Manhattan board approves $27,900 community survey to inform planning

The Village Board of Manhattan voted to authorize an agreement with PCO to conduct a custom community survey for a total cost of $27,900, to be split among six taxing bodies so no single body will pay more than $5,000. The vote was unanimous.

PCO regional account manager Alec Vice told trustees the Manhattan custom survey would borrow elements of the National Community Survey while remaining tailored to local needs. “This won’t be the National Community Survey. This will be the Manhattan custom community survey,” Vice said, explaining the instrument would be roughly five pages plus a demographic overlay and would measure the 10 facets of livability.

Vice described the sampling and outreach plan: the firm will randomly select 3,000 households across the Manhattan township boundary (including unincorporated areas) and use a four-part outreach method—initial text message, a reminder postcard, a mailed paper survey with paid return postage, and a final text reminder—to maximize response and protect sample integrity. He said additional open-enrollment responses would be bucketed separately so they do not skew the random-sample results.

PCO estimated the survey instrument would be ready by mid-August, data collection would run from mid‑August through the end of September, and a report of results would be delivered in October to support comprehensive or strategic planning decisions.

Trustees asked how households would be selected and how subarea and demographic breakdowns would be handled. Vice confirmed the sample could be segmented by neighborhood or demographic groups so taxing bodies could review both township‑wide and subarea results.

The resolution authorizes the agreement and stipulates cost-sharing among the park district, library, fire department, township, school district 114 and other taxing bodies involved; the motion carried on a roll call with all trustees voting yes.

Next steps: staff will finalize the contracting and coordinate questions among the participating taxing bodies so the instrument and timeline can proceed as outlined.