02-09-2026 - Agenda Packet City Council - Regular Meeting

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: Polco comparison communities across the nation. The NCS always includes comparisons to the entire national benchmark database. Polco's benchmark database contains communities that range widely in size, location, and other features, so we can easily create benchmarks to make comparisons from a subset of communities, such as all jurisdictions in a region or population range, among other factors. We will also include custom Minnesota benchmarks from the following list of Cities, all of whom have completed a community -wide survey within the past five years. If you know of any other Cities that have conducted surveys that are not in our list, we are happy to request their reports and integrate their data as well: • Albert Lea • Edina • Ramsey • Anoka • Faribault • Richfield • Dakota County • Hastings • Rochester • Bloomington • Hutchinson • Rosemount • Olmsted County • Lakeville • St. Anthony • Chanhassen • Lino Lakes (Hennepin and • Chatfield • Mankato Ramsey Counties) • Cottage Grove • Maple Grove • Sartell • St. Louis County • Maplewood • Savage • Scott County • New Brighton • Shakopee • Washington County • North Mankato • Shoreview • Eagan • Oakdale • Victoria • Eden Prairie • Plymouth • West St. Paul • Prior Lake • Woodbury Trends Over Time Our understanding is that this will be a baseline survey for Orono, but if you have past data to share for questions that are in the 2026 survey, we can integrate that into our reporting. Data Analytics and Dashboard Creation Data for The NCS is analyzed using R, Python, and Tableau. We believe that analysis must be replicable and leave a clear path. To this end, we retain the syntax/code available for audit and reuse in future years. We use various analysis techniques that best suit each specific project and question. Reports and presentations must serve staff and council members, appointed boards and commissions as well as the lay public and must be documents that the media can understand and find robust should they wish to press their credibility. These are challenges we accept enthusiastically. Our dynamic, interactive online reporting for The NCS is delivered to you in Tableau Public as well as printable PDF format. The body of the report is organized around the 10 facets of community livability, ensuring results are clear and easy to interpret. Additionally, the Tableau report includes an interactive dashboard to easily see results, benchmarks, and crosstabulations all in one place, as well as written key findings and data visualizations for all survey questions. The report also includes full frequencies of results, interactive charts that show crosstabulations by geographic area (if applicable) and respondent characteristics. The polco.us 21 W