25 Desk Item - General Plan Update Community SurveyCOUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
DATE: June 15, 1998
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT:
MEETING DATE: 6/15/98
ITEM NO.
DESK ITEM
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE COMMUNITY SURVEY
A. CONCUR WITH GENERAL PLAN COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION TO
CONDUCT A TOWN WIDE COMMUNITY SURVEY;
B. ADOPT RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING TOWN MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN
AGREEMENT WITH GODBE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS FOR CONSULTING
SERVICES TO PREPARE A SCIENTIFICALLY BASED COMMUNITY SURVEY.
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Concur with General Plan Committee recommendation to conduct a Town wide community survey;
2. Adopt Resolution authorizing Town Manager to execute an agreement with Godbe Research and Analysis for
consulting services to prepare a scientifically based community survey.
REMARKS:
In response to requests from Council members Hutchins and Benjamin,this Desk Item is intended to clarify concerns
about elements in the proposal from Godbe Research Associates (GRA). GRA submitted a letter to address the concerns
(Attachment 5).
Focus Groups
The GRA proposal is structured to allow Council choices in the format of the qualitative (focus group) and quantitative
(questionnaire) portions of the survey. On page 12 of the proposal (Attachment 4), the project budget is outlined and
identifies the options with cost breakdowns. Staff has recommended that GRA conduct two stakeholder focus groups,
the Random Digit Dial (RDD) telephone survey and the Mail Back business survey for a total cost of $29,417. The
optional focus group was not recommended because of the community representation (both stakeholder and non -
stakeholder) that exists in the General Plan Task Force and its community outreach activities. Councilmember Hutchins
recommends that the Council include the optional focus groups as well to further increase the amount of public
participation in the General Plan update.
The major difference between the recommended focus groups and the optional focus groups is that the recommended
focus groups will include two groups of stakeholders identified by the Town. The focus group sessions would be held
at a Town facility. The optional focus groups would include non -stakeholders to be recruited by GRA. Participants
would be asked screening questions that would help GRA achieve a balance of gender, age and income in each group.
The focus group sessions would be conducted in a professional focus group facility in San Jose or Sunnyvale. For a more
detailed description of the recommended and optional focus groups, please see pages 8 and 9 of the GRA proposal.
If the Council determines that the optional groups are necessary, staff recommends that the Resolution should still be
adopted. Staff will amend the project budget to reflect the additional cost of the optional focus groups.
PREPARED BY: LEE E. BOWMA
PLANNING DIRECTOR
Reviewed by: Attorney
Finance
Revised: 6/15/98 3:33 pm
Reformatted: 10/23/95
PAGE 2
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
SUBJECT: Community Survey Consultant
June 15, 1998
Community needs assessment vs. Public opinion poll
Councilmember Benjamin asked for an explanation of how the needs assessment differs from a public opinion poll. A
needs assessment is a qualitative tool used to gauge the community's level of satisfaction with existing services and level
of importance placed on services. The assessment will also test support for goals or policies that may or may not be
included in the General Plan update. A public opinion poll would be quantitative only, in that it would measure reaction
to a questionnaire.
GRA's background is in both qualitative and quantitative research used to identify public opinion and community needs.
GRA's proposal explains that the survey will measure both community opinions and needs. The final report to the Town
will be formatted to emphasize the community needs, as indicated in the last paragraph of Task 3 (page 10 of proposal)
and in Task 6 (page 11). Not only will the report emphasize community needs, GRA will construct the survey instrument
to assess community needs in Los Gatos.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The costs for conducting the survey will be funded from the General Plan Update fee. The following cost breakdown
sub -totals task costs as outlined in the Godbe Research and Analysis scope of work. GRA will invoice the Town for
services based on task completion and work products. A 10% contingency is included (based on the total project cost)
to cover required work that may be beyond the scope of services.
Funding for the cost for GRA to conduct the survey ($32,360) has been included in 1998-99 Operating Budget. Revised
project tasks to include the optional focus groups are summarized below:
Facilitation:
Task 1 Stake Holder Focus Groups $ 4,980
Task 2 Non -Stake Holder Focus Groups $11,200
Task 3 Telephone Survey (RDD) $16,260
Task 4 Mail -Back Business Survey $ 8,180
Total $40,620
10 % Contingency $ 4,060
TOTAL COST WITH CONTINGENCY: $44,680
State law requires that a General Plan is updated periodically. Therefore, staff will continue to collect the General Plan
update fee on development applications and Account 100-26751 will be ongoing. The revenue stream will continue and
the balance will apply toward future General Plan update tasks.
