The city of Springfield recently completed a community engagement process that gauged residents’ opinions on the services provided by the city.
As part of this process, a phone poll, an online survey and three focus groups were conducted by an independent third party.
The city is very interested and concerned with the thoughts and opinions of the residents and has taken these steps to understand what is important and what priorities the citizens have.
We would like to thank everyone that was willing to take this opportunity to provide input as we plan for the future of our city. We place the highest priority on the concerns and ideas of the community we serve.
The results from the phone poll, online survey and focus groups have determined that the residents hold safety as a top concern. They cite the maintenance and operation of the city police, fire and EMS services as the No. 1 priority in the community.
Another strong concern that was noted is the critical need to repair the city’s streets. The continuation of the Street Paving Program is necessary if we are to update and maintain city infrastructure; making the city a better place for our residents and more appealing to new businesses.
Additionally, all residents are concerned about jobs. The current economic downturn has been felt across the nation and specifically within our community. As a result the city of Springfield will develop a “Springfield Strong — Economic Recovery Plan.” This plan will be implemented to leverage community resources that will create a welcome environment for more businesses to invest in the city.
The results of the community-wide polling can be found on the city website.
For more information about the city of Springfield, please visit www.springfieldohio.gov.
Jim Bodenmiller is the Springfield city manager.
Community members are invited to submit a Community Commentary column for publication. Columns should be approximately 500 words in length and will be edited for publication. The Springfield News-Sun will make the final decision on whether they will be published. Any column submissions should be emailed to Editor Samantha Sommer at samantha.sommer@coxinc.com. For more info, call 937-328-0346.
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