Lombard completes biannual community survey
LOMBARD, Illinois—The Village of Lombard completed its bi-annual community survey in August and the results of the 19-question survey are just about the same as those of the 2009 survey.
The purpose of the community survey was to “gauge residents' perceptions about government programs and customer service.” A random mailing of the survey was sent to 1,600 residents and it was also made available online.
The mail response rate was 28%, slightly lower than the nearly 34% response rate in 2009, and an additional 46 responses were made online.
A majority of the survey respondents (60%) lived in Lombard for 20 years or more. Survey respondents were comprised of 53% females and 44% males of those who answered the question about gender.
One question on the survey that was exactly the same as the 2009 survey included respondents to indicate the most popular words to describe Lombard. Interestingly, the top five answers were exactly the same as two years ago. The most popular words to describe Lombard continue to be lilac, friendly, clean, safe and quiet.
The 2011 survey added questions to gauge residents' satisfaction with how wisely DuPage County, the State of Illinois and the Federal Government use tax dollars as compared to the Village. Lombard scored higher than any of the other layers of government in this area.
Where customer service is concerned, respondents rated Village departments nearly the same as two years ago, with slight increases in customer service in the Police, Fire and Public Works departments. Most respondents rated customer service standards between “Good” and “Excellent.”
Areas which saw an increase in the satisfaction level included the building permit process and the process for conducting building inspections, both up slightly from two years ago.
The Community Development Department, which includes the Building Division, received slightly lower averages than two years ago; however, this is based on only six respondents to the questions concerning the department generically.
Supplementing this survey effort, Community Development regularly collects customer service comments from its customers and these comments regarding the permit process have been very favorable, including ratings of “excellent” concerning service and noting a pleasant experience.
In terms of respondents' preferences on how to receive information from the Village, email was the most popular response, with a 27% response rate, followed by the Village website with 20%. The most popular preference in 2009 was newspapers (31%), which dropped to 16% in 2011. Other preferences included home phone (15%), Lombard Channel (5%) and radio (1%.)
Additional information on the community survey findings may be found on the Village's website, www.villageoflombard.org.