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Community survey results now available
Results from the City of Hastings’ multi-page community survey are now available on the City’s website.
The community survey is part of the strategic planning process, which will be used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning. The strategic plan will assist city department heads in planning for future fiscal years.
ETC Institute of Olathe, Kansas administered the survey, mailing the survey to 5,000 random Hastings households. That amount represents nearly half of all residences within the community.
Mailing surveys began on Friday, Oct. 6. Residents had the option to complete either a paper or digital. The goal was to receive at least 500 responses.
In all, after about a month, there were 558 responses. That amount, along with proper controls, represents statistically significant results.
Those results are available to the public at Hastings 2023 Community Survey.
A dashboard will be added in a few weeks to allow the public to view the results as sortable data.
The City of Hastings selected ETC Institute because of the company’s experience in this field. ETC Institute has administered surveys for more than 1,000 cities and counties in 49 states during the last five years.
In addition to the community survey, members of the Strategic Planning Committee, who were selected by the Hastings City Council, are leading more than 20 focus groups with a variety of groups meant to represent all demographics across Hastings. Like the survey, the focus gave residents a chance to provide feedback about what they like about Hastings, but also changes they would like to see in the community.
Some of the final focus groups will be 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 5 in the Hastings Municipal Airport terminal at 3300 W. 12th St. These two focus groups are for anyone in the community who hasn’t participated in a focus group yet.
The Strategic Planning Committee will assist in future phases as well: data-gathering, analysis, composition, and a final report. Committee members will also determine correlations between the survey and their focus groups.
The Strategic Planning Committee is anticipated to present the strategic plan findings via resolution to the Hastings City Council for final approval in March 2024. As part of the implementation phase, the city administrator will build out the new strategic plan into a new software platform in April and May 2024.
Department heads will finalize potential projects with rough costs that support the strategic plan.
Each of these phases is anticipated to last a couple months, with the strategic plan becoming operational at the start of the 2025 fiscal year, on Oct. 1, 2024.
Published Date: 11/29/2023