Consultants present communications audit; council presses to shorten and widen access for proposed community survey

Jessica McCarthy and Natalie Tilton of Joy Riot presented the second update of a communications and marketing assessment to the Northglenn City Council, summarizing four stakeholder focus groups and a draft community questionnaire designed to gauge how residents want to receive city information.

The consultants said stakeholders — drawn from the police department, parks, recreation and culture, economic development and city communications — most commonly described Northglenn as "small town, hardworking and community," but warned that the city suffers from low external visibility and inconsistent online information. "We heard that North Glenn is often confused with surrounding areas," Tilton said, and that the city is sometimes viewed as "a pass-through location rather than a destination." Jessica McCarthy added that the stakeholder findings will inform a planned public survey.

Council members sought clarity on who was interviewed and how the research will translate into an actionable survey. "On slide 13… are those people who have a marketing title?" Council member Burns asked; McCarthy replied that the focus groups included both staff with communications roles and those whose primary job is not marketing. Several council members, including Severs and Roer, pressed that the draft survey felt too long for a summer rollout, with year-end events, election-season surveys and vacation schedules potentially depressing response rates.

Council members also asked for stronger accessibility and outreach measures. Council member Lighty asked whether the survey platform would provide read-aloud or translation tools for people with limited English or accessibility needs; McCarthy said the public-facing version would be translated into Spanish and that the team could explore additional accessibility features. Members urged the consultants to add other languages mentioned by council (for example Farsi and Pashto), to consider iPad stations and staffed kiosks at events and the senior center, and to use boards, commissions, apartment managers and QR codes to reach underserved populations.

On technical matters, the consultants said the version shown to council was the programmer (back-end) view and not the public interface, and that branching logic would present one question at a time to respondents. They also said the estimated completion time would typically range five to eight minutes, depending on the optional open-ended response.

McCarthy told the council the draft distribution plan included English and Spanish online versions, event-based in-person options, and targeted outreach through the communications committee. "Once we have approval or edits from you and staff, we'll translate, program and disseminate the survey," she said.

Council members suggested edits ranging from a shorter core questionnaire with an optional extended section to incentives for in-person completion (rec-center passes or small giveaways), clearer messaging on the survey's purpose, and a robust plan to protect respondent anonymity. The consultants agreed to revise the draft and return it to staff for finalization before formal launch. The consultants proposed a July 3–21 field period, contingent on edits and staff sign-off.

The council did not take a formal vote on the questionnaire at the meeting. Next steps: staff and consultants will revise the survey text and distribution plan to address length, accessibility, language expansion and outreach channels, and will propose a finalized version for administrative approval and programming.