City asks Hamilton residents: How are we doing?

The anonymous survey is designed to provide a baseline of how the city government is serving its residents, gauge residents’ perceptions of the city, and use the results of the survey to compare Hamilton with peer cities. The results are reported to Hamilton City Council and help provide city leaders with a baseline of how city government serves its residents. It also gauges their perceptions of the city.

Results are also used to compare how Hamilton is doing alongside peer cities.

The survey is being conducted in two phases. The first was a random sampling of residents, where 2,800 households received the survey. This public survey is the second phase, and ends in The second phase starts today and runs over the next two weeks, ending on May 10.

Those residents who received the mailed survey in the first phase and have not yet returned them are asked to complete and return them. Anyone who did not receive a mailed survey can fill out an online version. The survey can be found at polco.us/hamilton23open.

Hamilton had previously participated in The National Community Survey in 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2019. The 2019 survey results can be found at https://tinyurl.com/2019TheNCSresults.

The 2019 survey had more than 1,000 participants, which included online and mailed surveys, from the two phases of the community survey.

City Manager Joshua Smith, who joined the city in September 2010, said the initial 2011 survey was to establish a baseline so the administration could “understand what people thought in a variety of categories.”

The Hamilton Parks Conservancy was one of the things that came out of this survey, as the city parks received poor scores. The establishment o the Department of Neighborhoods was also formed, which 17Strong ultimately took root out of the survey.

Since the first survey in 2011, people have positively viewed the city of Hamilton’s direction, according to the results. In 2011, the overall direction was rated at 27% positive. The perception doubled in 2015 at a rate of 56%, and has remained steady in 2017 and 2019 at 65% and 66%, respectively.

Results from The National Community Survey are expected to be released in late June, and will be compared to past survey results.

THE SURVEY

The National Community Survey is a collaborative effort between National Research Center and the International City/County Management Association. Results of the 2023 survey will record the opinions of residents within three pillars of a community and across eight central facets of a community.