OCEAN CITY – With three new elected officials now on board, the Mayor and City Council agreed this week it is time to conduct a new survey to hear the opinion of property owners.
At the conclusion of this week’s Mayor and City Council legislative session, Councilman Dennis Dare suggested the town conduct another National Citizen Survey, which was last conducted in 2007.
“We hear from the same two citizens every week, maybe three sometimes, and we need to hear from everybody. There are 30,000 property owners, and 7,000 residents in town, and it is important to hear from all of them,” Dare said.
Seven years ago, a “Town of Ocean City, Maryland Report of Geographic Subgroup Comparisons/National Citizen Survey” was conducted. Dare explained it is a standardized survey used in many municipalities throughout the country where property owners can rate Ocean City overall, including its many services.
“In that 2007 study, Ocean City was rated against other towns and we came out in the 90 percentile in most areas, which I thought was a major accomplishment for our town. We also had a very high response rate to the survey, and that suggests the residents and non-residents appreciated the opportunity to express their thoughts on the job the town was doing,” Dare said. “I like to propose that we again conduct the survey so we can compare our performance not only to other towns but to what we have done in the past seven years since the first survey. It would be important in being part of our 2015 Strategic Plan to tell us where we are doing well and what other areas we should be focusing on while updating the strategic plan.”
Dare made a motion to have City Manager David Recor look into the specifics of conducting the survey and to report back to the Mayor and City Council in the near future.
“As a new council person, I would like to see that sort of information,” Councilman Wayne Hartman said, seconding the motion.
Hartman joined the council earlier this month, along with new council members Matthew James and Tony DeLuca.
Council Secretary Mary Knight recalled when the last survey was conducted she had recently joined the council as well.
“It was so enlightening. I have a lot of non-resident taxpayer friends that were appreciative of the opportunity because they can’t come to the [Mayor and City Council] meetings. I whole heartedly look forward to this,” she said.
The council voted unanimously to approve the motion.