December 21, 2015
Community survey shows residents generally pleased
MURPHY (December 21, 2015) In the all-important measure of quality of life, the Murphy community is generally very satisfied, according to the recently completed resident satisfaction survey, says City Manager James Fisher.
“On that metric alone, 91 percent of those surveyed called Murphy’s quality of life excellent or good,” he said. “There are areas that we need to improve on, of course, but for the most part, residents feel satisfied with how the City is progressing.”
The City’s favorable location was cited by over two-thirds of the respondents as a reason for choosing Murphy as their home, while almost 60 percent said their motivation was the City’s quality of life, and a little over 40 percent said it was the schools.
Positive statements assigned to the City included its atmosphere by almost 50 percent of respondents. City Departments, and the work of employees within those departments, were mentioned by about 30 percent of respondents as positive. Accessibility and location were mentioned in a positive light by 28 percent of survey takers, and safety was rated as a strong positive by 25 percent.
“The work of our public servants is always on full display,” he said. “And in that regard, our staff was complimented with some frequency. I think the average resident is aware of the dedication of our staff, and their responses demonstrated that.”
As to whether or not residents would recommend Murphy as a place to live, 87 percent would do so without hesitation. In fact, 88 percent of all residents agreed strongly or somewhat that Murphy is a great place to raise children and a safe place to live.
And, likely due to the fact that few people actually work in Murphy and must commute to and from their place of business, traffic levels were the biggest issue as just over four in ten said that traffic was unacceptable.
“Our staff and elected officials are working with our neighboring cities and the Texas Department of Transportation to find solutions to this ever-increasing challenge,” he said. “In the midst of population increases and commercial expansion, the whole question of traffic management will become an even greater challenge to all of us. Nevertheless, staff is committed to finding resolutions.”
The community survey was conducted by Decision Analyst, a leader in gauging and analyzing municipal sentiment, and data was collected between Sept. 24 and Oct. 23. The full report is available for review on www.murphytx.org.
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