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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-02-24 - AGENDA REPORTS - PUBLIC OPINION POLL CONTRO Agenda Item: 5 CITY OF SANTA CLARITA .` AGENDA REPORT CONSENT CALENDAR CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: DATE: February 24, 2026 SUBJECT: CONTRACT FOR THE CITY'S PUBLIC OPINION POLL DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office PRESENTER: Frank Oviedo RECOMMENDED ACTION City Council: 1. Award a one-year contract to True North Research, Inc., for the Public Opinion Poll in the amount of $34,964. 2. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute up to three additional one-year renewal options, not to exceed the annual contract amount plus an adjustment in compensation consistent with the appropriate Consumer Price Index, and contingent upon the appropriation of funds by the City Council in the annual budget for such fiscal year. 3. Authorize the City Manager or designee to execute all contracts and associated documents, subject to City Attorney approval. BACKGROUND The City of Santa Clarita (City) completes a Public Opinion Poll every two years to evaluate resident satisfaction with City programs and services and identify community priorities and areas of concern. The City solicits a consultant to develop a statistically valid strategic assessment of major needs and issues currently facing the community. The City conducted a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit proposals from qualified consulting firms to conduct the City's Public Opinion Poll and prepare a comprehensive report of the findings. The RFP was published and circulated via the City's e-procurement system BidNet on December 2, 2025. The City transmitted the solicitation to 3,551 vendors on BidNet, of which 133 vendors downloaded the RFP. Nine companies provided proposals for consideration. The proposals were reviewed and evaluated based on each company's ability to meet the specific Page 1 Packet Pg. 67 O needs of the City. An evaluation panel comprised of staff from multiple departments scored the responses using the following categories of weighted criteria: • Thoroughness of proposal, approach to providing sound services, and ability to provide services to meet objectives and standards (25 percent) • Use of innovative techniques to produce a comprehensive assessment of the opinions and preferences of Santa Clarita (15 percent) • Staff qualifications, relevant experience of staff, and number of staff provided (20 percent) • Relevant experience on similar projects and references (10 percent) • Cost (30 percent) The evaluation team scored the responses based on a 100-point system, with the results outlined below: Rank Company Location Cost Score 1 True North Research, Inc. Encinitas, CA $34,964 82 2 Probolsky Research Newport Beach, CA $27,000 81 3 Polco Madison, WI $31,000 81 4 Zilo International Group Centennial, CO $30,000 78 5 HARC, Inc. Palm Desert, CA $33,875 69 6 ETC Institute Olathe, KS $24,000 68 7 Lake Research Partners Washington, DC $41,885 66 8 Great Lakes Marketing Toledo, OH $35,000 65 9 18 Stones Strategy, LLC Cherry Hill, NJ $75,000 64 In reviewing proposals, the evaluation team awarded the highest score to True North Research, Inc. (True North Research). The evaluation team determined that True North Research's proposal offered the best overall value to meet the City's needs. True North Research provided a proposal that was highly responsive to the City's RFP and tailored to the City's unique characteristics. Additionally, they have prepared the City's last four Public Opinion Polls. True North Research had strong staff qualifications and their proposal clearly identified the prior project experience of assigned staff that was directly related to the City's objectives. Staff has completed a due -diligence review of True North Research's professional references and determined its work history meets the City's standards and performance expectations. Based on the above, staff recommends awarding the contract to True North Research and authorizing up to three one-year renewal options. As the Public Opinion Poll is completed every other year, the optional renewal terms, if exercised, would be effective for the 2028, 2030, and 2032 Public Opinion Polls. ALTERNATIVE ACTION Other action as determined by the City Council. Page 2 Packet Pg. 68 O FISCAL IMPACT The resources required to implement the recommended action are contained within the City of Santa Clarita's adopted FY 2025-26 budget. Funding for future fiscal years is contingent upon the appropriations of funds by the City Council in the annual budget for such fiscal year. ATTACHMENTS Proposal for True North Research (available in the City Clerk's Reading File) Page 3 Packet Pg. 69 2026 PUBLIC OPINION POLL PROPOSAL FOR RESEARCH & CONSULTING PROPOSAL# CMO-25-26-1 8 PREPARED FOR THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA NORTH S E A R C H 1 592 N COAST HIGHWAY 101 ENCINITAS CA 92024 760.632.9900 WWW.TN-RESEARCH.COM DECEMBER 2025 THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Table of Contents..................................................................i CoverLetter...................................................................... 1 What Sets True North Apart? ................................................ 1 Unmatched Experience & Expertise Conducting Community Opinion Surveys ........ 1 How We Manage Your Study ............................................. 1 We Know Santa Clarita—and You Know Us .................................. 2 Introduction & History............................................................ 3 Company Specifics .................................................... 3 Personal vs. Firm -Level Experience ........................................... 3 Community Surveys for California Cities .................................... 4 References....................................................................... 5 City of Santa Clarita................................................... 5 City of Thousand Oaks ................................................. 5 City of Lake Forest .................................................... 5 City of Glendora...................................................... 5 City of Alhambra ..................................................... 5 Cityof Cypress....................................................... 5 City of Ventura....................................................... 6 City of Temecula...................................................... 6 Cityof La Mesa ....................................................... 6 City of San Mateo ..................................................... 6 City of San Carlos ..................................................... 6 City of San Jose ....................................................... 6 Plan of Study/Scope of Work ....................................................... 7 Task 1 : Research Design & Communications ................................... 8 Taskla: ............................................................ 8 Communication...................................................... 8 Task 1 b: Questionnaire................................................. 8 Task lc: Pre -test, Programming & Language Translation ........................ 9 Task Id:Sampling .................................................... 9 Task 2: Recruiting & Data Collection ......................................... 11 Task 2a: Recruiting ................................................... 11 Task 2b: Mixed -Method Data Collection ................................... 12 Task 3: Processing, Analysis, Reporting & Presentations .......................... 12 Task 3a: Data Processing .............................................. 12 Task 3b: Survey Report ................................................ 13 Task 3c: Benchmarking & Statistical Significance Testing ...................... 13 Task 3d: Presentations ................................................ 14 Task 4: Optional Focus Group ............................................. 