The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 108, No. 9 - February 28, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................13
Classifieds............................4
Community Briefs...............2
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Food.......................................2
Legals............................ 12,13
Obituaries.............................2
Police Reports...................11
Real Estate................9-10,16
Sports.............................. 3,14
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Cloudy
75˚/62˚
Saturday
Rain
73˚/61˚
Sunday
AM
Showers
72˚/61˚
Eagles Are CIF Soccer Champs!
The Eagles and cheerleaders pose after El Segundo defeated West Torrance 2-1 to win the CIF-SS Division 3 championship. It was the team’s second consecutive title. For more details on the historic victory,
check out this week’s sports column on page 3. Photo: Gregg McMullin.
City Sees Some Improvement
in Customer Service Surveys
By Brian Simon
Results recently released from City of El
Segundo surveys conducted late last year with
both residential and business customers indicate
that a majority of those who participated see
service improvements compared to 2017 when
the questionnaires made their debut. In a summary
provided by consultant Quality Solutions,
Inc. 557 residents (out of 1,048 officially sent
out) responded to some portion of the survey.
This is up from 347 in 2017 – an increase
of 55 percent in participation. Of those who
replied, 60 percent marked that they noticed
either some or significant improvement from the
City. At the same time, the Net Promoter Score
(NPS) -- the tool used to measure customer
loyalty and predictive indicators for customer
defection, dropped very slightly from 59 percent
to 57 percent. The decline, according to
Quality Solutions President John Dickey, is
negligible especially given the marked uptick
in total responses. He characterized the City’s
overall performance as “truly remarkable” when
considering that other municipalities that use
NPS typically score in the range of just 23
to 28 percent.
When examining areas viewed as modest
strengths, the majority of residents who returned
the surveys pointed to police availability and
responsiveness; fire and paramedic responsiveness,
knowledge and competency (which earned
the highest scores both in 2017 and 2018);
quality of recreation and parks programs as
well as maintenance and upkeep of related
facilities; and public library resources and
services. Respondents gave lower scores to
the responsiveness and overall vision of the El
Segundo City Council; water and sewer billing
department customer service; and condition of
streets, sidewalks and public facilities. Detractors
identified cost of living/taxes as the most
concerning issue in town by a considerable
amount, while also listing noise pollution and
the airport as notable negatives.
Despite the overall high marks, Mayor Drew
Boyles found some of the residential data
alarming. “We haven’t done a good enough job
getting the word out about the Council’s vision,”
he said, adding that alternate means of communication
(e.g. texting, social media) could
prove fruitful in the future. Dickey also pointed
out that while City Council responsiveness and
vision earned the lowest scores in both survey
years, the 2018 numbers improved by 8 percent.
To arrive at the NPS, the residential surveys
identified 68 percent as “promoters” and then
subtracted the 11 percent deemed “detractors”
to culminate in the final 57 percent score. On
a scale of 0-10, those giving a rating of 9 or
10 fell under the promoter category. Detractors
gave grades of 6 or lower. The remaining
group, called “passives,” provided scores in the
7 to 8 range. The City hopes to convert the
passives into promoters by improving products,
services or overall customer experience. Until
then, this group doesn’t factor into the NPS.
The consultant report urges staff to analyze
individual responses to get a clearer understanding
of where services may have fallen short,
particularly for the detractors, and to reach out
to those people to begin a dialogue. Under the
NPS methodology, the initial question for both
residents and businesses is, “How likely would
you be to recommend this company [the City]
to a friend or colleague?”
The business side of the survey yielded
fewer responses, with only 325 coming back
out of 3,581 invitations. That was less than
last year, though proximity to the holidays
may have impacted the total. Still, staff hopes
to identify ways to capture a larger business
audience. While the City’s NPS score of 47
percent is considerably lower if compared
with top-of-the-line private sector companies
that land in the 60 to 75 percent range, it was
also markedly higher than the 2017 mark of
32 percent. Of the responding businesses, 58
percent indicated they saw either some or
significant improvement in City services over
the past year.
Areas viewed as modest strengths included
the business license renewal process; responsiveness,
knowledge and competency of the fire
department and field inspection services (which
earned the highest score); and police department
availability. Lower scores came for responsiveness,
knowledge and competency of working
with the Planning and Building and Safety Department
for plan checks, permits or inspection
services; business development and attraction
policies; and City zoning policies (which had
the lowest score, but improved slightly from
2017). Staff responsiveness was the primary
issue for detractors, replacing the perceived need
to be “more business-friendly” from the previous
year (which Dickey said was “cut in half”
from 30 percent to 15 percent as an identified
problem). The NPS of 47 derived from 62
percent promoters minus 15 percent detractors.
“As an advocate and long-term user of the NPS
methodology, I will tell you that we are in the
early stages of understanding and incorporating
our stakeholders’ concerns and ideas,” Boyles
said. “While we saw improved participation
this year, we can and will do better, reaching
people through varied mediums and also
at the touch point or transaction. As far as our
peer group of government agencies go, it is clear
that we are significantly outperforming them. By
setting and measuring performance to respondent
and other performance goals, we will move
closer to becoming a world-class organization
for our residents and our businesses.” •