TO:
Honorable Mayor Powell and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
David N. Carmany, City Manager
FROM:
Bruce Moe, Finance Director
Leilani Flores Emnace, Information Systems Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Results of the City Website Survey
RECEIVE AND FILE
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and file this report.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council's current Strategic Plan contemplates a community survey regarding City website content, presentation and effectiveness. This survey, in conjunction with input provided by the Ad Hoc Open Government Committee, will guide the City's website redesign project currently underway. The survey was promoted through City utility bills and announcements at public meetings. e-Notifications were sent to over 1800 email addresses at survey launch and in early November. The survey was prominently placed on the City's homepage for the duration of the survey.
DISCUSSION:
In line with the City Council Strategic Plan, staff prepared a survey regarding the City website. The survey had thirteen questions which asked respondents to rate the importance of certain website content including News and Updates, Online Payments and Reservations, Video Streaming, etc. as well as an area to provide feedback on desired features or improvements. The survey was posted to the website between September 11th and November 30th, providing ample time for responses.
A total of 147 survey responses were received. The results are shown in graphical form on Attachment 1. Notable highlights are as follows:
Ratings for services are listed below in descending order based on services that were moderately-to-extremely important to respondents. This aids in determining priorities for the remodeled website:
91% Calendar
90% News and Updates
81% City Council Information
79% E-News
73% Meeting Minutes and Agendas
73% Boards and Commissions Information
73% Online Payments
72% New Library Project
72% Activity Registration
71% Frequently Asked Questions
66% Online Reservations (i.e. Sand Dune)
66% City Council Meeting Broadcast (webcast)
64% Permits and Licenses
62% Going Green
52% Planning Commission Meeting Video Broadcast (webcast)
50% Job Postings
47% Service Requests (GoReach)
41% Weather
40% Surf Report
25% Bid Opportunities
25% RSS Feeds
While some of these services rated low on importance, it does not mean the service will be discontinued. Rather, it will be factored into placement and priorities for allocating space or "real estate" on the website.
In addition to the list above, there are other notable survey results:
As the City continues to make progess on Open Government initiatives, opportunities for resident and community engagement remains a high priority and has been factored into current plans. The survey results indicate that 83% view that as moderately to extremely important.
Another challenging area is keeping content up to date. Forty-nine percent of respondents rated the website good or excellent, while forty-eight percent thought it was fair or poor. Each department is charged with maintaining website information in their core areas. As the website grows in importance as a service delivery tool and as the main source of information about the City, more content continues to be added. The effort to maintain and enhance the website grows along with the content, and must be factored into employee tasks. At some point, the addition of a dedicated public information officer who oversees the website content (among other duties) may be desirable in order to manage this important medium.
Less than half of respondents (44%) rated the use of social media including Facebook, and Twitter as moderately to extremely important. This would indicate that the City's planned approach to use social media for "distribution" rather than "engagement" is in sync with the community's priorities.
While the City's website is undergoing a remodel of sorts, the current design is rated as "good" to "excellent" by 75% of survey respondents. Many of the existing elements will be carried forward into the new design, which should continue to satisfy most of the website users.
Among those challenges already identified, 58% rated the ease of finding information or services, as "fair" or "poor". Fifty-six percent found the search engine to be in the same categories. While there have been improvements to the search results, efforts continue to enhance search capabilities, which increases in importance as content grows exponentially. Enhancing the ability to find information relies on appropriate and logical placement of content, and the inclusion of key search words when necessary that allow the search engine to include those pages and documents in the results. Finally, continued efforts by staff to categorize content, not by functional department, but in logical locations that make sense to the end user, will produce better results.
Sixty percent of respondents found the website easy to navigate while 40% did not. The remodeled website presents an opportunity to improve in this important aspect of service delivery.
By way of departmental information, respondents rated the following as moderately to extremely important:
87% Parks and Recreation
82% Police Department
79% Public Works
77% Fire Department
72% Finance
71% Community Development
69% Management Services (City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney)
58% Human Resources
The community's high level of interest in Parks and Recreation classes, activities and programs is clearly reflected in these results. Web information on public safety is a priority, as are Public Works projects and programs (capital improvements, road closures, refuse and street sweeping, etc.).
In addition to the structured responses, the survey provided survey-takers with the opportunity to provide freeform input. Those comments are included in Attachment 1, and are being factored into the improvement plan where appropriate and feasible.
CONCLUSION:
The survey results, combined with input which will be received from the Ad Hoc Open Government Subcommittee, are useful in guiding the website remodel, and ensuring that it addresses the community's needs. Staff will present the redesigned website options to the Ad Hoc Open Government Committee (which was assigned oversight of the website redesign) and then to the City Council during the first quarter of 2013.