For resident satisfaction, survey says -.

Byline: Kevin T. Baldwin

SHREWSBURY - Results from a survey conducted in November as part of a research project by Clark University students showed overall, residents were satisfied with the town's services.

"(Town Manager) Dan Morgado teaches night courses at Clark and he was instrumental in pulling together this effort," said Board of Selectmen Vice Chairman James McCaffrey.

McCaffrey said both Morgado and the selectmen "feel very strongly" that good communication strengthens the community in lots of different ways.

"The selectmen often hear from several vocal groups in town on the issues and matters at hand, but this effort was meant to reach beyond those groups and attempt to gain input in a purely random fashion," McCaffrey said. "The town has some big issues facing it this year and the input of the taxpayers of Shrewsbury is critical to our understanding how the public views these issues."

According to Selectman Moira Miller, Morgado approached Brian Cook, professor of government and director of the public administration master's program at Clark University, to assess his interest in conducting the survey on behalf of the town.

"(This was) at the request of the Board of Selectmen," Miller said.

Doing the survey gave Clark University students the chance to compile data which would provide selectmen with a better understanding of citizen attitudes and opinions regarding quality of life, town services and budgetary issues.

Morgado said he previously approached Clark University in 2005 to do a similar survey.

"The 2007 edition is a continuation of that project that began in 2005. My plan would be to reprise the study once again in 2009," Morgado said. "The Board of Selectmen is always seeking ways to gather citizen input on issues of importance and concern."

According to the survey report, students, working closely with town officials, designed the survey after a review of published research.

Survey questions included general satisfaction with town and town services, opinions on trash collection funding options and attitudes toward fiscal issues including the recurring Proposition 2-1/2 tax override issue.

Four hundred and forty-four questionnaires (322 by mail and 122 online) were returned and analyzed.

Major findings from the report include:

32.6 percent (143 respondents) rated their quality of life in Shrewsbury as excellent, and another 52.7 percent (231 respondents) rated quality of life just slightly below excellent;

Fire services and ambulance services received the highest average satisfaction rankings, 1.339 and 1.363 respectively, on the five-point rating scale (1 = excellent and 5 = poor);

All town services surveyed had average satisfaction above the middle rating of 3;

40.7 percent (175 respondents) reported no change in their financial situation compared to last year, and 38.1 percent (164 respondents) reported only a slight positive or negative change

The large majority of respondents (70 percent or greater for each service) support maintaining spending at current levels for all services surveyed except for public schools;

44 percent (187 respondents) would prefer to raise spending for public schools, and 45.2 percent (192 respondents) would prefer to maintain spending for public schools;

67.2 percent (277 respondents) would consider a Proposition 2-1/2 override, and 32.8 percent (135 respondents) would not support a Proposition 2-1/2 override;

82 percent (223 respondents) of the 277 respondents who would consider a Proposition 2-1/2 override would like to see public schools receive a share of the funds;

For alternative trash collection funding, 26.8 percent (110 respondents) prefer pay as you throw, 26.3 percent (108 respondents) prefer a flat fee, 25.9 percent (106 respondents) prefer to cut other services, and 21 percent (86 respondents) would prefer a Proposition 2-1/2 override.

The survey, according to Morgado, is a good tool used to seek out citizen's interests and preferences.

According to Selectman John Lebeaux, the entire survey report may be seen on the town's Web site at www.shrewsbury-ma.gov/content/highlights.asp.

"You will also see the 2005 report on the same page," Morgado said.

Lebeaux said there was also a Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) which was made up of former members of the Fiscal Study Committee, including John Lukach, William Gooley and Dina Nichols.

According to McCaffrey, a complaint of the 2005 survey was it did not seek the input of residents and therefore some of the questions were dismissed as inaccurate by some groups in town.

"In an attempt to minimize this, Dan Morgado asked (the CAB) to step forward and work with the Clark students to craft an objective and meaningful questionnaire," McCaffrey said.

According to Morgado, he assembled the CAB to assist in overseeing the project.

"It was not a Community Advisory Board in the traditional sense, but volunteers who offered their opinions and insight," Morgado said. "In 2005, oversight (of the survey) was strictly within this organization (the selectmen). I thought citizen input would improve the overall project and give the Clark students experience in dealing with community members."

The 2007 survey report stated how, although the survey was compiled by the report preparation and presentation group, content was provided by the entire class, or project team, and then developed in conjunction with Shrewsbury town leadership.

"The town's only expense (for the survey) was my time, some staff time to print labels and the like, postage for the surveys and the cost of envelopes and labels. Clark funded printing and some of the postage," Morgado said.

The Clark project team members were: Philip Aldridge, Sabrina Fanger, Rachel Ambrose, Thomas Gregory, William Armstrong, Robert Hipps, Stephen Aryitey, Laura Krajewski, Roseline Awadjie, Joanna Lubkin, Kristin Bafaro, Ian McCormick, Gavin Bates (project manager), Maggie-Leigh Merle, Katheleen Belgard, Lauren Miller, Neta Bolzman, Shawnacy Miller, Sean Closs, Malissa Montgomery, Stephen Coleman, Nicole Palmerino, Ally-Marie Corliss, Zoe Peake, Morgan Courtney and Emily Ring.

"The Clark students were all volunteers and worked on the survey as a class project for school credit," Lebeaux said. "It was a mutually beneficial arrangement where we received a snapshot of citizen satisfaction or dissatisfaction with regards to certain areas of local government, and the Clark students received a real practical education and application of what they learned."

The report stated its purpose as being two-fold: To give students studying research design and data analysis an opportunity to apply concepts learned in class and assigned readings to a real-world, client-driven project, including testing several hypotheses based on published citizen survey research; and to provide Shrewsbury with a better understanding of citizen attitudes and opinions regarding quality of life, service delivery and related town issues.