COURTESY : The Daily Commercial
By JODIE MUNRO O’BRIEN
Published June 10, 2004 

THE VILLAGES 

Results of a survey of The Villages conducted by The Property Owners Association of The Villages released this week showed some improvement for residents’ services overall, but also indicated a dissatisfaction with the government arm of the large retirement center and the conditions of some golf courses.

Joe Gorman, president of the Property Owners Association of The Villages, in April said this was the second year the POA had conducted its own survey of The Villages, after being disappointed with the annual survey conducted by the Village Center Community Development District, the government arm of The Villages.

In the June edition of the POA’s newsletter, Gorman states the POA members thought “... the VCCDD survey was too general, incomplete and lacking in enough details that can be measured on an annual basis.”

The survey questions were published throughout April and May in the POA newsletter, which was delivered to 12,000 homes in The Villages, including to non-POA members. In the June newsletter, Gorman wrote the survey received 523 responses. He said that in 2003, the survey was only offered to POA members and 150 responses were received.

The survey questions were scored on a scale that deemed 9.0 to 10 an ‘excellent’ result and anything 3.9 or below ‘disastrous.’ ‘Good’ scored between 6.0 to 8.9, and ‘poor’ scores were 4.0 to 5.9.

While no survey questions rendered an ‘excellent’ score, results from general questions about Villages landscaping and cleanliness received some of the highest ratings, with a score of 8.5 and 8.3 respectively, both an improvement from 2003. The highest rating out of the 30 questions was 8.9 for resident emergency fire services, another improvement from 2003.

The executive golf course conditions received a 6.9, down from 7.0 in 2003, with the champion golf course condition receiving a 5.6, down from 7.6 in 2003.

New questions for the priority golf program received a 4.5 rating, with the champion greens fees receiving a 3.4 rating.

The POA in general received a 7.9 rating, down from 8.9 in 2003, with the Villages Homeowners Association receiving a 5.4, up from 4.8 in 2003.

The highest rating in The Villages Media Group questions was 7.0 for The Villages radio station. The Villages television station received a 6.2, The Villages Daily Sun newspaper a 5.9 and the objectivity of the Daily Sun a 4.0.

Under the Villages district administration category, the VCCDD received a 4.0 rating, up from 3.8 in 2003, with District Manager Pete Wahl receiving a 4.0 rating, up from 3.2 in 2003.

Gorman said the survey would be conducted yearly by the POA.

“Ultimately, the hope is that the insights and suggestions provided will be used to make The Villages an even better place in which to live,” Gorman wrote in the newsletter.

“Overall, the POA is pleased with the results of this survey. We are hopeful that when district administration and the developer read these comments they will try to address some of the issues and concerns identified here.”