The village of Niles is hoping to use the results of a new public survey residents can now take online to help shape future decision-making in multiple facets of local government, from police and fire services to garbage pick-up and the functionality of the village website.
The community survey, available through April 11, asks residents to anonymously rank their satisfaction with the level of service of village-provided services like snow removal and tree maintenance, but it also covers safety, asking residents to rank how safe they feel while walking along at night.
So far, about 100 residents have taken the 35-question survey since it opened on the village website on March 18, according to Hayley Gerard, spokesperson for the village of Niles.
“We’re here to serve residents and our businesses, so this is a chance for us to see whether people are happy or not,” Gerard said.
The village of Niles for several years has wanted to conduct a community survey, but local officials were deterred by the cost, which can reach upward of $15,000 for municipalities that pay out-of-pocket, according to assistant village manager Hadley Skeffington-Vos.
The village jumped at a rare chance to do the survey at no-cost when they were invited earlier this year to participate in a study being held at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s master’s degree program for public administration, known as the MPA degree.
The MPA students at UIC worked with village staff to come up with the questions, which follow guidelines from the International City Management Association, according to Skeffington-Vos. Many of the questions mirror community-based surveys that have been distributed by other Chicago-area towns like Naperville, for example.
The results of the survey will be analyzed by the UIC students, and the results will be provided to the village sometime in May, according to Gerard. Village staff will next compare the responses to the results of other nearby communities that have done similar surveys.
Village officials planned to go over the feedback at committee or village board meetings later in the year, according to Skeffington-Vos.
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“We’ve already passed our budget this year, but the results could help us with prioritizing next year’s capital projects,” she said. “Everyone who lives here is a customer of the village, so if they’re not happy this is a good time to bring it up.”
The survey is available on the village website at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/nilessurvey. Residents can also visit the Niles Public at 6960 W. Oakton St. or the senior center at 999 Civic Center Dr. to take the survey online.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.