Lakeside Park Survey Results Questioned

Accusations were made that the Lakeside Park Exploratory Committee was farming for data by reopening a survey about park use. They were made last night by a resident Charles Mauch during the public comment section of the Fond du Lac City Council meeting and again by Councilman Gary Miller towards the end of the meeting. City Manager Joe Moore explained that after looking at the initial responses the committee felt it did not have enough responses from youth and young adults so the survey was reopened for another two weeks. Another 1,000 responses came in with a little over 700 of them from the schools. Moore says the responses really didn’t change the outcome of the survey. He says the extension did help align the results better with the demographics of the City. Councilman Miller said he had used the term “farming for data” in speaking to Mauch after the committee met two weeks ago to go over the initial results of the survey. He questioned whether they should be talking to the leadership of the committee about where they were headed. Councilwoman Karyn Merkel said she’d attended the committee’s last two meetings and felt they were doing the task they were assigned to do. Committee Chairman Dr. John Short will give the Council an update at their next meeting.