By Jerry LaMartina
Lenexa residents love the place they call home.
That’s the conclusion of a 2017 citizen survey conducted by the Olathe-based ETC Institute in November and December. The survey measured 67 categories of citizens’ satisfaction, and their opinions of the most important aspects of life in Lenexa.
Lenexa rated 29 percent above the Kansas City metropolitan area and 36 percent above the national average for the overall quality of services. Since the first survey in 2005, the city’s satisfaction ratings have increased or stayed the same in 53 of 68 categories that have been assessed at points.
Some key results overall from respondents who expressed opinions:
- Quality of life: 92 percent “very satisfied” or “satisfied”
- Appearance and image: 89 percent “very satisfied” or “satisfied”
- Place to live: 96 percent “excellent” or “good”
- Place to raise children: 95 percent “excellent” or “good”
Overall satisfaction with city services based on combined percentages of “very satisfied” and “satisfied”:
- Quality of police, fire and ambulance services: 95 percent
- Parks and recreation programs and facilities: 95 percent
- Buildings and facilities maintenance: 90 percent
- Streets maintenance: 86 percent
The survey also asked citizens to rank their satisfaction with a number of services and amenities. The results from that item found that Lenexa residents were by-and-large content with the city’s law enforcement and emergency services, parks and recreation opportunities, and maintenance of city property. Traffic and codes enforcement were the areas with least satisfaction. Here are the full results from that item:
Satisfaction ranking, most satisfied to least satisfied:
- 1.) Overall quality of police, fire and ambulance services
- 2. ) Overall quality of city parks and recreation programs and facilities
- 3.) Overall maintenance of buildings and facilities
- 4.) Overall maintenance of city streets
- 5.) Overall quality of customer service received from city employees
- 6.) Overall effectiveness of city communication with the public
- 7.) Overall quality of city’s storm water runoff/storm water management system
- 8.) Overall enforcement of city codes and ordinances
- 9.) Overall flow of traffic and congestion management
The survey asked respondents to provide information on which categories of services or amenities were most important to them. Police and emergency services topped that list, followed by maintenance of city streets:
Top four categories based on importance (with importance and satisfaction percentages, and importance-satisfaction (I-S) rating rankings):
- Overall quality of police, fire and ambulance services: 88% most important; 95% satisfaction; (I-S) rating rank: 4
- Overall maintenance of city streets: 65% most important; 86% satisfaction; I-S rating rank: 2
- Overall quality of city parks and recreation programs and facilities: 33% most important; 95% satisfaction; I-S rating rank: 7
- Overall flow of traffic and congestion management: 33% most important; 69% satisfaction; I-S rating rank: 1
This year’s survey also included a number of items related to the new Lenexa City Center. Here are some key finding from those questions:
Lenexa City Center:
- Fifty-seven percent have visited Lenexa City Center; of those, 64 percent have visited the Lenexa Public market, 60 percent the Recreation Center and 60 percent a restaurant or bar.
- Eighty-five percent are aware of the Lenexa Public Market.
- Ninety-one percent are aware of the Rec Center.
The survey was mailed to a random sample of Lenexa households. Completed and returned surveys numbered 813; ECT Institute’s goal was to get completed surveys from at least 600 residents. The overall results have a precision of at least +/-3.4 percent at the 95-percent confidence level.
The surveys were returned by mail and online. ETC encouraged participation through follow-up phone calls and emails, and ensured that it counted only Lenexa residents who were part of the original random sampling.