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She did note that when asked if they had ever participated in the permit process, only 1 in 5 respondents had which is not a huge sampling. Ms. Ott discussed comments specific to the online survey, which also reported that all City services are important but provided a slightly different assessment than the phone survey. The City received a "fair" rating for offering a streamlined permitting process and a "fair to good" in promoting the City as a good place to do business and providing a single point of contact. Vice-Mayor Cook-Kallio asked how the online survey was advertised. Ms. Ott said a press release was issued to any businesses that had not participated in the telephone survey. The EVC also used partner organizations to push out the survey. Suggestions to improve the permitting process included expediting the process, limiting requirements while also meeting all of the City's fine standards, and decreasing the cost. One area tested for online that was not part of the phone survey was what kind of business information should be included on the City's website. Information regarding business support programs, links to business resources, information about City RFPs and bids, business events, news about local businesses, large employers and a listing of commercial space were all considered important but in slightly varied measure. Ms. Ott stated that the underlying themes of the survey were the perception that City rules and regulations can make it difficult to do business, that the City is not as well connected to the business community as businesses would like, and infrastructure constraints. However, when asked for specific comments about doing business in Pleasanton, the most prominent sentiment was that the City is doing a great job. Mayor Thorne opened the public hearing and seeing no speakers, closed the public hearing. Mayor Thorne said many of the issues seem to be based on perception. He and Mr. Fialho are working to develop a set of performance benchmarks that specifically measure performance in some of these areas, with the intent to eliminate some of the negative perception. Mr. Fialho noted that the City issues literally hundreds of permits each month, more than 95% of which are over the counter. The Zoning Administrator Reports also demonstrate the amount of time to issue a permit, which vary from 5 days to within 1 hour for most projects. He felt the perception was largely related things outside of the City's control. Councilmember Brown referred to two instances in the staff report where a large majority of responses fell under the "other" category which hints at flawed questions in her mind. Ms. Ott said the EVC worked with an outside consultant to prepare the survey instruments and was very conscious of not leading respondents to a limited set of answers. Councilmember Brown said she was quite surprised to hear the sentiment that public transportation options are inadequate. Ms. Ott said it is again a matter of perception, although it does indicate that perhaps information is not being disseminated through the right channels. MOTION: It was M/s by Pentin/Brown to accept the Report on the Business Retention Survey. Motion carried by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmembers Brown, Cook-Kallio, Pentin, Mayor Thorne Noes: None Absent: One Vacancy 17. Appointment of a Representative to Kottinger Place Task Force City Council Minutes Page 9 of 11 February 19, 2013