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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 04/06/2021 - Workshop APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP & OPEN PODIUM TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2021 CITY CENTER 5:00 – 6:25 PM, HERITAGE ROOMS 6:30 – 7:00 PM, COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Ron Case, Council Members Kathy Nelson, Mark Freiberg, PG Narayanan, and Lisa Toomey CITY STAFF: City Manager Rick Getschow, Police Chief Greg Weber, Fire Chief Scott Gerber, Public Works Director Robert Ellis, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, Parks and Recreation Director Jay Lotthammer, Administrative Services/HR Director Alecia Rose, Communications Manager Joyce Lorenz, City Attorney Maggie Neuville, and Recorder Katie O’Connor Workshop - Heritage Rooms I and II (5:30) I. 2020 QUALITY OF LIFE SURVEY RESULTS Getschow noted the City does a biennial, statistically significant survey of our residents. This is an important factor of building the City Work Plans and City budget. Jade Arocha, Senior Program Analyst with National Research Center (NRC)/Polco, stated this is the eight iteration of the Quality of Life Survey. She presented the survey methods for the 2020 Quality of Life Survey. NRC/Polco has a mail-based methodology and sends to 2,000 randomly selected households in Eden Prairie with a three-part mailing. They received 510 responses through the mail. An open participation online survey received 859 responses. 1,369 responses total were received. After a thorough analysis, both of the survey method data sets were similar enough that they could be combined. There was a plus or minus three percent error. The amount of surveys mailed in was above average compared to other communities. The results are weighted with community demographics. Results are compared to benchmark comparisons on three levels. Arocha stated Eden Prairie continues to be a highly desirable place to live and raise a family. 93 percent of residents think Eden Prairie has an excellent or good quality of life. This rating is higher than national and Central Region benchmarks. The rating is similar to prior years. Nine in ten residents positively rated the City as a place to live, work, and their neighborhood as a place to live. These ratings were higher than all three sets of benchmarks. When discussing changes over time, it is important to take the pandemic into consideration. There were relatively few changes over time. 93 percent rated the City as a place to raise children, and 89 percent rated the overall education opportunities positively. Arocha stated the next key finding was residents continued to rate safety-related aspects highly, with a few crime-related concerns. At least nine in ten residents rated safety services as excellent or good. While fire services were considered similar to the benchmarks, they are still rated highly. It is difficult to be higher than average at 95 percent. 92 percent of residents rated overall feeling of safety in the City positively. This was higher than all three City Council Workshop Minutes April 6, 2020 Page 2 benchmarks. Nine in ten residents reported they felt very, or somewhat safe in neighborhoods, the Eden Prairie Center mall, parks and open space, retail parking lots, and paths and walking trails. Case clarified if it was a five point scale. Arocha responded yes. They refer to it as percent positive, combining excellent and good for the positive rating. It does not include fair responses. Arocha stated in response to what residents considered problems in the community, one third indicated traffic was a moderate, major, or extreme problem. About three in ten stated vandalism and property crime as a problem. 17 percent said drugs, 18 percent said youth crimes, 22 percent said stop sign violations, and 21 percent stated identity theft. Most of the rating were similar to the rating in the past survey, although the perception of drugs as a problem in the community did decrease from 2018. 92 percent rated the quality of contact with the police department as excellent or good. Most residents stated they had contact with police through Night to Unite and community events. The rates were similar to past years, except the amount of people who had contact through reporting a crime increased from 2018. In regards to the open ended questions, about five percent remarked what they liked least was rising crime or safety concerns. At least ten percent stated what they liked most was the overall feeling of safety. Arocha stated the next key finding was community parks, recreation, and natural environment continue to be a valued community asset. 94 percent of residents think Eden Prairie has an excellent or good overall natural environment. This rating was similar to previous years and also higher than all three sets of benchmarks. Highly rated characteristics related to natural environment include cleanliness, air quality, paths and walking trails, fitness opportunities, and recreational opportunities. All of these ratings were higher than the benchmarks. In regards to the open-ended questions, 34 percent of residents stated they were delighted with parks, trails, and recreation centers in Eden Prairie. Seven percent stated open spaces, nature, and wildlife were their favorite aspect of Eden Prairie. The use of outdoor amenities increased for smaller parks and the Richard T. Anderson conservation area. Most of the usage of amenities remained similar except the use of the Community Center, which could be another impact of COVID-19 and closures. A nationwide trend in 2020 was residents were far more likely to get outside and enjoy outdoor amenities. All parks and recreation amenities were rated excellent or good by at least eight in ten people. These ratings were consistent with prior years. Narayanan inquired about the lower number of eight in ten. Arocha responded eight in ten is still a very good number, but it is a summary of all of the amenities asked about in the survey. At least eight in ten rated amenities as excellent or good. Getschow added the survey asked about the overall quality of nine amenities. Seven of the nine amenities were rated 90 percent or higher. The Art Center was rated 89 percent and the Senior Center was rated 83 percent. The Senior Center has been closed due to COVID- 19. Every amenity was rated higher than 2018 except the Art Center and Senior Center. Arocha stated nine in ten rated parks and recreation services as excellent or good specifically in park maintenance, trail maintenance, recreation centers, recreation services, and preservation of natural areas. Trail maintenance does not have benchmark comparisons and recreation services were similar to the benchmarks. All other items were higher than the benchmarks and consistent with prior years. The next key finding was residents continue to City Council Workshop Minutes April 6, 2020 Page 3 praise their City services. 