City readies community-wide survey
A community-wide survey will soon be hitting your doorstep — and city officials hope you fill it out and return it.
The survey is being developed by the Hillsboro Planning and Development Commission, and it will be delivered to most Hillsboro residents the week of Sept. 23, according to City Administrator Steve Garrett.
The survey, which was finalized at last Thursday's planning meeting, should help the organization and the city gather information about how Hillsboro residents view their hometown.
Garrett hasn't decided yet how the surveys will be distributed, either door-to-door or through the mail. They should be returned to City Hall by Oct. 11, he said.
Some of the key questions on the survey pertain to manufactured housing. Question 12 of the survey reads, "Should manufactured housing (mobile homes) be allowed to locate in: All residential areas, certain residential areas, or manufactured home parks only."
Other questions that should prove interesting to the community deal with how far residents commute to work and how much money residents spend at Hillsboro stores.
The survey is approximately four pages long.
The survey has been in the works for several months now, but the planning board decided to wait until the Tabor College students had returned for the fall.
"The timing seems about right," said John Riggs, engineer with Earles and Riggs of Salina and a planning board consultant.
Now the question remains: how to distribute it to as many citizens as possible and how to get it back.
The planning board decided to wait until after the Arts and Crafts Festival was over before distributing it.
One option would be to choose one person from each one- or two-block neighborhood and have them be in charge of their designated area. That was the suggestion of board member Sherry Kunkel.
"I don't think it would be that hard to find (volunteers)," Kunkel said.
Civic groups such as Kiwanis or the Girl Scouts might also volunteer to distribute the surveys, Riggs said.
The surveys could be mailed back in to City Hall, or a drop box could be placed for residents to use, said City Clerk Jan Meisinger.
Surveys will also be distributed to residents living outside the city limits in rural Hillsboro, although the planning board did not define where that area would be.
