Warrenville citizens have spoken. The City’s second community survey was mailed out in late August and collection was done in September. A total of 1,378 surveys were mailed and 325 were returned.
The objective of this survey was to help the City Council and staff assess satisfaction with City services, assess residents’ desire to pay for additional services, and gain insight on resident desire for type and amount of development.
The information provided by the respondents will be utilized to create the Resident Strategic Plan Input Report for the Strategic/Economic Development Planning Process that will begin early next year. This Report will identify prevailing “themes” and “desired outcomes,” determine priorities based on what issues appear most often, and draft goals based on the prevailing priorities.
The survey indicated that while citizens are generally satisfied with the quality and level of services provided by the City, there are two areas that stand out in both the data and commentary that respondents feel require additional attention: economic development and lowering taxes. Both data responses and commentary proved that these two were linked in that respondents believe that generating economic development will lead to lowering taxes.
The next two issues in which residents feel there is a need for improvement are flooding and/or stormwater control and maintaining or even enhancing public safety, and in particular, addressing gangs and drugs. From a property maintenance perspective, citizens generally do not see a need for change, except in the area of vacant and foreclosed properties, and over occupancy. These sentiments were evident in both the data and the commentary. Listed among the advantages to living in Warrenville were Natural Settings, Location, Trails & Paths, Friendliness of Residents, Safety, and Small Town Character.