Mount Prospect to survey residents on attitudes toward community

Mount Prospect will survey residents in the coming months to get a better idea of how connected the village government is with its citizens.

This week the village board agreed to contract with ETC Institute for the survey. Based in Olathe, Kansas, ETC will be paid a maximum of $21,600.

The survey, said Trustee Steven Polit, "is going to tell us a lot also about how well we are attached to the residents in our community.

"If we're off in a particular area, we want to get focused on that like a laser beam," he added.

The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete, officials said. It will be given by a combination of mail, Internet and phone, and the goal is to get at least 400 responses.

Initially, the survey will be mailed to randomly selected residents who can return it by mail or complete it online. Residents will get a follow-up call, either to be thanked or given the option of completing it by phone.

Village Manager Michael Cassady said the survey is intended "to make sure that we're doing the right things right (and that) we're approaching this service business in a way that's meeting or exceeding the expectations of our residents."

ETC senior project manager Jason Morado said residents' responses will be tracked to make sure they are demographically representative of the village as a whole. There will be an option to complete the survey in Spanish.

Since 2006, ETC has surveyed more than 2 million people in more than 800 communities in 49 states. A typical project takes three months.

Trustee Colleen Saccotelli asked if the survey could be conducted in Polish.

"Almost as many people speak Polish as do Spanish in our village," said Mayor Arlene Juracek.

Trustee Paul Hoefert asked what happens if the respondent speaks Vietnamese.

"We're a multicultural community. We pride ourselves on being a multicultural community. And we want to hear from our multiple cultures in Mount Prospect," he said.

Morado said ETC will get the right person on the phone for the language spoken in the household.

He also noted that many adults for whom English is not their first language often have someone in the home - a teenager, for example - who can interpret the survey.