Hastings city survey results highlights goods and bads in the community

HASTINGS, Neb. – Sometimes, the only way to get the answers you’re looking for is straight from the horse’s mouth.

That’s what the city of Hastings did via a mail-in survey which residents ranked numerous categories such as quality of life and satisfactions of city services.

The city did the survey to let people know, they’re listening to any and all concerns.

"When we can see what those people are thinking about our services, we can then start making strategic plans to address the ones that aren't doing as well," said City Administrator Shawn Metcalf. "We can also say we need to put more funding into certain things, where as in others, we can maintain what we're doing because it's already the highest satisfaction level.

The city had 558 out of 5,000 surveys returned, which is statistically significant for the Hastings population of 25,000.

Some of the biggest concerns among citizens were the condition of roads and traffic flow, which 38% of people said they were dissatisfied with.

62% said they were dissatisfied with the lack of affordable housing.

Metcalf said the current half cent sales tax could provide some future solutions.

"You can incentivize contractors that are interested in building, but they just need a little bit more support to build some of these affordable housings." said Metcalf.

Among the positives were feeling of safety and quality of life which a strong majority said they were satisfied.

This data will be disseminated to city personnel who will interpret it for the future.

"I would like to do some strategic planning with the council as soon as we get a little further down the road," said Metcalf. "Basically have them take this data and say 'okay, we agree, we need to focus on this item' and then staff will take it, and we'll start looking at projects that align with what they want us to do."

With this being the first ever city-commissioned survey of its nature, the city plans to mail out the same survey once a year.

The city's full survey report can be found here.