From April 22 to May 14, the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) surveyed residents to gather critical data regarding their experience with services provided by KPB. It was a crucial step in the mayor’s efforts to include KPB residents in realizing a vision of a better and more responsive borough government. The systematic approach gave the mayor and directors some insight into how residents rate the services they are receiving and where improvements are needed over a large swath of issues.
Mayor Peter Micciche said, “I am grateful to the people of the KPB. We asked and you responded. I am excited that we exceeded our target with over 2,000 engaged, responsive citizens completing the survey, and receiving 2,500 comments. We received participation from each of our 37 KPB communities. Understanding the vision of our constituents is imperative in creating a better KPB, not from the perspective of the KPB, but from the people we serve”.
Many questions were designed to understand how KPB roads can be improved. Road Service received its highest marks during the summer season with 48% noting that roads were routinely graded with only 25% saying they were not and the rest marking unsure. When asked if winter roads were cleared within 24 hours following a large snow storm 43% of people said yes while 49% said no. This information will be used when considering contracts for road service next year and into the future.
Some other interesting information gleaned from the survey results includes:
- Most people get their information about the borough through social media followed by radio and then friends and family.
- 55% of residents know a borough employee personally.
- Fire Emergency Services was the highest-rated service with 95% of residents saying they met or exceeded expectations. This was followed by (from highest to lowest) Emergency
- Management, Solid Waste, Planning, Communication and Roads.
- The vast majority of people, 72% of residents, said they want quality borough services with a continuous focus on reducing waste, maintaining low costs and achieving efficiency.
- Only 27% of respondents have ever lodged a complaint to the Roads Department.
- Only 35% of residents know about KPB’s Ready Set Go program (https://info.kpb.us/) and 63% are signed up for KPB Alerts (https://my.kpb.us/users/sign_in).
- 64% of residents utilize the hardcopy printed brochure sent with their assessment notice.
Mayor Micciche added, “The last time the borough conducted a survey, only 400 people responded. This current survey had over 2,100 respondents with residents submitting over 2,500 comments on open-ended questions like, ‘What else should we know to keep the KPB a great place to live work and play?’ We will continue to reach out to understand your vision and again, appreciate the overwhelming response and your willingness to share your thoughts and beliefs about what would define a great KPB. However, if you didn’t respond, you can always reach out to me at 907-714-2150 or email me at [email protected] with your thoughts and ideas.”
The complete results of the survey will be available to the public in a few weeks.
