Results of a Kenai Peninsula Borough survey will be driving improvements to road maintenance next year, among other borough services.
The borough surveyed residents from April 2 to May 14 about a range of topics and released preliminary results last week. About 2,200 residents participated in the online survey and submitted 2,500 comments.
Borough Mayor Peter Micciche said he wanted to break out of the bubble that can insulate officials from their constituents.
“I just started realizing how much of what we do is anecdotal and from personal experience. So it was really important to me that we reached out in a big way to the 60,000 folks that call the Kenai Peninsula home,” se said.
Micciche said residents of all 37 borough communities participated, and the survey got more responses from rural areas than city residents.
“We had a lower proportion from the cities, who likely do not live on borough roads or maybe don't understand their dependence on borough services, like emergency services and other services the borough offers, like funding education. So I was kind of impressed with some of the rural areas on how they reached out,” he said.
Roads were a big topic of the survey. Sixty-five percent of respondents said summer roads met or exceeded expectations, with 61 percent saying the same of roads during spring breakup.
Questions about winter road maintenance show less satisfaction. Overall, 53 percent of respondents said winter roads met or exceeded expectations. Forty-seven percent said roads are cleared within 24 hours, 39 percent said snowbanks are pushed back and 47 percent said roads are maintained to their full width in the winter.
The borough itself doesn’t maintain roads — it contracts with service providers to do so. It also isn’t responsible for state highways or roads within incorporated cities, which seemed to be a point of confusion in some responses. Micciche said they’re compiling survey responses to see what road contract areas got good marks and which did not, and they’ll use that information in making decisions about road contracts next year.
“So if we see a lot of positives, we might reach out to that contractor and let them know they're doing a great job. And if we see a lot of negatives, we may need to reach out to that contractor and let them know that they won't be receiving the next bid for that particular area until they can demonstrate a system of better response in the future," he said.
Emergency services and emergency management got the highest scores for meeting or exceeding expectations, at 95 percent and 91 percent. Solid waste got 87 percent, planning 81 percent, communications 73 percent and roads overall got 57 percent.
Another question spoke to the balance between providing services and limiting costs. Seventy-two percent said they want quality borough services with a continuous focus on reducing waste, low cost and efficiency. Eighteen percent said they want the best quantity and quality of services, no matter the cost. And 11 percent want the lowest possible taxes.
Micciche said he was surprised at that distribution.
“So it's interesting that people in the borough are thinking, ‘All right, we want you to do a good job. We don't want to pay unnecessary taxes but we want quality services.’ So, be frugal, but make sure we receive the services, the few services that the borough is supposed to be delivering," he said.
Micciche said he’s pleased with survey participation but doesn’t want this to be the last time the borough hears from residents.
“I just want people on the Kenai to know you don't need a survey," he said. "… I mean, only 27 percent of the people in the borough (taking the survey) ever lodged a road complaint. Yet it seems like we have others that are concerned about the quality of their roads. Reach out to the road department when you have a road complaint. Reach out to any of us when you see something that we can be doing better. I mean, we can take it. We want to hear them.”
Kenai Peninsula Borough offices can be reached at 907-262-4441.
