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Pitkin County Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury noted Tuesday that while the commissioners’ ratings were relatively low in a community survey, they “ticked up” a bit over the last two years.
Residents also delivered potentially contradictory marching orders to county officials by naming the need to address affordable housing and the need to manage growth as the two highest priorities over the next two years.
The county hires an outside firm, ETC Institute, to conduct statistically valid surveys, usually every two years. The company randomly selected households for the feedback this year. Surveys were mailed to households and they could be filled out by mail or online. There were responses from 501 households. The results were presented to the commissioners on Tuesday.
“I’m interpreting ‘managing growth’ as a little bit of a proxy for protecting rural character, which is how I think it was presented in prior surveys,” said Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury. “That tension between housing and rural character persists.”
More than 53% of respondents identified “efforts to address affordable housing” as one of their three highest priorities for the county over the next two years. That ranked as the highest priority overall. It was closely followed by “efforts in managing growth.” That was selected as a top three priority by nearly 49% of respondents.
Jason Morado, ETC Institute’s director of community research, told the commissioners that the survey showed residents have high levels of satisfaction with Pitkin County as a place to live. They also hold their government in higher regard than the national average.
“Residents have a very positive perception of Pitkin County,” Morado said. “Eighty-six percent rated Pitkin County as an excellent place to live.”
In addition, 66.7% of respondents, excluding those who answered “don’t know,” said Pitkin County provided excellent or good overall quality of services. That is 23 percentage points higher than the average for the mountain region states and 18 percentage points higher than the national average.
“Satisfaction with county services is much higher in Pitkin County than other communities,” Morado said. “Overall the positive ratings outweigh the negative.”
When asked about Pitkin County’s efforts to provide open space, trails and habitat protection, 84% of respondents said they were very satisfied or satisfied.
Seventy-four percent of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the public safety division. Efforts to protect water quality and quantity were viewed favorably by 68%. The condition of roadways received high marks from 51%.
Much further down the satisfaction list were growth control and addressing affordable housing. Although Pitkin County has been a state and sometimes national leader on growth control efforts, only 5% of respondents said they were very satisfied with the county’s efforts while 23% said they were satisfied.
On affordable housing, only 3% of respondents said they were very satisfied with the county’s efforts while 19% said they were satisfied.
One segment of the survey focused on Aspen-Pitkin County Airport issues. There has been a contentious debate among some residents about what level of improvements need to be made, such as widening the runway.
The survey showed 65% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied overall with the airport while 17% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Another 19% were neutral.
Numbers were similar regarding the quality and usability of the airport terminal. While 56% were satisfied or very satisfied, 24% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. The remaining 20% were neutral. However, in a different question, 50% of respondents said quality and usability of the terminal was one of their two top choices for issues that should receive the most emphasis at the airport, over the next two years.
While residents were generally satisfied with county services, they weren’t sold on the commissioners’ performances or the direction of the county. Morado said there are generally low marks around the country on government leadership, so Pitkin County’s numbers didn’t come as a surprise.
In Pitkin County, 48% of respondents felt the county government is “moving in the right direction” versus 32% feeling it is moving in the wrong direction. Another 19% were neutral.
When asked about the effectiveness of the five-member board of commissioners, 39% said it was excellent or good while 36% said it was fair or poor. Another 25% were neutral.
“I think our satisfaction level has ticked up a little for the BOCC,” McNicholas Kury said.
Board chair Greg Poschman quipped that the national distrust of government and other institutions would apparently make efforts to enhance the commissioners’ image fruitless.
“So if I make suggestions about changing the dress code to something more formal or colorful or perhaps we talk in iambic pentameter, is that going to make a difference?” he asked.