Last week the Village of Keremeos released the results of this year’s Citizen Survey.
Out of more than 600 of the surveys circulated, 184 returns were tabulated, in the second year that the village has conducted this poll.
A recent opinion piece by columnist Rob Gerst, published in the Review last week, cautioned citizens about the way public opinion can be manipulated in these types of surveys. In reviewing the responses to Keremeos’ survey, one could come to the conclusion that Gerst is on to something.
Much of the commentary that was published out of the survey concerns aspects of governance that the village has no responsibility for. Residents literally complained about everything - including the weather.
A number of responses opted to take the low road, making negative comment on several village council and selected members of staff.
When a municipality conducts a citizen survey, the intention is to receive meaningful input about municipal issues, not to provide a forum for inappropriate personal attacks.
The negative comments made toward village council seems pointedly unfair, given they have only been in office eight months. It leads one to the conclusion that the only ones replying to the survey were residents with an axe to grind against government in general, and if that is the case, they will never be made satisfied anyway.
Many comments simply had no basis in fact or in propriety to be in the report, so one has to wonder if the village is wise to continue wasting taxpayer’s money collecting the results.
From our point of view, we would hope they have more important things to do.