Survey: 93 Percent of Eagan Residents Say City on Right Track

Editor's note: The following is a press release from the city of Eagan.

Eagan residents like living here even more than they did two years ago. They want more clothing stores, and desire a careful eye on taxes, but they overwhelmingly approve of the city services they receive.  Those are among the findings from the latest biennial survey of Eagan residents by an independent research company which describes Eagan as “the showpiece of the County.”

• 97% of residents polled rate the quality of life in Eagan to be excellent or good. That’s up two points from 2010.
• 93% think things in Eagan are on the right track, the highest figure in the metro area of communities surveyed by Decision Resources.
• City services, from snow plowing to public safety and park maintenance, all have high ratings, ranging from 97% of residents polled who rate Fire Department services as excellent or good, to 86% who say the same about snow plowing of streets—numbers well above the norm for other communities.
• In fact, the 90% job approval rating of City Staff overall and the staff courtesy rating (93%) are the highest in the metro area.
• The City Council itself has an 86% approval rating, placing it in the top five metro wide. Interestingly, the more people know about the work the City Council is doing the higher the approval rating, climbing to 95%.
• Nearly four out of ten residents (37%) do not identify a serious issue facing Eagan today. Of the five percent of residents polled who think Eagan is on the wrong track, taxes growth, and spending are the largest concerns. However, 87% of residents say they get good value for their city taxes and 88% think it is important to maintain the current level of services.
• For the very first time, the City newsletter outpolls all other local news sources as the principal source of information about the City for Eagan residents, and the number who said the City Website is their primary source of information for city news was more than two times higher than the metro norm.
• 63% say they are not affected by airport noise, yet nearly one out of ten Eagan residents (9%) report that airport noise is a “very serious” problem.
• 44% felt Eagan does not have enough clothing stores, a situation which may well be addressed by the Paragon Outlet mall development in Cedar Grove which hopes to open in late 2014 and has already signed Saks Off 5th Ave. as a tenant.

Eagan’s overall results put Eagan in the top two communities metro-wide among forty cities studied, according to Decision Resources, Ltd., which this fall conducted a random survey of 400 Eagan residents spread throughout every precinct in the City. The results are accurate to +/- 5% and will aid city decision makers going forward.

"Over the past decade,” said Dr. Bill Morris, President of Decision Resources, “Eagan has an enviable track record of further improving their assets and successfully overcoming challenges.  The trust that you have managed to put together in this community toward government is absolutely amazing and absolutely unique. It is this combination that keeps Eagan in the top ranking of suburban communities."

“We’re very proud that City services have such outstanding ratings, but we don’t rest on that,” says long-time Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges, who believes “we always learn where we can do better.”