BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIAMI TOWNSHIP -- From trash to traffic, from parks to policing, township officials are now crunching the numbers on what amounts to a 50-part question.
How are we doing?
Preliminary results indicate the answer is: overall, pretty good.
Residents generally gave high marks for the park system and public safety services, Township Administrator David Duckworth said Tuesday.
Less favorable responses, he said, were traffic control and garbage collection.
The phone survey of a cross section of 350 township residents, which yielded more than 200 responses, is the first of its kind by the Clermont County township. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Some questions asked for a rating, from "very satisfied" to "very unsatisfied." A statistical analysis will take several weeks and is expected to be unveiled to the board at the Sept. 1 trustees meeting.
The survey was prompted by residents' questions last year about possibly changing the garbage collection system.
Residents individually contract with one of four private companies: Rumpke, BFI, Waste Management and Clermont Waste. Some thought a single provider, contracted through the township, would result in lower rates and fewer collection days -- thus less traffic.
"So we decided to ask the public what they wanted," Mr. Duckworth recalled.
Officials approached Opinion Research Associates of Yellow Springs, Ohio, about a possible seven-question survey solely on garbage collection, but for slightly more, chose a 50-question "quality of life" questionnaire. The cost was $6,500, paid through the township's general fund.
"We might follow up in a few years, to ask, "How are we doing now?' " Mr. Duckworth said.
