Getting heard

Airway Heights’ efforts to reach out to residents and improve the community have not gone unnoticed.

In a press release, city officials announced that Airway Heights is one of three finalists for the 2015 Voice of the People Transformation award in the Community Engagement category.

The “Voice of the People” award is an honor given to local government based on the opinion of residents and conferred jointly by the National Research Center Institute, Inc., and the International City/County Management Association (IMCA) that embody the spirit of “The National Citizen Survey and displays the commitment to best practices in moving their community forward.

“The city of Airway Heights has been nominated for a Transformation award in the area of Community Engagement, which means it is among the top three communities having participated in the National Citizen Survey during 2014,” Morgan Adams, NRC project coordinator, wrote in an email. “It showed the largest positive change between 2014 and their previous survey administration, which is typically within the past 1 to 3 years for most communities.”

City Manager Albert Tripp explained that the city began implementing these types of surveys four years ago to improve community outreach.

“The city conducts them every two years at random times,” Tripp said. “It measures community participation, as well how residents feel about the city, its services and programs.”

The city conducted its second survey this past summer and most residents rated the quality of life and city services as excellent or good. Citizens were also in favor of additional policing services and participating in online forums and neighborhood meetings. Staff and City Council developed their 2015-16 strategic goals, which include expanding and improving recreation services and providing citizens with convenient ways to participate in decision making, from the feedback in the survey.

“We used the data from the surveys to build a roadmap for where we are going for the next two years,” Tripp said.

The surveys and focus on outreach is a shift from the city’s previous methods. Before the survey, it’s main method of public outreach consisted of holding public forums and expecting residents to attend them.

“We relied on the public to come to us,” Tripp said. “It wasn’t working and we determined that we needed to modify our methods and go to the public.”

As for the next steps in improving public outreach, Tripp said the city will also increase its social media presence. The city’s website is undergoing a redesign and will have ways for citizens to connect with the city, including a feature called “Open Town Hall.”

“The Open Town Hall is a forum that will allow residents to provide additional feedback,” Tripp said. “For folks who can’t go to the council meetings, they can go on the website and give suggestions of what they would like to see.”

While he is honored that the city has been nominated as a finalist for the award, Tripp is also happy with how much feedback and participation residents have given over the last few years.

“It’s most rewarding knowing that we are heading in the direction residents want us to go,” Tripp said.

The Voice of the People Awards will be given out at the ICMA’s 101st Annual Conference in Seattle in September.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].