City of Monrovia

2009 Citizen Satisfaction Survey

The City of Monrovia commissioned its first Citizen Satisfaction Survey in 1993 to gauge community interest and input on a wide variety of local issues, services and programs. That survey was conducted by California State College at Long Beach, as was a follow-up survey done five years later in 1998. In both cases, the survey results proved exceptionally positive and provided information that lead to increased and redirected levels of activity in public information and outreach, youth services, library services and various quality of life initiatives. Also in 1998, the Council directed that such surveys be scheduled at least every five years.

A similar survey was done in 2003, again with positive results that lead to new programs and initiatives - construction of a new public library among them. In 2008, the Council authorized a new survey to again poll the community on a wide variety of matters. That survey was carried out in late June and early July of 2009 by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government. Three methods of gathering information were used:

• A telephone survey of 403 households randomly selected from voter lists.
• A four-page written survey distributed to more than 16,500 Monrovia mailing addresses and available at City Hall, the Library, Community Center, School District and Chamber of Commerce, mailed back in postage-paid envelopes.
• Two focus groups - teen and adult - that took direct input from a widely diversified group of residents.

The telephone survey was the most statistically reliable of the three surveys (a 4.86% margin of error), and both the mail-in survey (with a 6% return rate) and the focus groups tend to validate the phone results.

Following are selected results from the survey:

• 93% feel safe in their homes and on the streets.
• 81% feel the community is heading in the right direction and 79% rate the community as an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10.
• 95% said they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the Fire Department and 87% with the Police Department; 81% are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the City Library, while only 3% are "dissatisfied;" 88% are satisfied with infrastructure maintenance, 94% with waste collection and 93% with water service.
• 32% of residents say that the Monrovia Today newsletter is their primary source of local information, with 28% citing newspapers and 13% relying on word of mouth. KGEM accounted for another 9% and the City website for 8%.
• 78% rate Old Town as an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best; 60% say they visited Old Town at least once a week and 80% say they find Old Town parking "easily accessible."
• 73% rate "low taxes" as the most important local issue, with 72% saying "preserving the city character," 60% saying "improving the quality of life," 61% saying "emergency response," and 51% "new development."

The survey's cost, inclusive of the Rose Institute's work, the mail-in survey and the focus groups, was approximately $42,500.

The full survey and all the resulting reports are available at the City Clerk's Office and at the Monrovia Public Library. They are also linked below:

Telephone / Focus Group Report

Telephone Survey Cross-Tablulations Report

Mail-In Survey Report

Telephone / Mail Frequency Comparisons