14 Task 4a: Focus Group ................................................. 14 Schedule........................................................................ 15 Program Management & Personnel ................................................ 16 Project Organization..................................................... 16 Personnel Resumes and Roles ............................................. 17 SubConsultants........................................................ 18 Statement of Offer............................................................... 19 City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 C O V E R L E T T E R True North Research, Inc. (True North) is pleased to present this proposal to the City of Santa Clarita to design and conduct a statistically reliable Public Opinion Poll. Based on the RFP, our experience designing the City of Santa Clarita's prior community opinion surveys, as well as our experience designing and conducting hundreds of similar surveys for California municipalities, True North understands that the City of Santa Clarita has two main research interests for the pro- posed study. The first is to use the survey as a community needs assessment and performance measurement tool. That is, the survey is an opportunity to profile residents' needs and priorities, measure how well the City is performing in meeting these needs through existing services and facilities, and gather data on a variety of quality -of -life, issue, communications, and policy - related matters. Like many of True North's municipal clients, the City of Santa Clarita also recognizes the value of a community survey for gathering public input and providing a voice to residents as part of the City's planning processes. A statistically reliable community survey is a balanced, effective way for residents to assist the City in identifying priorities, making tough budgetary decisions and trade-offs, and identifying strategic goals. By analyzing the results of the resident survey in conjunction with prior survey results and other secondary data, the proposed study will provide Council and staff with information that can be used to make sound, strategic decisions in a variety of areas —including prioritization, planning, performance measurement, service provision, policymaking, community outreach, and budget- ing. True North has the expertise, experience, resources, and dedication needed to successfully overcome the challenges of the proposed sur- vey. Although we provide more details in the body of this proposal, we thought it would be help- ful to highlight at the outset what distinguishes True North from other research firms. Unmatched Experience & Expertise Conducting Community Opinion Surveys True North's President (Dr. Timothy McLarney) and Principal Researcher (Richard Sarles) have personally designed and conducted more surveys to assist California municipalities in meeting their com- munity assessment, performance, and planning goals than any other researchers in the State. Since True North's founding in 2002, our team has conducted over 1,500 surveys for public agencies, including more than 500 community assessment surveys for California cities for plan- ning, budgeting, and performance measurement purposes. The advantage of working with True North is that our experience will not only allow us to be a very active, insightful collaborator with the City of Santa Clarita when designing the survey, it will also enable us to provide reliable benchmarking information and meaningfully interpret (and provide context to) the results of the City's survey. How We Manage Your Study Most research firms rely heavily on delegation to manage their work flow. Although they may send the Principals to the interview, the unfortunate reality is that once they `win' a project the actual research tasks —design, data processing, data analysis, report writing, presentation building —are promptly delegated to lower -level staff. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 At True North, we follow a very different model for managing your project. We believe the best approach to conducting your study is to have the person in our organization with the most expertise and experience roll -up his sleeves and actually do the work. At True North, who you see is who you get. True North's President (Dr. McLarney) will personally perform more than 70% of the research tasks for the proposed survey. We Know Santa Clarita—and You Know Us One of the advantages of selecting True North for this study is that we have been Santa Clarita' trusted research partner for multiple community surveys, including community assessment surveys in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024, as well as a survey to inform the City's Parks and Recreation Master Plan in 2019. We are familiar with the City, have a positive working relationship with city staff, and have a good understanding of Santa Clarita's high standards for research based on our prior work with the City. Having designed and conducted the City's prior surveys, we are also uniquely well -positioned to ensure that the upcoming Public Opinion Poll is designed and conducted in a way that allows for statistically reli- able comparisons of the results over time for assessment, planning and performance tracking purposes. This applies not only to the overall survey results, but also to comparisons and statis- tical significance testing at the subgroup level (e.g, by length of residence, age, ethnicity) that requires access to the raw underlying data files from the prior surveys. Although we are familiar with the City of Santa Clarita, the reverse is also true —the City is famil- iar with True North. You know how we operate, have experienced our dedication to being responsive to your needs, and have witnessed the careful attention we pay to all aspects of the research process. We value our relationship with the City of Santa Clarita and are committed to maintaining our status as a preferred partner through hard work, first-rate customer service, and delivering exceptional quality research. The True North team is excited to continue our partnership with the City of Santa Clarita on this important survey. We think that you will find our qualifications, our attention to client service, and our interest in this study to be exceptional. Should you have any questions about this pro- posal, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at mclarney@tn-research.com or by phone at 760.632.9900. 1 will serve as the City's point of contact and Project Manager throughout the entire project. Sincerely, Timothy McLarney, Ph.D President Celt True North Research 1 592 N. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas CA 92024 p: 760.632.9900 1 mclarney@tn-research.com City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 N T R 0 D U C T I ON & H IS TO R Y True North is a full -service survey research firm that is dedicated to providing California munici- palities and public agencies with a clear understanding of the opinions, perceptions, priorities and behaviors of their residents and voters. Through designing and implementing scientific sur- veys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews, as well as expert interpretation of the findings, True North helps its clients to move with confidence when making strategic decisions in a variety of areas —such as performance measurement, planning, budgeting, revenue enhancement, and developing effective public engagement/communications strategies. As specialists in research methodology and the public sector, our clients span the full range of public agencies including cities, counties, special districts, utilities, councils of government, edu- cational institutions, state agencies, and federal agencies. The diversity of our public sector cli- entele has enabled us to perform research at the local, regional, state, national, and international levels. Company Specifics True North Research was co-founded in 2002 as a two -person survey con- sulting firm by Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles and is a DGS certified Small Business (SB) and S-Cor- poration in good standing with the State of California. Although we have had many opportunities to expand our business during the past 23 years, we have chosen to maintain True North as a two -person research team. Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles still manage every aspect of every True North project. We are an extremely efficient, collaborative team of two —and we have chosen to keep it that way so that our clients continue to receive exceptionally high quality customer ser- vice and research insights. Before relaying our experience in more detail, we feel it is important to note the difference between personal experience and firm -level experience. It is common for research firms to provide a long list of projects in their proposals in an effort to demonstrate that they are both well -qualified and highly experienced in conducting surveys of this type. The reality, however, is that this firm -level experience is often a game of smoke -and -mirrors. What they don't tell you is that their list of projects was managed by dozens of different project managers over several decades, many of whom no longer work for the firm and only one of whom will be assigned to your project (along with lower -level support staff). The bottom line is that it doesn't matter how many projects or clients a firm has worked with over the years. Nor does the experience of the Principals or others at the firm matter if they aren't going to be the ones rolling -up their sleeves to work on your study. What matters is the experience and expertise of the specific individuals who will be working directly on your project and handling each of the key research tasks. For this reason, we take a different approach. The experience discussed throughout this pro- posal —and all projects referenced below —are the personal experience of the individuals who will be working on all aspects of the study for the City of Santa Clarita: Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sar- les. We encourage the City to take this difference into account when reviewing firms and propos- als. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Community Surveys for California Cities During their careers, Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles have designed and conducted more than 500 statistically reliable surveys for California munici- palities to help them identify community priorities with respect to city services, facilities, and policies, as well as identify how best to plan for and invest in programming, facilities, and infra- structure improvements. Below is a list of the California municipalities for which Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles have personally designed and conducted community surveys. It's worth nothing that many of these municipalities have selected True North as their research partner for multiple surveys, with repeated engagements spanning more than two decades. Additional project infor- mation and references can be found in References on page 5. Agoura Hills Dana Point Lathrop San Anselmo Alhambra Del Mar Lemon Grove San Carlos Aliso Viejo Diamond Bar Lompoc San Clemente Anaheim East Palo Alto Long Beach San Diego Apple Valley Eastvale Los Angeles San Dimas Arroyo Grande El Cajon Los Gatos San Gabriel Atascadero Encinitas Madera San Jose Atherton Escondido Malibu San Luis Obispo Azusa Folsom Manhattan Beach San Marcos Baldwin Park Fontana Menifee San Marino Banning Fremont Mission Viejo San Mateo Barstow Gilroy Modesto Santa Ana Belvedere Glendale Moorpark Santa Barbara Beverly Hills Glendora Murrieta Santa Clarita Big Bear Lake Goleta Norwalk Santa Monica Brea Grand Terrace Oceanside Signal Hill Buellton Half Moon Bay Oxnard Solana Beach Buena Park Hemet Pacific Grove South Lake Tahoe Burbank Hesperia Palmdale South Pasadena Campbell Huntington Beach Petaluma Temecula Carlsbad Indian Wells Pico Rivera Thousand Oaks Cerritos Irvine Pismo Beach Truckee Chino Kerman Placentia Upland Chula Vista La Canada-Flintridge Port Hueneme Ventura Claremont La Mesa Rancho Cucamonga Vernon Clayton La Palma Rancho Palos Verdes Watsonville Commerce La Verne Rancho Santa Margarita West Hollywood Coronado Laguna Beach Redlands Westlake Village Costa Mesa Laguna Niguel Redondo Beach Whittier Cudahy Lake Elsinore Riverside Yorba Linda Cypress Lake Forest Rocklin Yucca Valley City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 R E F E R E N C E S The following are references for a selection of California cities for which True North's Principals (Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles) have designed and conducted statistically reliable community assessment surveys. If interested, we can supply dozens of additional references. City of Santa Clarita True North was selected by the City to lead the design and administration of the City's bi-annual community assessment surveys in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024, as well as a survey in 2019 to inform the City's Parks & Recreation Master Plan. Using our recommended mix -method approach, for each survey we were able to deliver hundreds of additional (extra) interviews to the City of Santa Clarita at no additional cost and increase the overall reliability of their study results. For recent surveys, contact: Tyler Pledger, Senior Management Analyst. 23920 Valencia Blvd., Santa Clarita CA 91355: 661.286.4176; tpledger@santa-clarita.com. For prior surveys, contact,Jerrid McKenna, Director of Neighborhood Services. 23920 Valencia Blvd., Santa Clarita CA 91 355: jmckenna@santa-clarita.com. City of Thousand Oaks True North has designed and conducted five community priorities and resident satisfaction surveys for the City of Thousand Oaks (most recent in 2025), a survey to help inform the City's General Plan Update, as well as two surveys of employees and a revenue measure feasibility study. Contact: Andrew Powers, City Manager, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362: 805.449.2148; APowers@toaks.org. City of Lake Forest True North designed and implemented both resident and business satis- faction surveys for the City of Lake Forest in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023, and 2025. The focus of the surveys has been on measuring the City's performance in meeting the needs and priorities of its residents and the business commu- nity, guiding budgetary decisions, and prioritizing capital improvement projects. Contact: Debra Rose, City Manager, 100 Civic Center Drive, Lake Forest, CA 92630: 949.461.3414; DRose@ci.lake-forest. ca. us. City of Glendora True North has assisted the City of Glendora with five Community Satisfac- tion Surveys (most recent in 2025), a 2019 survey to measure residents' views and policy prefer- ences with respect to addressing homelessness, a 2020 survey to help inform the City's search for a new Chief of Police, and revenue measure feasibility surveys. Contact: Adam Raymond, City Manager. 116 E Foothill Blvd, Glendora, CA 91741: 626.914.8200; araymond@cityofglen- dora.org. City of Alhambra True North designed and conducted the City of Alhambra's first statistically reliable Community Satisfaction Survey in 2021 (and follow-up surveys in 2022 and 2025) to help the City identify community needs and satisfaction with respect to municipal services and priori- tize elements of the City's strategic plan. The surveys were administered using a mixed -method design and in three languages (English, Spanish, and Chinese). We are also assisting the City with a potential TOT measure for the November 2026 ballot. Contact: Lucy Garcia, Assistant City Manager, 111 South First Street, Alhambra CA 91801: 626.570.5010; IgarciaC@cityofalham- bra.org. City of Cypress True North designed and conducted the City of Cypress' Community Opinion Surveys in 2018, 2022, and 2025 which measured community needs and satisfaction with City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 municipal services, gauged residents' priorities, and helped shape the City's recreational pro- gramming. The mixed -method surveys employed three methods of recruiting (email, text and telephone) and were administered in English, Spanish, and Korean. Contact: Alisha Farnell, City Clerk. 