Date of Award

Spring 3-2012

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

Local governments, specifically city councils, struggle to find the best way to determine what issues are important to their constituents. The use of citizen surveys has become more common in recent decades to gauge the effectiveness of public programs, but the question remains whether it is the most effective tool for a city council to use in discovering the important concerns of their citizens. This study surveyed the members of the Fayetteville City Council, comprised of a nine-member (by individual districts) elected body, as well as an at-large, elected mayor, all representing a North Carolina municipality of over 200,000 citizens.

The perceptions of city councilmembers were tested through the use of both a quantitative/qualitative electronic survey and an in-person follow-up interview. This survey also examined the city's existing methods of public feedback (over the six-month time period from January to June 2011), specifically councilmembers' in-person interactions with the public, the role of campaigns/elections, public hearings/public forums held during city council meetings, and constituent e-mails sent to city councilmembers. The author of this study is a former local elected official who struggled with how to find out what issues were most important to his constituents. This study found that the proposed web-based citizen survey was rated the lowest, on average, by the city councilmembers on all given metrics, and that the most valued public input tools were those most directly-tied to the actual constituent. The results and finds suggest that the Fayetteville City Council should receive more information about the strengths and weaknesses of citizen surveys, and that more research should be conducted in the specific area of citizen interaction with their elected officials.

Download

Share

COinS