2018/11/12 - Mayor's Column: Is O'Fallon Getting Better?
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the recently completed National Citizens Survey, and how O’Fallon compared to peer communities. This week (part two) I want to point out some of the rating trends over time, comparing the 2018 ratings for O’Fallon to its previous survey results in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2016.
Trend data for O’Fallon represents important comparison data and should be examined for improvements or declines. The O’Fallon City Council has always taken a progressive approach to improving the community for all of our residents. While some cities operate with the attitude, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” not O’Fallon. O’Fallon’s City Council and I have always operated with the approach that O’Fallon is a great place to live, work and play, but how do we make it even better?
This is why trend data is important to us. We are able to not only determine what services are improving or which ones need to improve, but also we are able to draw conclusions to answer the never ending question, “are we better off today than we were five, ten, or twenty years ago?”
The results of the survey are very positive and show improvement to O’Fallon’s already high ratings.
Ratings for several aspects of economy improved since 2016; these included shopping opportunities, economic development and the proportion of residents who had a positive outlook on their economic future.
Public infrastructure has been a focus of ours for a number of years. We have made significant investments in maintaining our existing infrastructure, and when needed, building new. Over the years, the City Council has decided to allocate considerable funding towards completing projects in the Presidential Streets, Dartmouth/Rasp Farm, and Southview, to name just a few. As a result, ratings of our infrastructure: water, sewer, stormwater drainage, and street repair have all increased over the years. The rating for stormwater drainage has increased over 30% from 2005!
Resident sentiment towards aspects of recreation and wellness, including the availability of affordable quality health care and mental health care and health services also improved since 2016. No doubt that the opening of HSHS-St. Elizabeth’s and continued improvement of our Parks & Recreation services had a positive effect.
Ratings have never been higher for aspects of good governance, customer service by city employees, and the overall direction of the City.
Many of the other ratings were similar to previous years. Stability is great, especially when it comes to quality of life and safety. Overall feeling of safety, and ratings for our public safety departments has been extremely positive and consistent over the years. In the most recent survey the overall feeling of safety (in neighborhoods, downtown, and commercial areas) were all over 90%!
The survey, performed by the National Research Center, randomly selects 1,500 O’Fallon residents and asks them questions about their community. The survey has a 95% confidence interval, so we can be pretty confident that the results of the survey represent the population of O’Fallon.
The entire survey results are available on the City’s website at https://www.ofallon.org/administration/pages/2018-national-citizens-survey.
The results of the survey were very positive. I am very grateful of the strong compassion, work ethic, and leadership shown by our City Council, City employees, and O’Fallon community that made this possible.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!