DATE: October 13, 2015
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT
Title
Authorization for the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a Professional Services Agreement with Godbe Research for the 2016 Community Input and Feedback Survey
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That Council adopts a resolution (Attachment I) authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with Godbe Research, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $31,550 to complete the 2016 Community Input and Feedback Survey.
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BACKGROUND
For the past seven years, Godbe Research, Inc. (Godbe) has been providing community survey and data analysis services for a variety of City initiatives. Beginning in 2008, Godbe completed the first of several biennial resident satisfaction surveys with the most recent taking place in fall of 2014. These surveys have given the Council and staff access to longitudinal data measuring Hayward residents’ opinions on the quality of services and programming provided by the City.
In 2013, the City retained Godbe to conduct a preliminary survey to measure voter preferences for additional capital expenditures and/or service enhancements for the now successful Measure C sales tax measure, which voters approved in the summer of 2014. The research product provided by Godbe helped to accurately describe the service demands of Hayward residents, which in turn determined the projects and service enhancements associated with the Measure C ballot initiative.
The Utility Users Tax (UUT) expires in 2019. Since the tax has been in existence for six years, it would be prudent to assess how the community/voters perceive the City’s use of that money: Did we accomplish or are we accomplishing what was promised to the voters? Does the community believe the City has faithfully exercised management and expenditure of the funds? If additional funds were available, what are the preserences for expenditures of the community going forward?
DISCUSSION
Godbe is a recognized research leader in California. Given Godbe’s longstanding experience measuring the opinions of Hayward residents, staff recommends engaging the firm to conduct the 2016 Community Input and Feedback Survey. In addition to the City, Godbe has conducted several recent surveys for both the Hayward Unified School District and Hayward Area Recreational and Park District.
As outlined in Attachment II: Scope of Services, the objective of this research is to:
- Determine the community’s perception of the City’s management and expenditure of Utility User Tax revenues
- Determine and rank of issues and projects important to Hayward voters
- Evaluate the public sector services and funding preferences of Hayward Voters
- Evaluate potential projects to be funded by future revenue
- Collect demographic information and other research objectives.
Godbe will conduct a hybrid Internet/ Telephone survey with a sample size of 500 or 600 voters. While more expensive, staff strongly recommends a sample size of 600 given that surveys with larger sample sizes are able to more precisely capture and produce more statistically significant results. In other words, a larger size can provide a more reliable prediction of the sentiments of the voting population.
Surveys are available in several different languages to ensure the opinions of the diverse population of the City can be heard. The hybrid survey has been utilized by several bay area cities as well as HARD and HUSD in the past. Godbe staff is confident in its application for this particular study.
Council Committee Action: The Council Budget and Finance Committee (CB&FC) at their meeting on October 7, 2015, reviewed and discussed the pending survey and recommends proceeding with the Godbe contract and scope of work as described herein.
FISCAL IMPACT
Per the scope of services, the most extensive survey option is $31,550. This will be paid for out of the City Manager’s Office Budget. The total amount of this contract will not exceed $31,550.
NEXT STEPS
The City Manager will execute a contract with Godbe to complete the services outlined in the Scope of Services. Once the survey is completed and data is compiled, findings will then be reported to Council in an open work session.
Prepared by: John Stefanski, Management Analyst
Staff contact
Recommended by: Kelly McAdoo, Assistant City Manager
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Approved by:
Fran David, City Manager
Attachments:
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Attachment I Resolution |
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Attachment II Scope of Services |
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