5275 Orange Avenue, Cypress CA 90630: 714.229.6714; afarnell@cypressca.org. City of Ventura Between 2005-2025, True North has designed and conducted 10 surveys for the City of Ventura that focused on city -resident communications and engagement, resident sat- isfaction with city services, policing, as well as policy and land use matters. We are also currently assisting the city with a survey to evaluate the feasibility of a revenue measure for the November 2026 ballot. Contact: Brad `Brick' Conners, Deputy City Manager. 501 Poli Street, Ventura, CA 93001: 805.205.5459; bconners@cityofventura.ca.gov. City of Temecula Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles have designed and conducted 13 community surveys for the City of Temecula for performance management, strategic planning, and budget- ing, with the most recent being in 2025. Contact: Aaron Adams, City Manager, 41000 Main Street, Temecula CA 92590: 951 .694.6419; Aaron.Adams@cityoftemecula.org. City of La Mesa True North has designed and conducted seven community priorities and satis- faction surveys for the City of La Mesa using a large sample of 800 residents to allow for analysis within geographic subregions of the City, as well as a revenue measure feasibility survey that led to a successful sales tax measure on the November 2024 ballot. Contact: Lyn Dedmon, Assistant to the City Manager. 8130 Allison Avenue, La Mesa CA 91942. 619.667.1339; Idedmon@cityo- flamesa.us. City of San Mateo True North has designed eight surveys for the City of San Mateo in recent years to gauge satisfaction with municipal services and inform the City's General Plan Update (2020, 2022, 2024 & 2025), gauge the feasibility of increasing the transient occupancy tax (suc- cessful in 2020), assess the feasibility of increasing the City's real property transfer tax (success- ful on November 2022 ballot), and amend the City's General Plan (successful on November 2024 ballot). We are currently assisting the City with survey research to assess the feasibility of a reve- nue measure for the November 2026 ballot. Contact: Alex Khojikian, City Manager. 330 W. 20th Ave., San Mateo CA 94403: 650.522.7000; akhojikian@cityofsanmateo.org. City of San Carlos True North assisted the City of San Carlos in conducting the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2025 Community Opinion Surveys, which measured com- munity needs and priorities as they relate to municipal services, gauged residents' opinions of the City's performance in providing services, and gathered additional performance and policy - related information. We also designed and conducted the City's Community Characteristics Sur- vey in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023 that explored residents' values and aspirations, lifestyle characteristics, and demographics. Currently, we are assisting the City with survey research to assess the feasibility of a potential revenue measure for the November 2026 ballot. Contact: Nil Blackburn, Assistant City Manager. 600 Elm Street, San Carlos CA 94070: 650.802.4230; nblack- burn@cityofsancarlos.org. City of San Jose True North has assisted the City of San Jose with more than 20 surveys, including customer priorities/satisfaction surveys for the City's Development Services Partners, annual Community Opinion Surveys, revenue measure surveys, and an ongoing quarterly Focus Survey that measures and tracks community opinion on hot topics/key issues of interest to the City (2023-2025). Contact: Erik Jensen, Assistant to the City Manager. 200 East Santa Clara St., San Jose CA 951 1 3: erik.jensen@sanjoseca.gov. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 P L A N OF S T U D Y/ S COPE OF WORK If the ultimate goal of this community assessment is to enable the City of Santa Clarita to make sound, strategic decisions based upon the data that is collected, it is critical that the data be col- lected according to rigorous methodological standards. Indeed, although it may be easy to con- duct a 'survey', it is quite challenging to design and implement a survey that A) produces valid' and reliable measures of the opinions and behaviors of interest, and B) produces data that is representative of the population of individuals that is the focus of a study. Only by satisfying each of these conditions will the proposed studies produce data that is trustworthy and thus a sound basis for making decisions. Meeting the aforementioned conditions has become more difficult in recent years. Much has changed in terms of how the public receives information, the accessibility of residents through Otraditional recruiting methods, and their willingness to participate in community surveys. Caller - ID, SPAM filters, habitual call -screening, and busy lifestyles have made it more difficult to reach respondents in general, leading to lower response rates and greater response bias when relying on just one or two recruiting methods. In order to continue producing statistically reliable mea- sures of their residents' opinions, priorities and behaviors, the research methodologies that cit- ies employ for community surveys must adapt to these new challenges. n The methodology that we recommend is designed to do just that —adapt to these challenges by employing innovative techniques that will ensure statistically reliable results. As discussed in detail later in this section, we propose to use a stratified random sampling methodology that ensures a representative sample of Santa Clarita residents regardless of whether they use land lines, cell phones, email, or all of the above. We also recommend using a three -pronged recruit- ing strategy of email invitations, text invitations, and telephone calls to recruit participation in the survey and a mixed -method data collection methodology that allows sampled respondents the flexibility of participating by telephone or online at a password protected web site in their preferred language (English or Spanish). Designed, tested and refined by True North over the past 10 years, our recommended survey approach has proven to increase participation rates, reduce response bias, better engage traditionally hard -to -reach subgroups, and increase the overall accuracy and reliability of community survey results. It is also worth noting that our pro- posed methodology is consistent with that used in Santa Clarita's most recent community sur- veys conducted by True North, which will ensure statistically reliable comparisons for tracking purposes. 1 . Validity refers to the degree to which a question actually measures the underlying attitude or construct that it was designed to measure. For example, asking people whether they own 'stock" to measure their financial savings behavior is sufficiently ambiguous such that it has low validity. Research has shown that people in farming communities are more likely to interpret "stock'" to mean livestock —not financial stocks. 2. Reliability refers to the degree to which the observed results for a survey question are free of measurement errors and thus accurately measure the true value among the survey participants. 3. In this context, representative refers to the degree to which the results found among the survey participants match what would have been found if all adult residents in the population of interest participated in the sur- vey. A probability -based sample free from the many possible sources of selection bias is the key to obtaining representative results. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 The following sections describe the main elements of the proposed methodology, which includes several value-added methodological and project management features likely not found in the proposals submitted by other firms. True North will work closely with the City of Santa Clarita to design the research plan and community assessment survey, as well as related materials. Task la: Communication At the outset of the survey, True North recommends having a kick- off meeting with all individuals who will be actively involved in the study (or will be an important stakeholder) in attendance. The kick-off meeting is a great forum for talking about past research conducted and the City's needs, expectations, and concerns for the upcoming study and deliver- ables. