EDITORIAL: Have your say, but do it today

Jan. 19—Are you a Joplin resident? Do you have opinions about city services?

If you have ever said, "I just wish the city would listen to residents more," now is your opportunity to make that happen.

The city wants your opinion; it is asking you to share your views about city services. But you are running out of time. You need to share your opinions today.

Joplin residents may register their opinions of city services in a survey being taken as part of a study being conducted for city government. The study is part of an assessment by an outside consultant hired by city officials to report on findings regarding the city's level of services and customer satisfaction.

The survey can be taken online or by using smartphones to access the survey through a QR code. The survey can be taken anonymously, and it will be available until Friday, Jan. 20. It is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JoplinCS

"This study will provide an assessment of our current services, staffing levels, and other resources to establish appropriate benchmarks," said Nick Edwards, city manager, in a statement. "It will help evaluate the level of services provided, including the efficiency and effectiveness of those services in order for the city to provide the highest quality of services to citizens and visitors."

In addition to providing city officials with resident assessment of services, the report will compare Joplin with other Missouri and Midwestern cities as well as with national standards, creating a baseline to evaluate these local services.

"The city desires effective, efficient, quality services to attract and retain people and businesses to our community, and this study will help identify our current status in reaching this goal," Edwards said.

The survey questions address all facets of city services, including animal control, parks and recreation, fire and police services, health services, and streets. And don't worry, the survey questions offer an N/A response for areas you are unsure about, services you don't use or subjects you are just not interested in.

There is also a page of open-ended questions to allow you to have more say than will fit in that part of the check-box survey.

Results of the survey will be used to plan for resources for initiatives and projects for community improvement as part of the city's work on action plans to address goals set by the City Council.

You just need hurry — fill it out today.