To: Members of the Castle Rock Water Commission
From:
Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Title
Community Survey Results
Town Council Agenda Date: NA
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide Water Commission with a summary of the 2021 Community Survey specifically with respect to aspects of the survey related to Castle Rock Water (CRW). The survey had 751 residential respondents with an expected 3.49 percentage points margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level. The non-residential survey had 239 respondents with a margin of error of 5.96 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. CRW has been monitoring seven attributes over the years. The results of the survey for those seven key attributes are shown on the table below.
|
|
2019 |
2021 |
Change from 2019 |
|
Value of service for rates paid |
5.85 |
6.35 |
Increase 0.51 |
|
Keeps residents informed regarding Castle Rock water services and projects |
7.33 |
6.83 |
Decrease 0.50 |
|
Overall quality of water |
7.42 |
7.59 |
* No Change |
|
Securing and managing long-term water supplies |
6.65 |
6.71 |
* No Change |
|
Providing a water bill that is easy to understand |
7.64 |
7.61 |
* No Change |
|
Customer Service |
7.49 |
7.28 |
* No Change |
|
Water Conservation programs |
7.00 |
6.90 |
* No Change |
* Within the margin of error of +/- .396
The scale is 0 to 10 with 10 being the best. The good news is that the “Value of service for rates paid” went up statistically to the highest level we have seen since the survey has been used. The bad news is that the “Keeps residents informed regarding Castle Rock Water services and projects” fell by a statistically significant amount. All of the other questions remained the same from a statistically significant standpoint. Water continues to be a top strategic priority according to 96% of respondents. Results from the last four surveys for the key seven attributes are provided in Attachment A. Results from follow up questions are shown in Attachment B. The results generally indicate that the high rate of growth is causing concern from some residents as to whether CRW can keep up with needed water infrastructure and supply. There is also a sense of resentment from some residents that they are asked to conserve water or use water efficiently when additional growth is being allowed. Finally, a misconception exists that growth is causing water rates to increase. Also, improved communication to residents about Castle Rock Water’s long term water plans is shown to be a needed focus. One final question reviewed the interest of residents in advanced metering infrastructure. The interest in this service increased slightly over the last survey from 68 to 73 percent in favor.
Charts in Attachment C show how water relates to the overall drivers of a 5-Star Rating for the Town of Castle Rock. The 5-Star Rating is a proprietary index used by the company that performed the survey that is used to evaluate the overall quality of governance and vision in a community relative to other similar communities. In total, water is show as high impact and high performance with the goal to be to maintain that performance. Keeping residents informed regarding water is also high impact and high performance from this survey. Of the other six attributes reviewed in the survey, Castle Rock Water has the opportunity to improve in two areas where performance can have a high impact but was lower than expected. These two areas recommended for additional investment include water conservation programs and securing and managing long term water. Given the comprehensive nature of our water conservation programs and our efforts on securing and managing long term water, this is somewhat surprising. It is possible that the challenges with growth have significantly impacted these two areas as conservation receives negative feedback when discussed with growth and securing long term water is shown to be a huge concern of residents relative to growth. Water conservation programs have been sliding slowly down on the scale since 2015 so definitely a renewed look at these programs is justified. The lower performance on securing and managing long term water appears to be primarily an issue of inadequate outreach to customers to make them comfortable that we are properly preparing for the growth we are seeing.
Customers did indicate that the favorite mode of communication is email followed by the Town’s website and direct mail. The overall survey results can be accessed at : <https://castlerock-co.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4914901&GUID=25B3A858-9592-48B4-A96B-99E24EABD52E>. The results of the survey are being shared across Castle Rock Water and key groups will evaluate actions to respond to the results in accordance with our strategic plan.
Attachments
Attachment A Castle Rock Water Services
Attachment B Long-Term Water Issues
Attachment C Overall Drivers of 5-Star Rating