For complete survey data, check here.

Washington Township services earned high marks in its most recent citizen survey.

Overall satisfaction with township services was a healthy 95 percent, with about 40 percent of survey respondents reporting that services have improved over the last five years.

The telephone survey, conducted by Opinion Research Associates of Yellow Springs, posed questions to 475 residents in Centerville-Washington Township. Opinion Research conducted similar surveys in 2002, 1997 and 1990.

“Local government is in the business of serving residents, so it’s important that we check in periodically to see if we’re meeting their expectations,” said Township Administrator Gary Huff. “A survey lets us know if our priorities are in line with those of our residents. It enables us to respond before something becomes a problem.”

Employee courtesy – already strong five years ago – received even higher marks this time. About 47 percent of residents described employees as “always courteous,” compared to 37 percent in the last survey. Only one in a hundred respondents felt they had experienced any discourtesy from a township employee.

The survey included residents of Centerville because they receive fire and recreation services from township government, vote on related levies, and help elect township officials. Responses from residents of the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the township were statistically no different.

Other highlights of the survey include:

• The township’s efficiency rating is up slightly, from 87 percent five years ago to 90 percent now. Although more residents consider the township efficient, the number describing it as “very efficient” is 25 percent compared to 32 percent five years ago. Only 3 percent of residents responded negatively when asked to describe how efficiently the township operates compared to other local governments.

• The three public safety services – police, fire and paramedic – continue to be almost universally praised. There is virtually no dissatisfaction with the latter two and the police have a very minimal dissatisfaction level of 1 percent. ORA made special note of the police results: “Given the nature of their role, where they interact with the public more than the other public safety entities, this is an extraordinary achievement.”

• Satisfaction with leaf removal continues to climb. Five years ago, dissatisfaction was cut in half, from 14 to 7 percent. Now it’s less than 6 percent. In addition, respondents who were “very satisfied” rose from 31 to 35 percent, with the overall satisfaction rate increasing from 79 to 84 percent. Huff credits the improvement in part to changes in how leaf pickup is structured. Rather than sharing responsibility for the entire township, leaf crews are assigned to a specific neighborhood.

• Satisfaction for all services were at or above the levels measured in 2002, with three minor exceptions that fell within the margin of error. “These satisfaction scores are not typical of suburban jurisdictions. It is often the case that two to three times as many citizens are dissatisfied with services,” the 2002 survey notes. Exceptions include a 1 percent increase in dissatisfaction for zoning enforcement and traffic signs/signals, and a 3 percent increase for street maintenance.

• Support for recreation programs remained extremely high, even though not everyone used the recreation center. Of the respondents having an opinion about recreation services, 96 percent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with programs. Support for recreation services was high among both users and nonusers.

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Public Organizations Conduct Joint Survey

Washington Township was one of four public entities in Centerville/Washington Township to survey the community last year.

Three other public organizations -- Washington-Centerville Public Library, Centerville-Washington Park District and Centerville City Schools -- participated in a joint community survey to measure public perception of their services. All received high ratings.

“This tells us if we’re on the right track and helps give us direction,” said Carol Kennard, park district director. The survey of 400 registered voters included questions that were specific to each organization -- the library, park district and schools.

The Create the Vision Community Plan calls for a joint community survey “to monitor satisfaction with the level and types of services provided” and to “gauge whether service delivery is meeting community needs.” The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Associates, the same firm used by the township for its survey. Washington Township and the City of Centerville assisted with funding the survey.