Community Engagement
Foster
open communication with residents to ensure rising and imminent needs are being
vocalized and addressed, and that safety net services are easily accessible. According to Bassler, the principles of successful community engagement include those that:
- Increase residents' knowledge about a community and/or the issue you are seeking to address.
- Encourage residents to co-create additional knowledge and understanding and applying that knowledge.
- Use that knowledge to improve the community or address the identified problem.
- Create future opportunities for residents to engage each other.
- Ensure that these opportunities and effective communications becomes a regular and on-going component of the process.
Customer Satisfaction Rate
The Office of the Assessor provides current
assessment-related information to the public and to governmental agencies in a
timely and responsive way. With each interaction by phone, email or in person,
property owners, agents, taxpayers, and other institutions can complete a
customer satisfaction survey. Through the survey, the office evaluates
promptness, helpfulness, professionalism, and overall satisfaction for each of
the business units within the department to ensure high service levels for stakeholders.
Parks Community and Customer Satisfaction
The Parks and Recreation Department conducts a statistically
valid survey of county voters in odd years and park visitors in even
years. The Department strives to improve park visitors and community experience
by regularly assessing their level of satisfaction with the County's regional
park system. Survey results enable the Department to assess whether the
distribution number, quality of facilities and programs meets user needs and
community expectations. In addition, onsite input from park visitors and
feedback obtained via the website and social media contributes to the
Department’s efforts to meet community needs.
Professional Development of Countywide Staff and Vendor Community
The
Procurement Department tracks the number of departments and total participants engaged
in trainings, with an outcome of improving professional development, achieving
a progressive competitive business culture to secure high-quality services and
commodities at the best value for the County.
IT Customer Ticket Satisfaction
In December 2021, TSS initiated a new customer satisfaction survey for the County IT ticketing system. Every ticket is evaluated upon resolution of a ticket through a survey. Surveys are sent out based on a frequency algorithm for the end user. The surveys allow TSS to receive instant feedback on their support and understanding the end user experience.
General Satisfaction with Technology Services and Solutions
To
ensure healthy customer relationships, one of TSS’ primary goals is customer
satisfaction. TSS conducts a quarterly customer satisfaction survey which, over
the course of a year, gives customers an opportunity to provide
critical feedback about the services and products TSS delivers. One of the
persistent survey questions asks customers whether, given the choice, they
would continue to use TSS as an IT service provider. Using this KPI, TSS monitors general client satisfaction within any given quarter and track this measure
over time to establish a trendline.
Social Services Agency Culture and Climate
Since 2019, the Social Services Agency has been administering an annual survey to understand staff perceptions of engagement and well-being. Engagement is measured by an index that includes questions about feeling valued, enthusiasm about one’s job, intention to stay, agency effectiveness, and whether staff would recommend others work at SSA.
Data gathered from the survey are used to inform strategies that are meant to improve employee engagement over time. Longitudinal data suggests that engagement rates have improved since 2019 when baseline data was gathered.
Source: Bassler, A. et al., "Developing Effective Citizen Engagement: A How-to Guide for Community Leaders." Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 2008.