PARIS — Interim Town Manager Sawin Millett gave selectmen a brief update Monday night on the townwide survey of government issues.
Resident Chris Bass volunteered more than 50 hours to tabulate the results from the survey given to voters during the last election in November 2015, according to Millett. She submitted the final report March 1.
One of the first questions asked for preferred time and dates for annual town meeting. There were 197 people, or 37 percent, who wanted to keep it on Saturday morning. The next highest response was Monday evening with 149 votes, or 28 percent.
“If the 189 responses for the three other alternatives (of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening) were reassigned to a choice of only Monday evening or Saturday morning, they might be enough to skew the results toward Monday evening as the first choice,” Bass wrote.
Most respondents want the Town Office open at least four days a week, preferably five days, with the two choices totaling 393 votes, or 84 percent, according to the report. There were several comments requesting evening and/or Saturday hours for people working full time.
As for important services the town provides, 400 of 489 responses, or 82 percent, said administration’s No. 1 service is vehicle registration in person.
There was noted opposition to the town’s quest to acquire the vacant Paris Utility District building and land for recreation space, Bass wrote. Seventy-six percent of those who responded, or 198 people, gave this project the lowest ranking, many commenting about money being spent when people are calling for tax relief.
For the Highway Department, snowplowing is the most important to residents. There were 213 people, 70 percent, who gave snowplowing the top ranking.
The most important service the Police Department provides is responding to calls, according to 373 people, or 73 percent, who gave this service the highest ranking.
For the Fire Department, the most important services are fighting fires and medical response calls. Fighting fires is the highest priority for residents, with 429 giving this a top ranking, or 89 percent. Combined, the top two rankings for medical responses was 248, or 55.3 percent.
There were 527 surveys returned, but Bass noted issues with some of the documents:
• Some surveys were left blank;
• Some were completed incorrectly;
• Some rankings were used wrong;
• Some didn’t answer all of the questions; and
• Some responses weren’t legible.
Copies of Bass’ report were available on Monday night.
“More copies would be available to the public if requested,” Millett said.
To request a copy of the survey results, call the Town Office at 743-2501.
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