Attachment:
Attachments 1 through 4 are included with report dated June 4, 1998.
5. Letter from Gregory Harrison of Godbe Research and Associates, received June 15, 1998
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N:1DEV\CNCLRPTS\SURVEY.DSK
Jun 15 98 O3:33p
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GodbeBesearch & Analysis
To: Kristine Syskowski
From: Greg Harrison
RE: Los Gatos Community Needs Assessment Survey
Date: June 15, 1998
JUN 1 51990
TOWN OF LOS CA TOO
PLANNING DEP 1 ?T:'yxaaT
Sy
Thank you for providing me with a copy of the Agenda Report evaluating GRA's proposal to
conduct stakeholder focus groups as well as surveys of Los Gatos residents and businesses. GRA
is very pleased that you have recommended us to the Town Council for this research project and
Iooks forward to working with you.
I regret that I will be unable to attend tonight's Town Council Meeting. However, I would like to
elaborate on two topics that may be of concern to you and Members of the Council:
What would the Town gain by conducting optional focus groups at a
professional focus group facility?
The additional focus groups would provide the town with the views of residents and businesses
(not just those of community stakeholders), regarding community needs in Los Gatos. Focus
groups enable researchers to probe deeper into issues than telephone or mail surveys and, in this
case, could provide a better foundation for development of a questionnaire designed to identify
the needs of residents and businesses. While the stakeholder groups may provide the Town with
sufficient information for the purpose of designing a questionnaire for the quantitative
component of the survey, groups comprised of general citizens could reveal an entirely different
set of needs, concerns, and priorities. If this were the case, the survey instrument, and thus the
quantitative component of the survey, could be improved by conducting groups comprised of
general citizens.
In addition, the residents and business owners participating in the optional focus groups would
be selected at random, rather than from a hand-picked list of community stakeholders_ As a
result, these participants would likely be less familiar with Town issues and services than the
stakeholders, which could yield significantly different conclusions than those generated from the
stakeholder groups alone.
As mentioned in our proposal, GRA is currently conducting a series of focus groups for the City of
Lake Forest. GRA will be working with the City later this year to design questionnaires intended
to identify the needs of Lake Forest residents and businesses. These questionnaires are expected
to be based heavily on the results of the focus groups.
Will this project help the Town identify and respond to community
needs, or will it simply measure public opinion?
GRA believes that research is conducted for a purpose. For cities, towns, and other local
governmental bodies, this purpose is often to assist in developing or updating their General
Plans. In order to assist these communities, GRA has provided them with information that
identifies which services are needed, which existing services need to be improved, and which can
be scaled back or eliminated.
This research project must be designed to meet the Town's research objectives, which according
to the RFP, include "provid(ing) survey results that assess the community needs in Los Gatos
125 South Laaril!o Highway
Suite 100 Buildiro 9
Hall Moon Bay CA 340191133
phone 415 711-1137
lax 415/11J131
44S South figuerca Sneer
Suite 1608
l.as Angeles CA 88871.1631
phone 213 S24-6963
lax 213624886d
ATTACHMENT 5
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rather than measure opinions." GRA understands the Town's desire to identify the needs of Los
Gatos residents and businesses for incorporation into the updated General Plan.
To determine what Los Gatos residents and businesses need, GRA will pay careful attention to
designing the questionnaires. GRA will work closely with the Town to develop questionnaires
that will yield useable results and help lay the foundation for an updated General Plan.
Questions may be designed to ask about needs in a direct mariner. In the Cupertino survey, for
example, the following questions were asked:
• "Do you think there is a need for additional teen programs in the City of Cupertino?"
• "Do you think there is a need for a Teen Center in Cupertino?"
• "Do you think there is a need to expand the Cupertino Public Library?"
Questions may also identify community needs in an indirect manner. One tool used by GRA is
the Importance -Satisfaction Matrix, which incorporates the results of two questions into an easy -
to -read chart and identifies areas of improvement for the town or city (see Page 17 of the
Campbell report or Page 16 of the Cupertino report attached to GRA's proposal). Respondents
are first asked how important a particular Town service is to them. They are then asked how
satisfied they are with the Town's efforts to provide the service. The Town may consider
providing additional resources to those services which respondents consider to be very important,
hut which they feel are being provided in a less than satisfactory manner, while the Town may
consider eliminating or reducing funding for those programs or services which respondents say
are relatively unimportant.
Should the Planning Department or the Town Council have further questions or concerns,
please do not hesitate to contact me at (650) 712-3137. Thank you again for your consideration
of GRA's proposal.
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