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for Dr. McLarney to clarify any questions about the proposed methodology, ask questions of city staff, and identify changes to the meth- odology (as proposed) that may better serve the City's interests. In short, the purpose of the kick-off meeting is to make sure that everyone is in agreement about the details of the study, identify areas that need further clarification, share materials, and establish a more detailed work plan for the project. After the kick-off meeting, Dr. McLarney will carefully review prior opinion polls conducted for the City by True North, existing/future conditions, and existing strategic, short-term, and long- term planning documents provided by the City. He will also keep in regular contact with the Proj- ect Manager identified by the City through telephone, email, video conferences, and in -person meetings. Output: Review of relevant documents/materials and communications plan. Task 1 b: Questionnaire Dr. McLarney will work closely with city staff in designing and revising the questionnaire. Dr. McLarney will take the lead in creating an initial draft after the kick-off meeting and receiving input that may be submitted by staff. City staff will have the opportunity to then review and comment on the draft questionnaire, at which point Dr. McLarney will make the appropriate adjustments based on feedback received. This process is repeated, as needed, until all parties are satisfied with the questionnaire. Throughout the design process, Dr. McLarney will work closely with Santa Clarita to develop a questionnaire that covers the topics of interest to the City and avoids the many possible sources of systematic measurement error including position -order effects, wording effects, response -cat- egory effects, scaling effects and priming. Although Dr. McLarney will take the lead in drafting and revising the questionnaire, the content of the questionnaire will be driven by the City's research interests. Based on our experience designing the City of Santa Clarita's prior community surveys, we antic- ipate the 2026 survey will address a variety of topics, potentially including: • Important Issues: Issues of importance to residents and how these track when compared to prior years. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Quality of Life: Resident perceptions of the overall quality of life in Santa Clarita, sense of community, and what changes they think could improve the quality of life in their commu- nity. Needs Assessment: Resident needs, preferences, and priorities with respect to city pro- grams, services, and facilities. Satisfaction: Resident perceptions of (and satisfaction with) the City's efforts to address their needs through existing services, programs, facilities, and policies. Local Governance: Resident views of city government on dimensions of trust, fiscal accountability, responsiveness, etc. Prioritizing & Trade -Offs: In a revenue -constrained environment, identify how residents prioritize and make trade-offs among options, service areas, and capital improvements for the City's future to help Council and staff make tough decisions as part of its planning pro- cesses. Communication: Residents' communication habits including the sources they use for Santa Clarita news, information and programming, as well as their views on the most effective ways the City could engage and communicate with them in the future. Subject -Specific Details: Deeper dives in specific areas of interest to the City, potentially including public safety and policing, economic development, land use and housing, home- lessness, mobility, sustainability, and parks and recreation. Demographics: Profile respondent demographics to ensure they align with Census ACS esti- mates and can be used for examining how opinions vary among subgroups. Given the various topics that will likely be of interest to the City, we expect that the typical inter- view will be about 18 minutes in length (similar to the 2024 survey length). The questionnaire will also be designed to allow for statistically reliable tracking/comparisons for key questions and performance metrics from the City's prior surveys. Output: Draft and final City -approved community assessment survey questionnaire. Task 1 c: Pre -test, Programming & Language Translation Once the City has approved the draft survey instrument, it will be pre -tested internally and with at least 20 Santa Clarita house- holds prior to actually fielding the survey to ensure that respondents can easily understand the point of each question, the response options match what respondents want to answer, the skip patterns and logic are correct, etc. After any final adjustments are made in consultation with the City, the instrument will be professionally translated (Spanish) and programmed for both tele- phone (CATI) and online versions. Output: Final survey and invitations in English and Spanish languages. CATI and Web programs developed and tested. Task ld: Sampling The sampling design for this study is in many respects the most important stage of the survey research project. Only through carefully designing the sample to meet the many theoretical and logistical challenges associated with conducting community surveys will the results of the interviews be representative of the estimated 173,303 adult residents in the CIty.4 4. Source: US Census American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimate. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Telephone -based sampling techniques (such as random digit dial - RDD) that in past years worked well for generating representative samples of residents are no longer effective. Rather than choose phone numbers at random, our recommended solution is to use a comprehensive database of Santa Clarita households (listed by physical address/location) and stratified sam- pling methods to select a random sample of Santa Clarita households. This will ensure that all households in Santa Clarita have an equal probability of being selected for the survey —not just those that have land lines or published cell phone numbers. Building the sample from a compre- hensive list of households in Santa Clarita will also enable True North to append contact informa- tion and recruit adult residents using an effective combination of email, text and telephone calls, as discussed below (see Task 2a: Recruiting on page 11). We will also set quotas to ensure that the resulting sample matches the City's demographic composition on key characteristics includ- ing age, ethnicity, and gender according to the latest Census ACS estimates. By using the aforementioned stratified random sampling design with adjustments as needed, True North will ensure that the sample is representative of the City's adult population. The results of the sample can then be used to estimate the opinions of all adults in the City. Because not all residents will participate in the survey, however, the results will have what is known as a statistical margin of error due to sampling. The margin of error refers to the difference between what is found from the sample of respondents and what would have been found had all residents been surveyed. FIGURE 1 MAXIMUM STATISTICAL MARGIN OF ERROR DUE TO SAMPLING IN CITY OF SANTA CLARITA 14% - - T---T --- - ----I ---7---7----1----I ---T---T------------ T- -- T---T----I 12% -- T------------ ------------- --------r---+------------r---+-------- 10% --- --- ------------+--- ------------ --- ------------ --- --- ---- 0 w 8% 0 6% ro 4% 2% 0% ---1- -J----1----1----1---1----'----'----L---1------------L---i---J--- 800 Respondents ± 3.5% - - - - r - - - 7 - - - -i- 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Sam ple Size (Number of Respondents) This is where sample size becomes