Results of the Westlock County communications survey undertaken this summer to gauge the opinions of residents regarding the municipality’s communication methods have been available for nearly a month on the county’s website, but it seems nobody knew about it.
A ratepayer who had completed the survey pointed out to the Westlock News last week that the survey, which was closed for public input at the end of August, was still available to view along with the results and 100 of the 175 comments left by participants, which were forwarded to the News.
To be clear, no personal data was visible, just the collection of raw data and a portion of the comments left by ratepayers, which ranged in tone from helpful encouragement to constructive criticism to vulgar insults. Most of the comments that were visible were critical, but respectful.
The results too did not generally reflect favourably on the county’s past communications style or methods with the majority of the 356 respondents stating overwhelmingly they did not feel they receive enough information on topics ranging from council’s vision to tax assessment to how tax dollars are spent.
Residents also said they were either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with how the county seeks input, how the county communicates with residents and whether they have a good understanding of the county’s future plans.
Those who completed the survey also made clear that road construction and maintenance was the most important service delivery items to them, with most saying information on parks, recreation, facilities and programs as well as animal control were only somewhat important.
More than 15 per cent of respondents said they were from the reeve Hall’s Division 3, with another 15 per cent coming from deputy reeve Coleman’s Division 4. The lowest participation rate came from Coun. Fred Slobodian’s Division 6, with 9.9 per cent.
Most who responded put themselves in an age range as well, with 29.6 per cent stating they were older than 65, 31.3 per cent identified as 55-64 and 17.7 per cent were between 45-54.
Most residents felt more information could be obtained through the county website, while they found current information on the website, in the newspaper and through county brochures only somewhat useful.
Respondents were split on whether a Westlock County Facebook page would be useful, the option of a county smartphone app was also split, with most saying they somewhat supported it or strongly supported it. A Twitter account is out of the question for most.
By far, the idea of a county newsletter was most preferable as a vast majority either supported or strongly supported the idea.
Approached for comment on the results Sept. 23, Westlock County reeve Lou Hall was taken aback that they were available as council had yet to see or discuss the finalized report on the survey. On Sept. 26, the reeve, along with CAO Leo Ludwig and deputy reeve Brian Coleman met with the News to discuss the survey.
Reeve Hall read a prepared statement, but declined to answer specific questions about the results of the survey until council was up to speed on the data.
“I would prefer, if you are going to talk about the communications survey, we do it after council has had a chance to review it. It’s being presented at council on Oct. 8,” said Hall. “I don’t have anything to say on it now, because it never should have been released. I don’t get why this all of a sudden becomes something that has to be dealt with when we’ve asked you not to ... You’re presenting information that is confidential until it’s released.”
Hall went on to say in her prepared comments that the results were going to made public after council’s approval, but the comments were not meant to be shared verbatim, but would instead be reviewed and ranked according to theme and presented in a report prepared by the communications consultant hired by the county earlier this year to compile the survey.
“It is our intent to learn from the results of the survey to allow us to better communicate with the community ... We hope people recognize this is the baseline of where we are now, but it doesn’t address where we are going. This council is committed to improving communications with the community, which is why we’ve included strategic communications within our strategic plan,” said Hall.
CAO Ludwig said he questioned the motives of the person who made the News aware of the error as they decided to go to the media instead of pointing the glitch out to the county. He also questioned why they would save a link to a completed survey unless they intended to fill it out again, but he did not go so far as to say the results were compromised, only that it would require further investigation.
Deputy reeve Coleman wanted to make it very clear the fault for the error did not lie with county administration.
“The error that occurred was not an issue with administration, this was the consultant’s error. It’s very important that you clarify that,” he said. “Our administration has taken quite a beating already this year and they just don’t need this added because it’s not their issue.”
Ludwig went on to point out that 75 of the comments were not accessible and depending on what they say, could change the nature of the recommendations that will be made to council in the final report.
“We’re caught in the middle,” said Ludwig. “We hired a professional with a professional designation and she has taken responsibility and admitted that this was her error, but the egg is on our face in many ways through something we really couldn’t control.”
