ETC Institute, a nationwide municipal survey company based in Olathe, Kansas, has awarded Platte City its “Leading the Way Award,” which recognizes local governments for outstanding achievement in the delivery of services to its residents.
The award was presented to cities whose residents’ service satisfaction scores were in the top 10% of all cities surveyed in 2019-2020. The top 10% rating was based on composite survey scores in three main core local government service areas as rated by each city’s residents
.Satisfaction with the overall quality of municipal services
.Satisfaction with customer service provided by city employees
.Satisfaction with the value residents receive for the amount of local taxes and fees
“Receiving this recognition is especially gratifying because it is based on survey responses from our residents and citizens,” said Platte City Mayor Tony Paolillo. “Providing high quality city services in the most cost effective manner is one of the priorities for the board and myself. While we believe we do a good job, our residents’ opinion is the only one that really counts. Having our residents give the city this vote of confidence, provides the city, both elected officials and staff, with an additional incentive to work harder and smarter for our residents,” the mayor stated.
The mayor continued his remarks by recognizing city staff for their dedication and hard work in the daily work of providing basic municipal services.
“Day in and day out, city staff consistently provide very high quality service in all aspects of local government services. A key ingredient in providing cost effective service is the skills, knowledge, hard work and problem solving ability of our staff. With only 32 full time employees, Platte City provides the full range of municipal services including police, parks and recreation, general administration, economic development and public works including street, sidewalk and stormwater maintenance, water distribution, wastewater treatment, facility maintenance and snow removal.”
The high score in customer service provided by city employees is especially noteworthy, according to Paolillo.
“One of the reasons I ran for alderman in 2008 was because of the numerous complaints about the level and manner in which the city responded to citizen service requests. Over the last 10 years, the board has consistently focused on improving all aspects of how the city communicates and interacts with residents. It is rewarding to see that this effort has been successful and provides us a foundation for continued improvement.”
According to the ETC Institute, this is the first year for the “Leading the Way Award.”
ETC has been administering the DirectionFinder citizen satisfaction survey for local governments across the country since 1999, according to Chris Tatham, CEO of the Institute. The intent of the survey was to provide an instrument to objectively assess resident’s satisfaction with their local government services and to help cities identify the priorities resident’s place on those services. The ultimate goal is to provide information that allows city leaders to be more responsive to the expressed needs of their community.
Over the past 20 years, the DirectionFinder survey has been administered to nearly two million residents in all 50 states.
The “Leading the Way Award” was created this year to recognize the outstanding achievement of those local governments whose residents rated them among the best in the delivery of services to their community. The “Leading the Way Award” for 2020 is presented to cities across the country who were in the top 10% of all cities in the United States based on composite performance in overall satisfaction, customer service satisfaction and satisfaction with service received for the local taxes and fees.
In addition to scoring in the top 10% in the composite performance, Platte City scored in the top 10% of all surveyed cities in the following individual rating areas:
.Overall value of services
.Customer service satisfaction
.Enforcement of local sign regulations
.Traffic flow on city streets
With a population estimated at 4,869, Platte City was the second smallest community receiving this year’s award with the population of awarded cities ranging from Plano, Tex. at 288,061 to North Kansas City, Mo. at 4,571.
A full list of the cities receiving the 2020 award is in alphabetical order below:
Auburn, AL
Concord, NC
Glencoe, IL
Lenexa, KS
Maryland Heights, MO
North Kansas City, MO
Olathe, KS
Plano, TX
Platte City, MO
Rolla, MO
Schertz, TX
St. Charles, IL
Tempe, AZ
Trussville, AL
Wauwatosa, WI
West Des Moines, IA
Each of the awarded cities will receive an 11 pound chrystal “Leading the Way Award” trophy.