first survey, City residents will be randomly selected by the National Research Center (NRC) through mailing addresses. City staff has clarified the city boundaries with NRC staff to ensure that only city addresses are eligible to receive the survey. It is a continuing challenge to remind some Island residents that a Fernandina Beach mailing address does not necessarily mean that you are a resident of the City. The final survey results will include a map that illustrates to which households were randomly selected.

The 2017 survey was distributed to 1500 households. Although approximately only 500 surveys were returned, the response rate exceeded the typical response rate for the survey and achieved significant reliability. This year, the survey will be mailed to nearly 3,000 households in an effort to achieve a three percent margin of error.

The timing of the survey this year will offer an opportunity to immediately consider survey results into the 2020 budget process. The 2017 survey was completed in October, meaning the annual budget had already been prepared and adopted. If selected to participate, your responses will play a role in determining the level of City operations.

The survey is lengthy, asking for responses for over one hundred questions. It should take approximately twenty minutes to complete the survey if you wish to complete the survey in its entirety in one sitting. Please complete the survey in its entirety and return the survey in the envelope provided.

Thank you in advance for your participation with the National Citizen Survey.
The 2020 Census has a more substantial impact to the City on a larger scale. Most importantly, the Census results are utilized for such key tasks as allocating seats in Congress and in the Florida legislature and to determine funding for federal and state programs for at least the next decade; therefore, it is even more important to participate in the Census.

The Census will seek to engage every resident throughout the country (unlike the aforementioned National Citizen Survey which only seeks input from City households). If cities can generate greater interest in their residents to respond than other communities, the impact of that increased participation can be significantly magnified through greater representation and funding opportunities.

The administration of the Census effort requires significant support from area residents. City staff has conducted a preliminary meeting with regional Census officials to prepare outreach efforts to recruit local residents to work (and get paid) on the Census. For more information related to Census jobs, please visit www.census.gov.

These surveys matter, so please do not overlook or ignore these efforts to engage you. Again, thank you for your participation.