important. The larger the sample, all other things being equal, the smaller the margin of error and the more confidence one can have that the survey results accurately reflect all adults in the City. To provide the City with a sense for how the statis- tical margin of error is related to sample size, Figure 1 plots the relationship between sample size and the maximum statistical margin of error for the proposed survey. As illustrated in the City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 figure, a sample size of 400 will allow the study to meet the academic standard for statistical reliable (+/- 4.9% at the 95% confidence level), while a sample size of 600 will achieve even greater reliability (+/- 4% at the 95% confidence level). Also shown in the figure is that beyond a sample size of 600 the statistical margins of error begin to flatten -out such that incremental units of additional sample result in smaller and smaller reductions to the statistical margins of error. Adding 200 more interviews to reach 800 reduces the margin of error due to sampling by just 0.5%. For this reason, True North generally recommends a sample of 600 residents for cities the size of Santa Clarita as it best balances the need for reliability with the costs associated with data collection. This is the sample size (600) that True North has contracted for with the City of Santa Clarita for all past community surveys. That said, when we contract for a sample of 600, that is the minimum guaranteed sample size for the study. In most cases, we deliver a significantly larger sample size —as we have in each of \�I the City of Santa Clarita's past community surveys where we contracted for 600, but delivered 4 between 831 to 1,248 completed interviews (231 to 648 extra interviews). One of the advan- tages of using our proposed recruiting strategy (see Task 2a: Recruiting on page 1 1) and offer- ing respondents the option to participate online as well as by telephone (see Task 2b: Mixed - Method Data Collection on page 12) is that if the response to the email and text invitations is greater than our conservative estimate, the resulting sample size will be larger than contracted amount. The additional completed surveys will be provided to the City of Santa Clarita at no additional cost. For the proposed survey, we have increased the guaranteed minimum sample size to 800. And, as in the past, any additional interviews collected beyond 800 will be provided to the City at no additionsal cost. Output: Stratified, random sample that is representative of adult residents in the City of Santa Clarita. True North will recruit participation in the survey and collect interviews according to a rigorous methodological standard. Task 2a: Recruiting Once individuals have been selected for the sample, they will be recruited to participate in the survey via email, text, and telephone calls. The email and text invitations will include a unique hyperlink for each respondent to ensure that only Santa Clarita residents are able to take the survey and limit the number of completed interviews per resident to one. Using three recruiting methods in combination allows us to reach a substantially higher percentage of residents when compared to using only one or two recruiting methods, and has proven to be particularly effective at engaging traditionally hard -to -reach subgroups. To maximize the per- ceived legitimacy of the survey and the response rate, the invitations will appear to come from the City of Santa Clarita, while also noting that the survey is being conducted by an independent research firm to promote candor. Output: Draft and final email and text invitations. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Task 2b: Mixed -Method Data Collection The reliability of survey results depends, in part, on having a high participation rate. One of the most productive ways of encouraging participation (and minimizing response bias) in a survey is to make it as convenient as possible for an individ- ual to participate. Although some individuals find it most convenient to participate via tele- phone, others may have responsibilities and schedules that are simply not conducive to spending 18 minutes on the phone at a particular time. For this reason, we recommend a mixed - method design that will allow respondents maximum flexibility in choosing when and how they participate in the study. The mixed -method approach involves allowing respondents the option to participate in the sur- vey by telephone or online through a secure, password protected web -based application designed and hosted by True North. Respondents can access the online survey from a computer, tablet, or smart phone and the screen will scale accordingly. By providing respondents with flex- ibility as to when and how they participate in the survey, a mixed -method approach (especially when combined with three recruiting methods) will deliver higher participation rates, minimize response bias, and ultimately deliver more reliable results when compared to using fewer data collection methods. Quality telephone interviewing will be an important element of the proposed survey. Using a `bargain' phone facility is rarely a bargain, as the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the results depends on the knowledge, experience and professionalism of the interviewers and supervisors. In the end, it is critical that the research team and the City can trust the data that were collected. For this reason, True North will team with Dynata, a professional interviewing company that has partnered with Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles on more than 1,000 community survey projects in the past and has a proven track -record of professional interviewers, quality data collection, and competitive pricing. Interviewing for a resident survey is typically conducted in the evenings (5:30PM to 9:OOPM PST) during weekdays, and 1 O:OOAM to 6:OOPM on weekends. True North works closely with Dynata to manage quality control procedures during data collection, which will include a training ses- sion with interviewers and supervisors to ensure that telephone interviewers understand the pur- pose of all of the questions in the survey, thoroughly testing the CATI and web programs prior to fielding, active and remote supervisor monitoring of interviews, quality control checks on a ran- dom selection of interviews to identify any discrepancies that may occur (and need adjusting), and daily monitoring of the sample characteristics to ensure that data collection is adhering to the sampling plan. Dynata has an experienced team of multilingual interviewers and has been our data collection partner for hundreds of community surveys for California cities, including the City of Santa Clarita's 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 community surveys. Output: Raw data file with at least 600 completed interviews. True North will carefully process and analyze the data, conduct statistical significance testing, develop and finalize a detailed report, and present the results to the City's leadership. Task 3a: Data Processing Once the interviewing is complete, True North will process the data. This consists of checking the data for errors or inconsistencies, coding and recoding responses, City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 categorizing open-end responses, and preparing frequency analyses and cross -tabulations. To the extent that oversampling is utilized, the survey data will be weighted prior to analysis. Output: Clean data file in SPSS format. Task 3b: Survey Report Although the industry trend is to pop graphics into a Powerpoint slid- edeck and call it a `report', we don't subscribe to that trend. We take the time to actually analyze the data, put the findings into context, and explain their meaning based upon related questions in the survey, the City's goals, relevant secondary information, the results of prior surveys, as well as our experience working with California municipalities on hundreds of similar studies. Moreover, the report will not just show the