New feedback section coming to Naperville parks website
Naperville Park District participants who love or hate their experience with a program or facility soon will have a new way to share their feedback.
The park district is working to launch a new section on its website to host a series of participant input opportunities such as short surveys about classes, sports leagues, events or facilities, including the Fort Hill Activity Center, Knoch Knolls Nature Center, Riverwalk Cafe and others.
The Web page is expected to go live in March as the park district wraps up its winter program session that features activities such as youth gymnastics and basketball, said Brad Wilson, director of recreation.
While the district already sends out surveys to participants in its programs with three or four topics the program leaders want to assess, Wilson said the response rates typically are low. The thought is that making the surveys available online anytime, instead of only by email at the conclusion of a program, will give people the chance to vent complaints or share praise when they feel motivated.
"This will really provide every resident and every participant within our programs an equal opportunity to provide that type of feedback to us," Wilson said.
Park board President Mike Reilly suggested the district keep the surveys as short as possible, saying people are more likely to answer a couple of quick questions than click through something that takes a large chunk of time.
Park board Vice President Rich Janor suggested the beginning of each survey could allow participants to choose a red, yellow or green icon to easily indicate their level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Wilson said tips like these will be incorporated into the surveys as they are developed.
The park district also gathers participant input through open houses and focus groups as well as a large-scale community interest and opinion survey conducted every three to five years. The last interest and opinion survey was completed in 2017.