Suwanee residents are happy. National survey results have Suwanee ranked at the top for two Voice of the People Awards for Excellence in community engagement as well as recreation and wellness by the International City/County Management Association and National Research Center. Suwanee is the only community among 21 jurisdictions being recognized nationally to win multiple awards.
The National Research Center's National Citizen Survey reports resident opinions and satisfaction with local government and services. Suwanee has administered the survey every two years since 2008. Those survey results are used to inform budgeting, performance measurement, and program planning.
Voice of the People awards are given to local governments based on community opinion. Ratings by residents determine local government nominees in a variety of service and community characteristic categories. Suwanee administered its most recent National Citizen Survey in November. The results, released in March, show Suwanee residents rate the city higher than other participating communities across the nation on eight questions, and Suwanee scored among the top 10 communities nationally in 27 percent of the questions.
Suwanee residents reported extremely high levels of satisfaction, compared to the more than 300 other participating jurisdictions, with community engagement, recreation and wellness, built environment, and economy. The city also is a finalist for Voice of the People Awards for Excellence in the built environment and economy categories.
Residents specifically ranked Suwanee as #1 compared to other benchmarked communities for city-sponsored events, the job Suwanee government does welcoming citizen involvement, overall built environment, availability of affordable quality childcare, overall confidence in local government, honesty, fairness and generally acting in the best interest of the community.
The awards will be officially presented in Seattle in September at the 101st annual International City/County Management Association conference.
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