City staff launched a community survey on Jan. 27 using Polco’s National Community Survey product, which staff said will allow Idaho Falls to benchmark resident opinions against similarly sized cities nationwide.

Community outreach director Margaret (as identified in the meeting) said the project is funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for this cycle and staff hope to sustain regular surveying in future years. “This community outreach effort… gives us a way to judge our performance compared to similarly sized cities,” Margaret told the council.

How the survey will run

- Random-sample mailings: Polco will mail postcards to a randomly selected sample of approximately 3,500 households in the city. Those recipients will have instructions to complete the survey online. Reminder postcards will follow if response rates are low.
- Open participation: A publicly open version of the survey will be launched in mid-February to allow broader community participation. Staff cautioned that the randomly sampled postcard responses and the open responses are treated separately for statistical validity; combining the two raises the margin of error.
- Timeline: Postcards are expected to arrive within days of the work session. Data collection will close at the end of February, with preliminary results and an executive briefing expected in late March or early April. Polco will present results to the council as part of the project deliverables.

Survey content and local tailoring

The survey uses a core set of benchmark questions (questions 1–12 in the packet) that allow national comparisons. The city added custom questions on parks and recreation, childcare, and airport services to reflect local priorities. Staff also noted they adjusted wording around transportation questions to fit local conditions (for example, this city does not have bus rapid transit).

Participation and interpretation

Margaret said postcards are intended to create a statistically valid random sample; if response rates require it, staff will report both the postcard-sample results and the broader open-response set separately and note differences in margins of error. Staff asked council members to encourage residents to complete the survey.

Council input

Councilors asked about safety questions that referenced the downtown and requested a clearer day/night distinction for perceptions of safety; staff said the survey uses standard benchmark items nationally but that future iterations can split day/night safety questions. Councilors also asked about required response rates and whether the city should disaggregate certain demographic or ethnic subgroups; staff said Polco can produce segmented reports and that Margaret will follow up with required response-rate targets and the company’s recommended sample-size thresholds.

Next steps

Polco will deliver initial results at the end of March or early April and provide a council presentation on findings and recommended next steps.