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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, February 11, 2013 <br /> Page 32 <br /> Councilmember McGehee noted that the City was comparing itself with itself to <br /> how it was doing with its own residents, not comparing strategic plans of other <br /> communities. <br /> Willmus moved, Laliberte seconded, moving to extend the City Council curfew to <br /> 10:05 p.m. to complete this discussion. <br /> Roll Call <br /> Ayes: Willmus; Laliberte; Etten; McGehee; and Roe. <br /> Nays: None. <br /> City Manager Malinen advised that his continued advocacy for Cobalt was based <br /> on the fact that the City had not done a survey for a number of years, and since <br /> having done the most recent survey with Cobalt, it would be an advantage to <br /> gauge the effectiveness of that survey with an updated one and determine if the <br /> City was being responsive to the public by providing that comparison from two <br /> years ago versus comparing to neighbors and their level of satisfaction. City <br /> Manager Malinen admitted that he didn't see the information available in the sec- <br /> ond part of the Cobalt survey and the City had not fully utilized the depth of that <br /> information, specifically that related to satisfaction and budgetary information. <br /> Mr. Malinen noted that previous replies provided citizen priorities and that was <br /> applied to the budget process, including those priorities of the City Council and <br /> staff. From a staff perspective, Mr. Malinen opined that this provided more sig- <br /> nificant data. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte concurred with City Manager Malinen's comments re- <br /> garding consistency in making the documents useful measurement tools. Howev- <br /> er, while not supporting switching firms, Councilmember Laliberte reiterated her <br /> interest in a simpler survey provided to a broader scope of citizen beyond the 5% <br /> of residents randomly selected for and then even fewer responding to the previous <br /> survey. <br /> Mayor Roe noted that this was a challenge in surveying; making them statistically <br /> valid without everyone surveyed. Mayor Roe opined that the response rate, from <br /> his perspective, had been great; and offered his trust in the expertise of Cobalt in <br /> performing surveys. <br /> At the request of Mayor Roe, City Manager Malinen advised that he did not have <br /> information available on the response rate for Decision Resources surveys. <br /> Councilmember Willmus advised that he was also seeking consistency; however, <br /> from his perspective the Decision Resources survey was easier to use. <br /> Councilmember McGehee concurred that consistency was needed; but not with a <br /> survey she thought was bad in the first place, with results that were note useful. <br />