Yellowknife (Oct 03/03) - Ever want to tell city hall exactly what you think?

And furthermore, for city hall to listen?

That is the purpose of the annual citizen survey, Robert Charpentier, director of finance at city hall, said recently.

There is a theme that is similar but there is also a change every year, he says of the telephone survey questions, for which 800 citizens will be questioned for about 15 minutes.

The 2004 survey, expected to begin in late fall, will be the fourth done by the city at a cost of about $25,000.

Citizens are randomly selected, although he says the city tries to divide the survey equally among women and men.

The 2001 survey was focused on satisfaction of overall quality of life with regard to city services and facilities.

From that survey, for example, there was low satisfaction with snow removal and dust control.

This then became a priority for the public works department to improve upon, he said.

The next year, taxes and the efficiency of municipal services was the central topic.

And we had different initiatives we wanted to ask the public what they thought of to see if there was support for service initiatives we werent doing now, but we wanted to know if they would support,

The main example of this, he said, was the 911 telephone system.

The survey said people want that (service) and they are willing to pay for it.

Again as a result, a 911 committee is now in place to study the issue, Charpentier said.

During the 2003 survey, the city went back to many of the questions asked in 2001 to see if there was an improvement in satisfaction, plus questions about recycling and public transit were asked.

What we did find was satisfaction had gone up considerably in our recreation courses and programs, he noted, after the city hired an additional person for recreation as a result of the 2001 survey.

For the 2004 survey, many 2002 questions will be revisited for public opinion, plus new questions will be asked about satisfaction for other programs.

We wanted to ask some questions on the smoking bylaw last year but we didnt have the time, so we may go back and do that again this year.

Heritage issues are other areas of interest, he said and questions on tax-related issues and services will be asked.

And in the future, Charpentier said the city Web site will provide interactive questions and answers.

Currently, the city is looking for proposals to conduct the survey.