The first citizen satisfaction survey results for the city of Conroe were presented at a March 23 City Council workshop by Ryan Murray, assistant director of community research at ETC Institute, which does market research for local governmental organizations. Results from 502 surveys completed by a random sample of households in the city showed that citizens have a generally positive perception of the city, and top priorities to improve include traffic and congestion management, maintenance of infrastructure and quality of drainage systems, according to the presentation.

Conroe scored above the national average in 41 of the 57 areas assessed, including 92% of respondents rating the city as an “excellent” or “good” place to live, which is 18% above the national average, according to the presentation. Eighty-four percent of respondents rated the city as an “excellent” or “good” place to raise children, which is also above the national average by 13%.

“Residents are really satisfied with the delivery of city services,” Murray said at the workshop. “When we talk about benchmarking, again, you're rating significantly above national and regional averages, and while we did have some top priorities for improvement that are kind of big-ticket items, they’re common for high-performing organizations.”

In overall ratings, the data shows Conroe had more than 75% of respondents rate the city as “excellent” or “good” as a place residents are proud to call home, a place to retire and a place to work, according to the presentation. The biggest dissatisfaction was with only 60% of respondents rating the city “excellent” or “good” for visiting.

Eighty-one percent of respondents rated the quality of life in Conroe as “excellent” or “good”, with similar high ratings for overall image and appearance of the community. However, only 48% of respondents rated the city “excellent” or “good” for how the city approaches development and 52% for value received for city tax dollars and fees.