Here are some results from Lacey’s first-ever community survey about the city
The results of Lacey’s first-ever community survey are in and they were recently reviewed by the city’s equity commission.
The survey, which closed at the end of June, has been a goal of the city since a communications plan was updated in 2022. The city would now like to conduct the survey every two years to build on the results.
The city worked with a business called Polco on the survey, which involved mailing 3,000 postcards about the online survey to residences within the city limits. About 10% of that total participated in the survey, Communications Manager Ty Keltner told the equity commission.
“By getting that 10% that (Polco) wanted, they were able to make sure that this was a valid survey,” he said.
Some results from the survey:
Overall confidence in Lacey government
- Good: 42%.
- Fair: 34%.
- Poor: 14%.
- Excellent: 9%.
Overall design and layout of Lacey’s residential and commercial areas
- Good: 46%.
- Fair: 33%.
- Poor: 14%.
- Excellent: 7%.
Overall opportunities for education, arts and culture
- Good: 53%.
- Fair: 28%.
- Poor: 13%.
- Excellent: 6%.
Keltner pointed out the city scored “very, very well” in education, arts and culture, but Equity Commissioner Thelma Jackson took issue with that assessment since the “fair” and “poor” results total 41%.
“It looks like an area of concern, and that we’ve got to really work hard at getting much better before we can say the survey told us we’re doing ‘very well’ in this category,” she said.
Assistant City Manager Shannon Kelley-Fong said the city will do more going forward.
“How can we work with our programming? How can we work with our partners? How can we work with our other community members to make sure that we are looking to find ways to increase those scores in the future?” she said.
Overall feeling of safety
- Good: 40%.
- Fair: 37%.
- Excellent: 12%.
- Poor: 10%.
Overall quality of parks and recreation opportunities
- Good: 51%.
- Excellent: 29%.
- Fair: 19%.
- Poor: 1%.
Parks and recreation scored very high, although city officials might be feeling puzzled about those results since Aug. 5 primary voters did not support an effort to fund and maintain parks through a Metropolitan Park District. That issue failed by about 700 votes, or 53% voting against the MPD, while 47% voted in favor of it, Thurston County elections data show. It also failed with voters in 2018.
Equity Commissioner Kim Sauer said the survey results did not feel very tangible and lacked depth.
Assistant City Manager Kelley-Fong again said there is more work to be done.
“There are limitations with any survey that you take, right?” she said. “It is based on kind of your experiences, and it may not reflect, kind of like you’re saying, other data sources. And so I think that’s how we want to approach how we use this survey. We’re getting kind of an understanding of what the community feels, and then we can come back and we can take those opportunities for future engagement.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
