LITH Residents Rank Village Services in Annual Survey

Lake in the Hills residents responding to a village survey this past month ranked communication, public safety and recreational opportunities among the village’s strong suits.

Survey takers cited better maintenance and installation of sidewalks and ease of walking and cycling in LITH as areas of improvement for the village, according to survey results posted in the Lake in the Hills Committee of a Whole packet this week. 

In September, the village of Lake in the Hills sought feedback in its resident satisfaction survey, which was posted on the village’s website. In total, 230 responded to the survey—a small sampling of the village’s 9,000 total households.

The resident satisfication survey is meant to gauge the quality of services in the village to see "whether the village is successfully meeting the expectations of its residents," according to a village of LITH press release. 

Some of the highlights from the survey include:

• 81.4 percent rated their quality of life in Lake in the Hills as good or excellent. That is not much different from the 2011 survey, when 86.7 percent of the 277 respondents to the Resident Satisfaction Survey ranked quality of life as good or excellent. 
• The most respondents wanted to see improvements to sidewalk installation or repairs, heightened police enforcement for those who park across sidewalks and better maintenance of village trees. 
• Respondents ranked the following village services as the best: police and public safety, snow and ice removal and recreational opportunities. 
• When it came to specific services, 90 percent of those taking the survey ranked maintenance of storm drains and safety and security average to excellent.
• On average, 86 percent said the village ranged from average to excellent on the following services: curbs streets, sidewalks, trees and storm drains. The lowest rated services were ease of walking, cycling and maintenance of sidewalks. 
• An average of 64.4 percent of survey takers ranked the village above average in communication. Specific tools ranked as the most helpful were: the Resident Insider Newsletter, the village’s website and the Messenger newsletter. 
• When it comes to areas for improving communication, survey takers suggested the village provide text alerts, join Facebook and allow opportunities to provide suggestions.