HomeMy WebLinkAboutMatt Email Deborah Lovejoy
From: Matt Nielson
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 9:58 AM
To: Deborah Lovejoy; Marianna Gonzalez; Scott Johnson; Gary L. Hagen;Joshua Rhodes;
Jerry Merrill
Cc: Bill Riggins; Bryanna Johnson; Colin Erickson; David Reeser; Deborah Lovejoy; Eric
Erickson; Mikel D. Walker; Mikel Walker; Alisha Tietjen
Subject: FW: Phase I Proposal
Attachments: City of Rexburg_ Police Facility Community Engagement Proposal.pdf; City of
Sandpoint Survey (1).pdf, CDA FD (3).pdf
Deb and Marianna,
Please add to Council Agenda.
Elected Officials,
I apologize for the delay on this. Just received it about 3 am last night. I thought it was best for me to email to give
you more time to consider this.
Staff and the Mayor are recommending we hire Portman Square Group(PSG)to conduct a survey regarding the
Police Facility Project/Bond. We believe this approach is important because it targets the very reliable voters in
our city. As sad as it is, only about 17%-18%of our population actually go to the polls and make decisions on
behalf of our community. This survey approach targets the very reliable voters that typically actually make the
decisions because they actually show up and vote. As you will see Portman Square has recently conducted
multiple surveys in Cour D'Alene and Sandpoint(see attached)and proved they were able to achieve statistically
significant results from the surveys they deployed in those respective communities.
Staff and the Mayor believe it is important for us to understand voter's attitudes toward a future police facility bond
measure and to understand why residents did not vote orvote for the last bond and why some are opposed to a
police facility bond measure. We believe this process can truly quantify voter sentiment through a community
engagement process and help surface key concerns we could look to address as a city and provide actionable
guidance for the city leaders (the city council)on determining whether,when, and how to return the measure to
the ballot at some future date.
The costs would be as follows:
• PSG fees $7,300
• Text Based Fees $5,500
• Post Card Fees $5,200
Total Estimated Cost $18,000
If you feel like this cost is too high, staff recommends you cut the Post Cards bringing the total estimate to
$12,800. We do have FY26 budget in the building reserve fund that can pay for this.
It is a lot to consider, but once again staff highly recommends we leverage the expertise of PSG regarding this
matter. The timeline is tight, and we feel confident PSG can deploy the survey and get statistically significant
results back to the City Council in a timely manner, something that the city has not been able to do well on their
own from past efforts.
Feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
1
Matt
Matthew K Nielson
�� Chief Finance Officer
REXBFinancial Management
est 1883
matln@rexburg.org
208-372-2343
Rexburg.org I Engage.Rexburg.org
From:Amy Holly<aholly@PortmanSquareGroup.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 3, 2025 2:50 AM
To: Matt Nielson <mattn@rexburg.org>; Michael Keith<michael.keith@zionsbancorp.com>
Cc:Alexa Porter<aporter@PortmanSquareGroup.com>
Subject: Phase I Proposal
Good morning, Matt and Michael,
Thankyou foryour flexibility and understanding while I'm traveling this week. I'm attaching the Phase I proposal,
the surveys we conducted for Sandpoint and the CDA fire department, and including below a summary of the
statistical significance for each.
Statistical Significance:
Coeur d'Alene Fire
• Total Responses: 1,637 (1,062 completed,575 partial)
0 99%of respondents are registered voters
• Statistically Significant Level:384 responses
• Survey Period:January 16 to February 6,2025
• Methodology: Online survey distributed to residents via text, other digital channels, and through
community partnerships
0 14,732 delivered directlyvia text to reliable cityvoters at survey launch
Sandpoint City Public Works
• Total Responses:927 responses (671 completed,256 partial)
0 95%are registered voters
• Statistically Significant Level:264 responses
• Survey Period:July 28 to August 13,2025
• Methodology: Online survey distributed to residents via text, postcard mailer, other digital channels, and
through community partnerships
0 6,621 delivered via postcards
0 6,467 delivered via text message
Please let us know if you have any questions.We're looking forward to working with you on this project.
All the best,
Amy
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Amy M. Holly
PORTMAN
Director, Strategic Communications
S UARE , M +1 208 995-3014
OU[ E aholly@portmansguaregroup.com
P W portmansquareroup.com
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