Libertyville seeks opinions of business owners, residents

Libertyville residents and businesses are asked to comment on a variety of village characteristics to help fashion a big-picture plan.

The quality of life community survey is available at www.libertyville.com through the end of the month. It asks residents to rate from poor to excellent whether the village is a good place to work and live, whether they feel safe, whether traffic is bad and whether is easy to walk around town, for example, and to answer several other questions, such as how many times they have used a village park.

An optional part of the survey, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, includes general questions about the person taking the survey and his or her household.

"This actually comes from a village board goal, established last October during the board retreat, to do a community strategic plan," Village Administrator Kevin Bowens said. "The first step in the process is to solicit a citizen survey."

Strategic plans typically include elements such as financial stability, economic development or technology, for example. The village has addressed some of these issues individually.

"This strategic plan would pull all of these issues together into an overall big-picture, long-range plan with broad goals and priorities," according to the goal approved by the village board. It would include an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, as well as a level of resident involvement.

What is known as "The National Citizen Survey" is conducted through the National Research Center Inc. of Boulder, Colorado.

According to the village, this is among the first scientific surveys developed to gather resident opinion on a range of community issues and has been used in more than 350 jurisdictions in 46 states. Cost to the village is $6,200, Bowens said. That will also allow the village to compare its ratings with other communities, he added.

Those who don't have access to the online survey can get a paper copy at the village hall, 118 W. Cook Ave.; Cook Park Library, 413 N. Milwaukee Ave.; Libertyville Civic Center, 135 W. Church St.; or by calling Bowen's office at (847) 918-2024.