results of the 2026 survey, it will also show side -by - side comparisons to the results from the City's prior surveys conducted by True North, identify- ing statistically significant changes where they occur. We encourage the City to compare True North's reports to those produced by other firms to appreciate the value-added that the City will receive from partnering with our team. The survey report prepared by True North Research for the City will include a thorough question - by -question analysis of the survey findings, an executive summary of the key findings and rec- ommendations, a detailed discussion of the methodology used to complete the study, a copy of the questionnaire, full -color graphics of the overall results and those of among specific sub- groups (e.g., by length of residence, age, ethnicity, gender, etc.), and a complete set of crosstab- ulations for reference that display the results broken down by various subgroups of respondents. True North believes that the quality of the final report and presentation reflects directly upon the quality of the study as a whole as well as True North Research, so Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles take great care in developing a report which is thorough, insightful, free of mis- takes, and presents the information in an eye-catching, full -color display. Output: Draft and final city -approved reports including crosstabulations appendix. Task 3c: Benchmarking & Statistical Significance Testing Because the proposed survey will likely include some questions that were asked in the City's prior surveys, there is an obvious interest in benchmarking against the prior surveys and analyzing how the responses to these questions may have changed over time. As part of the report, True North will conduct the appro- priate tests of statistical significance for those questions and performance measures that can be meaningfully compared between the 2026 and prior surveys. Because True North has access to the raw data files for the City's 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 surveys, we will also be able to conduct comparisons at the subgroup level and provide any ad hoc comparisons the City may want to see that require access to the underlying data files from prior surveys. Moreover, because we have conducted more than 500 community opinion surveys for other California cities, if desired we can provide benchmarking information on key metrics to show how the results of Santa Clarita's survey compare for select questions that were also asked in other cities. Output: Statistically significant changes identified along with benchmark comparisons for key metrics. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Task 3d: Presentations Once the final report has been completed, True North will prepare a PowerPoint presentation of the survey results and deliver the presentation to the City's leader- ship. The Powerpoint will consist of the most important findings/key graphics from the larger survey report, and a summary of the key conclusions. We can also prepare the Powerpoint on a template that has the City's brand -appropriate look and feel, as in prior surveys. After the study is complete, we will continue to be a good partner for the City. As issues or questions arise for which the survey may provide some guidance, we will be happy to consult with and advise the City at no additional charge. Output: Powerpoint summary of findings and presentation. Qualitative focus group post -survey to explore select topics in greater depth. Task 4a: Focus Group True North firmly believes that the research objectives should dictate the optimum methodology —or combination of methodologies —for a project. A great research partner for the City of Santa Clarita is thus one that is flexible and nimble, equally adept at both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The True North team fits this criteria nicely as we have deep experience in quantitative studies, advanced statistical modeling, as well as a wide array of qualitative research techniques. In addition to regular use of focus groups, our team has experi- ence designing and conducting in -person qualitative one-on-one exercises, in -lab usability test- ing, as well as in -home ethnographies. If the City is interested in conducting focus groups with Santa Clarita residents and stakeholders, True North will work with the City to design/finalize the discussion guide and any exercises that may be part of the study, recruit participants, administer necessary incentives, moderate the groups using the Recollective platform, review and analyze the video and notes for each session, and prepare a report on the findings. The report will focus on key themes and findings, selec- tively drawing quotes, comments and images for illustration and emphasis. Output: Design, conduct, and report on focus groups. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 S C H E D U L E True North will work with the City of Santa Clarita to establish a project schedule that meets the City's needs. The figure below presents a typical time line for a community survey that shows the various stages of the survey project, the number of days that we recommend devoting to each stage, as well as the key research tasks that are completed in each stage. We have the availability and resources needed to meet this time line, as well as the flexibility to adjust this schedule, as needed, to best meet the City's needs. We can also apply this timeline to any start date the City prefers. If the goal is to deliver survey results by April 24, 2026, we recommend that the City start the research process no later than March 1 st, 2026. That said, we are ready and available to being work on this study immediately (January 2026). Ongoing Design n Data Collection Analysis & Strategic Reporting Consulting Project Initiation Prepare to Data O Presentations Feld Processing T OAK WITM O OAEWITM O� O • Kickoff Questionnaire Language Email, Text Data Statistical Staff Meeting Design, Review Translation & Phone Processing Analysis Presentation • Background &Approve CATI Recruiting Coding Full Report Council Research Pre -Test Program/Test Online Weighting Powerpoint Presentation • Share Plans Sample Web Surveys Crosstabs Summary Strategic Advice & Documents Program/Test Telephone Topline • Interviewer Interviews Summary Training Monitoring • Invitations City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 P R O G R A M M A N A G E M E N T & P E R S O N N E L Most research firms manage survey projects through division of labor and a lot of delegation. Although the Principals may appear for the interview and for client meetings, their involvement beyond that point is generally negligible. The Project Manager's role is to be the point of contact and help design the study, but even they only handle about 20% of the workload. The unfortu- nate reality is that most of the important research tasks —data processing, data analysis, report writing, presentation building —are delegated to lower -level staff. The delegation model is popular among research firms because it is scalable and built for quan- tity. When managing 300+ research studies every year, relying heavily on junior staff to get the work done is a necessity. The fundamental problem, however, are the disconnects it creates in Othe research process. Those who are doing the actual work (lower -level analysts) don't have the desired level of expertise or experience, nor do they have a first-hand understanding of a client's research objectives that comes from daily interaction with the client. Meanwhile, the Project Man- agers and Principals meeting with the client don't truly understand the data or its patterns (since they didn't personally process the data, analyze it, or prepare the report), which in turn greatly limits their ability to provide insightful strategic recommendations. We do things differently at True North. We believe the best approach to research is to have the person with the most experience and expertise in the firm roll up their sleeves and actually do I' o the