The Ames City Council discussed the results of the Ames Resident Satisfaction Survey at Tuesday’s meeting.

The survey was sent to 1,350 Ames residents and 1,000 Iowa State students, with participants in both groups selected randomly. Of the 2,350 selected, only 450 returned the survey, an even split of 225 Ames residents and 225 ISU students. This number of respondents is down from last year, which totaled 596.

According to Susan Gwiasda, the public relations officer of the city of Ames, the survey has a 95% confidence rate, “which means that if the survey was given to the entire population, 95 out of 100 times the answers would fall into that margin of error rate,” Gwiasda stated.

Community response showed the majority of respondents had a positive opinion on the city’s services, with 96% of respondents describing the service quality of Ames as either “good” or “very good.” Some examples of city services include Fire & Rescue, Law Enforcement, Parks & Recreation and Library Services.

The Capital Improvement Priorities segment asks respondents how important certain issues in the city are to them. The survey added two new questions to the segment this year, asking the importance of sustainable solutions with city projects and the importance of energy-efficient upgrades to municipal buildings. 

Ensuring sustainable solutions are incorporated in future city projects ranked as the third most important priority this year, with 84% of respondents saying the issue was “somewhat” or “very important.” Reconstructing the city’s existing streets remained the top priority to survey respondents, just above traffic flow improvements, “which it has remained for years,” according to Gwiasda.

There is a decrease this year in the willingness to spend more on property tax from 22% last year to 18% this year, and the number of people who would like to see a decrease in property tax went down from 30% to 29% this year.

The survey saw an increase of people self-reporting their mental health as “very good” or “excellent,” with a 3% increase among respondents who indicated that their overall mental health was very good/excellent in the past two years, with 61% in 2023 and 64% in 2024. 

“That should be encouraging to us, that’s a very strong viewpoint, it’s very encouraging,” Ward 2 Rep. Tim Gartin said. 

“It was a good year, some of our numbers go down a little bit, some of them go up a little bit, but nobody had any wild swings,” Gwiasda said on the overall survey results.

Additional measures

The Council approved plans to replace the radiant heating system in the Ames/ISU Ice Arena, which heats the spectator seating and lobby areas. The current system of 23 years, installed in 2001, has long surpassed its 15-year life expectancy and has started to malfunction. 

According to the Council Action Form, “Currently, the system is not functioning and needs to be replaced as the system has exceeded its life expectancy by eight years. Staff receives multiple complaints any time the radiant heat system is not functional.”

The estimated project cost is $158,950, which exceeds the available $75,000 budget by $83,950. The shortfall will be covered by the Ames/ISU Ice Arena Capital Reserve Fund, which totals a combined $107,689 from both parties. Bids on the project are due by Nov. 20.

The Council also approved a resolution for a $65,185,000 State Revolving Fund loan through Iowa’s Clean Water Program to finance improvements at the Water and Pollution Control Facility. These improvements are required to meet the 2013 Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy mandates. The loan will be repaid through sewer utility revenues.