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County Wants Residents' Ideas, Opinions

Posted on: Friday, 16 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Jeffrey Gautreaux, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Jun. 16--Yuma County is showing it's serious about finding out what its residents think.

ETC Institute of Olathe, Kan., was hired by the county and is in the process of conducting a survey of residents about county priorities and quality of services as part of an ongoing strategic planning process.

County legislative and public affairs director Kevin Tunell said surveys are a good gauge of the attitudes of county residents. "It gives us a barometer to understand what our customers feel is important," he said. "And that's extremely helpful when dividing up money from the general fund."

ETC is in the process of mailing out 2,400 surveys to residents from across the county. Some residents may have already received one of the 47-question surveys. Each contains a postage-paid return envelope for sending it back.

Tunell said the firm hopes to receive enough completed surveys to create an 800-person random sample. He said after about two weeks, ETC will call residents who have not returned surveys to urge them to do so or possibly ask them the questions over the phone to get the data.

Participation in the survey is voluntary, but the county says the greater the number of residents who take part, the more useful the information will be.

The mailed surveys ask for residents' opinions on county government, public safety, what media they use, quality of life, the work done by county departments and where the county should aim its efforts. There are also basic demographic questions. The county said all information will be kept strictly confidential and requests that people answer truthfully.

The results of the survey will be presented to the Yuma County Board of Supervisors in a few weeks.

ETC Institute, founded in 1982, gathers data for local governments to aid community planning, according to its Web site. It has surveyed more than 400,000 people for clients in 41 states through more than 850 surveys, 600 focus groups and 1,500 stakeholder meetings.

Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun (Yuma, Ariz.)

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