By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
The survey results are in.
Now, St. Joseph city officials and councilmembers work to act on them.
St. Joseph city councilmembers and officials have much to digest as they pore over results from a city-wide survey.
City Manager, Mike Schumacher, says the top concern of citizens returning the survey is code enforcement, which grows from concern about the city’s appearance.
“People who choose to own a property and not maintain is really impacting the livability,” Schumacher says during an appearance on KFEQmmunity. “They’re impacting the property values of those around them. They’re adding to blight.”
Schumacher says responsibility comes with property ownership and the city plans to help residents understand their responsibility.
“We want to educate them so they understand, hey, this is what the code says,” Schumacher says. “This is what we need to do. And, if they so choose, then we’ll be forced to hold them accountable. That’s the path we’re going to take.”
Schumacher says the city received more than 600 responses from the 4,000 mailers sent to residents. He says that is a strong response that is statistically relevant, representing all areas of the city.
While code enforcement came out as the top concern, law enforcement and crime came in second, with communication third.
Schumacher says the St. Joseph Police Department is filling its vacancies which should help address a concern about crime. The city manager says the city is working to improve its communication with residents.
“We need to work on our branding, our consistency, and messaging,” according to Schumacher. “And we need to be strategic on what we put out there and make sure it’s always, 100% accurate and make sure that the community sees that we are completely transparent.”
City councilmember, Marty Novak, isn’t surprised that code enforcement is a big concern, saying the city cannot have selective code enforcement.
“There are a lot of things we’re trying to do to try to move that needle and really try to make St. Joseph better and to grow St. Joseph,” Novak says during a separate appearance on KFEQmmunity.
Novak says the city council will seriously consider the comments from the survey.
“I can see where the citizens were coming from with all the results,” Novak says. “Again, I take it as a barometer. This is our benchmark here. Now we can see where we can go, moving that up or down as we move forward.”
Novak says Schumacher and his staff have compiled a 24-page document on how best to implement the survey’s findings. Department heads will address the city council during its meetings on how each department plans to act on the survey results.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