CCMIN102015 - Laserfiche WebLink

She discussed the reasons focus group are held and said this year they wanted to explore more data about broad brand and cellular connectivity. Focus group information is outlined in the staff report and perceptions and sentiments have changed to be more positive. She provided questions asked of the focus group and they take the information and feedback and applied it to the survey instrument to determine what questions are still valid and what needs to be changed a bit for questions which are no longer relevant. Regarding the telephone survey overall satisfaction is 9 in 10 Pleasanton businesses report being happy with their location, which was similar as seen in 2012. The businesses particularly cited the City's positive environment, convenient location and friendly people and customers. 92% of the business respondents were confident they would remain in Pleasanton for the next 2 years or beyond. Regarding more of the specific questions, they tested respondents for assessment of Pleasanton's location for attracting and retaining employees, attracting and retaining customers and vendors and finding appropriate business space. Results are listed in the survey report and she shared the significant differences between the 2012 and 2015 survey which she displayed on the chart. It related to attracting qualified employees, retaining qualified employees and finding appropriate business space. She would suggest that this is a reflection of the improving economy. Employees are difficult to find and business space is affected due to lack of vacancies. Survey respondents were asked about their evaluations of Pleasanton's infrastructure such as roads, telecommunication services, public transportation options, electric, water and sewer services, and significant differences were found in responses of how the City was doing in the public transportation realm, which was also identified in 2012. As much as it was statistically valid, she would not consider this an important difference to focus on. She said Pleasanton is one of few communities that boast as much public transportation as they do with 2 BART stations, an Ace Train Station, and an active bus system. This will be taken under advisement. Regarding assessment of amenities, they asked about public schools, recreational activities, restaurants, entertainment options and community events. As heard in 2012, all of the areas tested were rated above good except for entertainment options. They then asked about the importance of selected services the City provides such as public safety, community beautification, property appearance standards and permit processing and business recruitment. They rated all of those things as between somewhat important and very important. They were tested and asked how the City was doing in delivering these services. By far, public safety was rated as most important and in how that is being provided. The two areas below a rating of good were permit processing and business recruitment. Relative to business recruitment, they attribute this sentiment of an interest to buy small businesses and attracting more small businesses to the community. Focus group participants talked about appreciating the diversity of businesses but wanting to make sure they retained the opportunities for small businesses so they maintain the "hometown" feel of the City. Regarding the permitting process, the City has talked about streamlining and in testing, they asked for their evaluation of City staff. All responses were above good, so clearly staff works well and this can be raised. They asked respondents about the ease of the process, and 63% said the process was either very easy or somewhat easy, which is an increase of 12% over the 2012 survey. This speaks well to the City's efforts and high standards. Generally, people were asked about their evaluation of staff that was not part of the permitting process and rate staff on courteousness, helpfulness, and fairness and responsive to needs and all were above the rating of good. Moving to the importance of internet, broadband and cell phone service, they wanted to have some hard data points. As she looked to bring forward an infrastructure assessment, they tested the survey respondents for reliable internet service, high speed internet service and reliable cell phone service. City Council Minutes Page 4 of 9 October 20,2015