The city of Durango is preparing to launch an in-depth community survey about the caliber of city services, the state of the local economy and the overall quality of life in Durango in an effort to measure the city’s standing among residents.
Tom Sluis, spokesman for the city, said the city is partnering with Polco, a civil polling company that surveys thousands of cities across the country, to roll out the community survey. The survey is expected to roll out this week.
He said the community survey will be the first of its kind for Durango, with the most statistically valid data to date that will help establish benchmarks the city can rely on for a variety of topics covering topics such as the economy, personal finances and infrastructure.
Polco has randomly selected 3,000 Durango households to target with surveys in English and Spanish by mail, and an open version of the survey will later become available online at a dedicated website, he said.
Sluis said he expects to have a response rate from residents between 15-20%, or 400 to 500 responses. City documents say Polco’s survey has a 6% margin of error.
He said Polco will cross-reference responses with voter registration rolls to capture demographic data such as age, gender, income and other factors.
“(Polco) wants to make sure the responses are not necessarily swayed one way or another in terms of men, women, different racial makeups,” he said.
The survey period will be four to six weeks, and initial results are expected by the end of August, he said. The surveys themselves will take between seven and 15 minutes to complete and are four to five pages long. In-depth analysis of the results will be presented to City Council in September.
Mayor Melissa Youssef noted the length of the surveys, and Sluis said they are long, but they are seeking detailed responses, and the letters will be marked with official city of Durango letterhead, so they should be hard to mistake for junk mail.
José Madrigal, city manager, said he has never seen the city attempt such an in-depth survey since he was hired in 2020. The city manager has brought a renewed focus on customer support to the city, and he said the survey will help municipal leaders understand residents’ sentiment about the state of things.
“But when you look at policy decisions, and when you look at policy-setting goals, it’s a good benchmark to take a look back and see where the community feels we’re doing really well, and maybe some areas where we can improve,” he said.
He said the city is considering rolling out similar surveys once every two years to keep tabs on how people are doing in Durango.
And, because Polco surveys thousands of cities across the country, the data will allow Durango to compare itself to other cities.
“Being able to see kind of how we’re competing against other cities or how our residents are feeling compared to others, I think, definitely gives a benchmark and a background for us as we look at making some of those decisions,” Madrigal said. “I’m really excited about getting this going. Really getting an ability to just see where we’re at and be able to really engage the community in our services.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
