2021 Westerville Resident Survey Outcomes

More Westerville residents participated in the 2021 online resident survey than ever before, with more than 3,200 complete submissions rating City services and programs. It’s the report card used by the City to measure residents’ satisfaction levels, says Westerville City Manager Monica Irelan.

“It’s a big ask to residents to set aside time to tell us about everything from traffic to taxes,” said Irelan. “Putting this survey out every two years gives us a sense of where we are meeting expectations and where we may need to do a little more work. This is particularly timely for me now that I’m about a half-year into my role as City Manager. We have new and beneficial data to explore as we set priorities with City Council.”

Strategic Research Group (SRG) based in Grandview administered the survey, reporting overall Westerville residents remain “quite positive” about the community in which they live. Approximately 90% said they were “highly” satisfied in Westerville.

“The 2021 Westerville Resident Survey is the most successful version to date, with nearly twice as many residents accessing the survey as in years past. The results are consistent with previous surveys, showing a high level of satisfaction overall with life in Westerville and the services the City provides,” said Darby Schaaf, principal investigator with SRG.” Residents tend to feel that Westerville is a safe and family-friendly place to live. While we see some shifting in the priorities and concerns that citizens have, overall sentiments remain very positive.”

RESIDENT HIGHS, LOWS, PRIORITIES

Westerville residents gave the highest marks to the overall safety of the community, quality of services and access to parks and recreation. The most important priority remains consistent when compared with years past: public safety and emergency management.

The lowest ratings and complaints related to property taxes and “too much” development. Ratings for concerns about burglary were higher this time when compared with previous surveys. Complaints about traffic and congestion were lower this year than in others.

Residents maintained the ratings for City departments and staff, in what we refer to as the “customer standards” section of the survey. Generally residents were happy with the availability of information, resolutions to problems or service requests, friendliness and timeliness and the management of public finances.

Road construction and street rehabilitation were rated higher in this survey, and most public service programs got a bump-up as well, with leaf collection getting a notable approval rating. All scores improved in ratings for Westerville’s utilities.

SPECIAL SECTION: POLICING

In this survey, residents were asked the traditional questions about public safety with a special section on policing. The goal, in part, was to understand the impact of the pandemic and social justice movement on the local community.

Where residents say they feel safe/do not feel safe changed, with lower ratings for all around Westerville and “at night” than in 2018. The “importance ratings” for emergency medical services and Westerville Division of Police (WPD) patrol, community services and emergency response times all declined.

The exploration of opinions about policing delivered a clear message: support for WPD remains high in a time when policing is a topic of national discussion.

Nearly three-fourths (72%) of participants said they had no concerns with WPD. Of the smaller sector who reported concerns, “abuse of power” (16%) and “brutality” (12%) were selected.

More than half (58%) of residents say they have a “very positive” opinion of WPD. The vast majority of respondents said they have not experienced an unfair or discriminatory interaction with WPD (96%), and about the same number (95.6%) said they have NOT WITNESSED an unfair or discriminatory act by WPD. More than 80% said they can tell a WPD officer or cruiser from another agency. And, nearly all people who had a bad experience said they did not report it.

On training, the most strongly agreed-with item related to WPD officers currently receiving an appropriate amount of mandatory training (4.2 on a five-point scale). The least agreed-with statement was that WPD should require more mandatory training for its officers (3.0). There was a high level of uncertainty in responses about whether WPD treats people of color and other minoritized communities fairly and impartially. About half (50%) said they did not know. Another 46% said WPD does treat those communities fairly and impartially.

Because the survey was overwhelmingly supportive of WPD, this result may require further review by staff to better understand how respondents interpreted the question.

Overall, more than 80% of respondents say they feel “safe” or “very safe” with WPD providing local law enforcement services.

Irelan says that while these results are overwhelmingly positive, WPD will take in all the information provided in the survey.

“This section was an opportunity to know how Westerville was feeling in this moment about policing,” said Irelan. “There’s really compelling information that tells us we have strong support in this community. We feel that support has been earned, but will not be taken for granted. As we move ahead, we’ll look at everyone’s perspective and let it inform how we conduct community policing and public education.”

The full report is available at www.westerville.org/survey.