El Dorado County wants to hear from locals through survey

El Dorado County Supervisor Sue Novasel recently laid out the County's focus on developing a three-year strategic plan, and how she and her fellow Supervisors want the public to weigh in.

To hear from the public, Novasel held a town hall meeting and is asking for residents to fill out a survey to give their input on their ideas for the future of El Dorado County, and what would improve their quality of life. After many members of the public asked for an extension to the November 2 deadline, County officials extended it to November 20. 2015.

"It's very unusual for a county to do this," Novasel said of the outreach. "In order to be successful we need to hear what our major shareholders, the citizens, want."

Once the surveys are completed, focus groups will participate in discussions. All of the input will be sent to goal setting teams in order for the Board of Supervisors to get the data by Christmas.

Novasel said she wants to continue to hold town hall meetings in South Lake Tahoe as well as with her other constituents in Tahoma and Pollock Pines.

Out of the first 1,000 surveys received at the time of the Town Hall meeting, most of the respondents were of the ages 50-65, 32% more women than men, 18 people were from Coo;, 64 from South Lake Tahoe and 73 from Meyers. 26% were retired, 3% homemakers, 13% self employed, 25% work for the government, 11% in the private sector and 6% in education.

Dr. Laree Kiely of the Kiely Group was at the meeting with Novasel to explain the surveys and how they will get the best data possible for the Supervisors to use as they complete their three-year-plan. She said that since they'll now have measurable data, they can resurvey people in the future to see if pinions and attitudes have changed.