The city of Oneonta is continuing to discuss new means of streamlined communication to the public, after a survey saw mixed feedback regarding city communication methods.
The survey, sent out on March 12, drew 190 participants through the city’s surveying service FlashVote. That represented less than half the people invited to take the survey. Respondents were first asked to rank city communications from 1, “terrible,” to 5, “excellent.” The average rating was 2.86 with the most people, 39%, indicating city communications were “OK.”
“By gathering good data through the FlashVote survey, we’re gaining a better understanding of Oneontans’ preferences, including what’s working now, what needs improvement, and which changes are likely to have the greatest impact,” City Administrator Greg Mattice said Tuesday, March 17.
The survey comes more than two months after the city formed its Communications Committee. Committee Chairperson Don Mathisen, D-Eighth Ward, said Monday, March 16 the committee is looking to gather as much information as it can to hear from as many people as possible.
“It’s an important survey, and I’ve looked at the results very carefully and will continue to do so,” Mathisen said.
The top three methods of communication named among respondents were Nixle alerts, word of mouth and the newspaper.
Mattice said the survey found Nixle — a “community notification platform that allows local agencies to send real-time public alerts and updates through text, email, voice, web and social media” — is a well-liked method of communication among some residents. He added, however, some residents were unfamiliar with it.
Word of mouth was another common way for people to receive city communications, Mattice said, but survey respondents who said they used word of mouth were as likely to rate city communications as “terrible” as they were “excellent.”
“To me, this suggests word of mouth is not a reliable way for the city to communicate with residents,” Mattice said.
More direct methods would likely be more successful, he said.
Mattice said a “significant majority” of survey respondents indicated they would appreciate a city newsletter, adding that he has already begun developing a framework for the item and looked forward to discussing it further with the mayor, city staff and the committee.
When asked how they would provide input related to a city initiative, 76% of people said they would prefer to respond to online survey questionnaires and 70% said they would like to provide feedback through online comment forms. The next most popular answer was to attend in-person meetings about the initiative.
Mattice said he would review the data with the Communications Committee at its next meeting April 1.
The most important means of communications is to push transparency between elected officials and the public, Mathisen said. He said it is essential for elected representatives to attend events and make conversation with community members.
Traditionally in Oneonta, news was spread through newspapers and radio, Mathisen said. Over time, the city has moved to social media and online platforms for sharing information. While social media tends to get more traction than the city’s website in some areas, Mathisen said, people looking for information about things like zoning are better off using the website.
“Social media of course plays a very important role,” Mathisen said. “It really depends upon the context.”
He said a city public information officer would cost money. For a full-time position, it would likely cost $60,000 to $80,000, though for part time it could be less, he said.
“People in city government have a lot of good ideas, and they want to do a lot of things, but then you have to pay for it,” Mathisen said. “Maybe the public doesn’t want to.”
Mathisen said the “vast majority of people don’t really care about the day-to-day affairs” of city government.
“What they care about are the basics,” he said.
That would include plowed, clean streets and police presence during times of need, he said. Outside of theose necessities, the public pays limited attention to what happens at council and committee meetings, which Mathisen said occurs across all levels of government.
People often hear more about national issues in the news than what is happening in their own neighborhoods, Mathisen said.
He said, in his role, he aims to take care of those basics and communicate efficiently to city residents.
During the upcoming months, Mathisen said, the committee is looking to make progress in updating the city’s website. He said that would involve either hiring a company to create a new website or finding a way to do so “in-house.”