Short survey finds council openness to new businesses; Partnership used results to guide planning

Presenters told the council they sent a five-question Polk City input survey to the city council, planning and zoning commission and department heads to gather priorities for economic development. "Somewhere between, forgive me for not knowing the exact number, but 15 to probably 18 people. We got 8 results. So about 50%," one presenter said.

Survey themes the presenters extracted included growth in both commercial and residential sectors, support for existing businesses, and a desire to expand the commercial tax base. On whether competition among businesses was desirable, presenters said the consensus from the eight responses was that competition is generally good and that Polk City needs residents to spend dollars locally for commercial development to take hold.

Presenters said the survey outcomes informed the meeting's discussion and will feed into a one‑year plan with measurable goals and deliverables. They asked council members to provide any additional feedback via a sticky‑note activity they planned to collect before the subsequent council meeting.