92 percent of residents think the overall quality of services was excellent or good. This is similar to previous survey years and higher than all benchmarks. The value of services received were rated excellent or good by at least seven in ten people. While it is a lower number, this rating is considered higher than the benchmarks. Residents are asked to specifically think about the money they are spending on services. Of the 33 individual services reviewed, 12 received positive scores from at least nine in ten residents. Eight in ten residents rated 16 services positively. The lowest rated of the 33 individual services was traffic signal timing. Almost all of the services were rated higher or much higher than the benchmarks. Top-rated City services were fire services, fire department response time, Hennepin Healthcare EMS response time, park maintenance, trail maintenance, police services, and overall customer service by Eden Prairie employees. In regards to customer service provided by the City, about 62 percent stated they have contacted the City in the 12 months prior to the survey. The highest rates of contact were with police, the Community Center, and general information. 93 percent rated overall customer service as excellent or good. Courtesy, knowledge, responsiveness, and follow-up were rated 91 percent and above. Arocha stated the next key finding was public transportation and light rail are a focus of the community. Ease of public transportation was rated excellent by 16 percent, good by 30 percent, fair by 27 percent, and poor by 27 percent. The percent positive rating was higher than the national benchmark. In regards to the open-ended question, about ten percent stated needed improvements for public transportation and concern about the light rail. Majority of the comments about the light rail were negative. The comments included in this grouping were negative regarding light rail. Many did not say why, but few remarks commented on safety. Case noted the polar opposites of the subject matters. Arocha clarified some of the open- ended responses commented on both a need for improved transportation and a dislike for light rail transit. Narayanan stated the subjects should be separated. Case agreed and inquired if these is another question in the survey that quantifies the number of people with concern about the light rail. Arocha responded there were no light rail specific closed-ended questions in the survey. Light rail was only brought up in the open-ended questions. The need for further information gathering in regards to light rail came up in the Staff workshop. More information gathering could be done on the Polco platform. Narayanan added he would like to see the number of people who made comments of concern about the light rail and the number of those who are excited about the light rail. Arocha replied she does not know the specific number off hand, but there were probably a few dozen of negative light rail comments. There were probably five or less people sharing excitement for the light rail. Again, there were no specific questions asking about light rail. Case stated concern about not being able to quantify this negative perception of light rail transit. There are concerns about a looming fear of Eden Prairie changing. He inquired if a Polco survey would be statistically valid. Arocha stated it largely depends on the number of respondents and the demographic split of those respondents. This could be tracked with verifying users. They could do a relatively low-cost postcard mailer asking residents to participate in the online survey. Narayanan added he would like to see the specific number of respondents. Nelson added there are different reasons people may dislike light rail, and it is not clear from this survey. Getschow replied the decision for the survey was to keep the questions the same as 2018, but to have the option of creating a subsequent survey or Polco survey on specific topics. Arocha City Council Workshop Minutes April 6, 2020 Page 4 added the survey is very limited with only five pages, and it is important to keep consistency with questions for the purposes of benchmarking statistics. Their recommendation would be to survey residents on the specific topic rather than including one or two questions on a topic that could be considered polarizing. Arocha stated the next key finding is residents’ use of some City information sources increased in 2020. Top-used information sources were word of mouth, the City website, Parks and Recreation Program Guide, and Life in the Prairie Newsletter. These remained similar from previous years. Uses of information sources that increased were the City website, City News email and text subscriptions, and Nextdoor. Newspaper subscriptions increased dramatically in 2020. It could be partially due to the pandemic and partially due to a local newspaper discontinuing. Narayanan inquired if there were statistics on social media platforms. Case added Council will receive the full report. Getschow noted the presentation included the top five information sources. The survey also included the City E-News email, Nextdoor, local television and radio, anything online, Facebook, City broadcasted meetings, Twitter, and the general local government access channel. Narayanan thanked NRC for their report and Staff for the work they continue to do. Nelson echoed those thanks. Case echoed the thanks and added it is nice to see the decisions of the Council validated. Arocha noted she will revise and recode the light rail and transportation category for open-ended questions and provide an update. Open Podium - Council Chamber (6:30) II. OPEN PODIUM A. JOHN MALLO – SENIOR CENTER John Mallo, 14000 Forest Hill Road, stated CDC guidelines allow for seniors to gather indoors without masks that are vaccinated. He would like to see Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays be open at the Senior Center for seniors who are vaccinated. Vaccination passports have existed for many years. People have been required to show proof of a vaccine for schools, jobs, and travel. He is concerned about wearing a mask in the wood shop while wearing glasses for safety purposes. Toomey inquired if they have to wear a mask or respirator when in the wood shop. Mallo responded they are required to have their eyes protected. The room has a very good ventilation system. Case stated we would all like things to open up as fast as possible. Staff continue to balance what is appropriate. Lotthammer stated Staff currently follow the State guidelines with social distancing and mask-wearing. The CDC has said they are okay with people gathering in their homes when they are fully vaccinated. A group of word shop users gathered virtually with Staff to get feedback. There was agreement, with the exception of Mr. Mallo, to move forward with reserving time slots. Most of the senior events and activities are virtual and may move forward with some outdoor events in the summer. Case stated he appreciates his concern. He trusts Staff to do their best and to open when appropriate. City Council Workshop Minutes April 6, 2020 Page 5 B. SUE BENNETT – MILLER SPRING Sue Bennett, 9992 Indigo Lane, stated the community would like to start a petition to purchase the property and keep it as a conservation area. She would encourage the City Council to support these efforts and vote no for the development of the property. Case replied Council has heard many comments on Miller Spring. The property has been up for sale for the last decade and has been zoned this way for many years. All of the Council is committed to the community and will do their due diligence to make the very best decision for the good of all. III. ADJOURNMENT