The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

At the May 21 meeting of the Community Assets Committee, Chair Bill Hall presented the final results of the public survey concerning five potential community asset projects to the committee.

A total of 206 completed surveys were received by the deadline. Approximately 60% of the respondents were female and 40% male, and were approximately evenly split between those in the city and those outside the city but within the school district.

The committee members arranged outreach to the public through articles and announcements in The Nugget; KZSO radio announcements; School Loop; local Facebook groups; local clubs, organizations and networks; and with a Town Hall event. Among the survey respondents, those 50 and over were over-represented and those under 50 were under-represented with respect to their relative populations as estimated by the city's 2010 census results.

Among all respondents, the Combination Project (Convention Center, Winter Sports Park, Art/Science/History Center) received the highest percentage of the "best project" votes; the Field House came in a close second. This order of preference remained the same when the percentage of the combined "best project" and "okay project" votes were tallied, and also when the totals of the "no" votes were considered (i.e., the Combination Project" and "Field House" had the lowest numbers of "no" votes).

The project preferences differed by age bracket. For those 50 and over, the Combination Project garnered the highest percentage of "best project" votes and least percentage of "no" votes. But for those under 50, the Field House accumulated the highest percentage of "best project" and lowest percentage of "no" votes.

If the "best project" totals were pro-rated to account for the actual populations of the two age groups, the totals for the Combination Project and Field House would be essentially a tie.

It was noted that, due to the lower number of surveys received from the group aged 49 and younger, those results cannot be ascribed the same level of statistical confidence as the results from those aged 50 and over. To achieve equal levels of confidence in the results, more surveys would need to be received from the former group.

Over half of all respondents felt that someone in their household would benefit from implementation of the Combination Project and just under 50 percent felt that way regarding the Field House.

The belief that someone in their household would benefit from the implementation of a project varied by age of the respondent. Over half of those 50 and over expected their household would benefit from the Combination Project while, for those under 50, over half felt that way regarding the Winter Sports Park, Field House, and Combination Project.

No project received a majority of support for financing through a bond measure. One project, the Art/Science/History Center, had a majority expressing opposition to a bond measure.

Summarizing the respondents' expectations of project performance against goals, the leader was the Combination Project, followed by the Field House. The Art/Science/History Center was last.

The respondents felt that the analysis presented for each project was fair, accurate, thorough, and complete by at least a 3 to 1 margin over those who felt otherwise.

The Community Assets Committee will meet on June 4 to fine-tune its presentation, which will be offered to City Council at an 8 a.m. workshop at City Hall on June 18. The public is invited to attend both meetings.