City survey shows high resident satisfaction

A new survey conducted by the City of Mountain Brook has found that residents are highly satisfied with city services.

Conducted by market research organization ETC Institute, the City received 787 completed seven-page surveys, which far surpassed its goal of receiving 400 surveys.

The results revealed that the overall satisfaction with City services rated 41 percent above the national average. The City rated at or above the national average in 37 of the 38 areas that were compared. ETC’s analysis concluded that the City’s priorities are closely aligned with the expectations of residents.

The services that receive the lowest satisfaction ratings were visibility of police in retail areas (78 percent), number of city parks (77 percent), ease of registering for programs (76 percent), availability of information on city services, (75 percent), animal control services (73 percent), quality of the city’s website (69 percent), level of public involvement in local decisions (63 percent) adequacy of city street lighting (61 percent).

The survey also concluded that management of traffic flow and congestion and the maintenance of City streets and facilities should be high priorities over the next two years. Fifty-one percent of respondents ranked it as the most important city service, with maintenance of city streets and facilities the second strongest priority according to residents.

Among other findings in the survey, 70 percent of respondents said they use city sidewalks weekly, 27 percent use the new City WiFi networks and 77 percent recycle weekly.

“I was very pleased with the very positive results of the survey and at the same time very humbled by the confidence our residents have in our city government,” City Manager Sam Gaston said. “We are blessed in Mountain Brook to have strong leadership by our mayor and city council as well as professional, dedicated employees who go the extra mile to serve.”