work. Dr. McLarney will not only serve as the Project Manager and the day-to-day contact for the City, he will personally perform about 70% of the research tasks including all survey design, analysis, report writing, and presentations. We have purposely kept True North as a single office, two -person research team because of our commitment to this project management model and the many benefits it provides to our clients. Our approach to managing projects is one of the things that makes True North unique, as every task of your study will be performed in-house and by a highly -trained principal with 25+ years of experience. Put another way: You don't need to pick up the phone to get the attention of our principals - we are there with you at every step, doing (not delegating) the research. True North Research will serve as prime contractor at the direction of the City of Santa Clarita. As shown in the following figure, Dr. Timothy McLarney (Co- Founder/President of True North) will be the Project Manager for the study and will perform all key design, analysis, and reporting tasks. Richard Sarles (Co-Founder/Principal Researcher at True North) will assist with programming, testing, data processing, quality control, and graphics production. The telephone and online interviews will be conducted by the same high quality, pro- fessional data collection firm (Dynata) that True North has teamed with to complete more than 1,000 community and voter opinion surveys, including the 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 surveys conducted by True North for the City of Santa Clarita. Dameon Travis (Director at Dynata) will manage the day-to-day interviewing schedule and quality control procedures in close consulta- tion with Mr. Sarles and Dr. McLarney. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 FIGURE 2 PROJECT ORGANIZATION & TASKS By TEAM MEMBERS Project Manager Day-to-day Contact Questionnaire Sample Design Data Analysis Report Writing Presentations Strategic Consulting Richard Sarles, M.S. Principal Researcher Processing Graphics Programming Data Collection For the City's reference, the following paragraphs provide additional information about Dr. McLarney's, Mr. Sarles', and Mr. Travis' respective roles on this project, as well as their education and research backgrounds. Dr. McLarney, Mr. Sarles and Mr. Travis are committed to working with the City of Santa Clarita for the duration of this project —there will be no staff turnover, substitutions, or changes. Project Manager Timothy McLarney, Ph.D., will serve as the Project Manager for the pro- posed survey and will be the City's point of contact on all matters related to the study. Dr. McLarney will lead all design, analysis, reporting and presentation tasks. Approximately 70% of the research tasks will be per- formed directly by Dr. McLarney. Dr. McLarney has more than 25 years of experience in survey methodol- ogy, statistics, public opinion analysis, and providing data -driven strate- gic advice to public agencies. During his career, he has occupied a lead role in over 1,500 research studies, including more than 500 community opinion surveys for California municipalities. Dr. McLarney is a nationally recognized expert in survey research meth- odology, sampling theory, weighting, and the use of statistical methods to generalize survey results. His research has been published in peer - reviewed journals and has earned him honors including the Andrew Mel- lon Fellowship (Cornell University), Sage Fellowship (Cornell University), and the title of Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. He has also served as an independent expert witness in survey research methodology for California legal cases. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 Dr. McLarney earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Government from Cornell Uni- versity with an emphasis in survey methodology, sampling theory, data science, and public opinion analysis, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Politics from UC Santa Cruz. Principal Researcher Richard Sarles, M.S., will assist Dr. McLarney with managing data collec- tion, data processing, quality control, and graphics production. As Princi- pal Researcher and co-founder of True North Research, Mr. Sarles has more than 25 years of experience in survey research and data science, specializing in database management, sampling methodology, statistical analysis, and results interpretation. Throughout his career, Mr. Sarles has proven to be exceptional in transforming complex data sets into actionable insights that drive strategic decision -making. With experience spanning over 1,500 research studies, he has collaborated with local, state, and federal government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and nonprofit organizations, delivering valuable, data -driven guidance across diverse sectors. Before co-founding True North Research, Mr. Sarles served as the Associ- ate Research Director at another west -coast research firm. A published author, his work has been cited in sociological, psychological, and indus- try -specific journals. Mr. Sarles holds an M.S. in Experimental Psychology with an emphasis in statistics from Illinois State University, where he graduated magna cum laude, as well as a B.S. in Psychology from the same institution, where he achieved summa cum laude honors. Data Collection Manager Dameon Travis, B.S., is the Director of Account Management at Dynata and will serve as the Data Collection Manager for this study. As he has for more than 800 of True North's survey projects, Mr. Travis will man- age the data collection process and interviewing team and will report directly to Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles. Mr. Travis has extensive experi- ence in managing all aspects of telephone interviewing including sam- pling designs, CATI stations and programming, interviewer training, daily reporting procedures, and quality control processes. In the past five years alone, Mr. Travis has managed data collection for more than 500 community surveys similar to the one proposed. With a B.S. in Com- munications and Economics and more than 10 years experience at Dynata working closely with Dr. McLarney and Mr. Sarles on similar stud- ies, Mr. Travis will be an invaluable asset to the project. As noted above, True North will partner with Dynata (subconsultant) for data collection. Dynata has been True North's data collection partner for more than 1 ,000 community surveys (including prior surveys for the City of Santa Clarita) and has a proven track - record of professional interviewers, quality data collection, and competitive pricing. With more than 2,500 CATI stations and 4,000 trained interviewers, Dynata is able to collect data efficiently and according to aggressive schedules, if needed. Dameon Travis' role and resume is provided above. Mr. Travis' hours are factored into the data collection costs, not as direct labor. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 S T A T E M E N T O F O F F E R This proposal to design and conduct the City of Santa Clarita's 2026 Public Opinion Poll is firm for 120 days from the RFP's closing date. The scope of work will be performed on a firm, fixed - fee basis (`not -to -exceed' basis) for the amount specified in the Cost File included with the pro- posal. Sincerely, Timothy McLarney, Ph.D President True North Research 1 592 N. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas CA 92024 p: 760.632.9900 1 mclarney@tn-research.com City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 NOTICE TO PROPOSERS REGARDING CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS PROPOSAL # CMO-25-26-18 2026 Public Opinion Poll City of Santa Clarita, California 1. SUMMARY OF CONTRACTUAL REQUIRMENTS a. A contract is required for any service performed on behalf of the City of Santa Clarita (City). b. By submitting a proposal, you have reviewed the sample contract documents contained within this request for proposals and agree to be bound by the requirements set forth. c. Questions and requests for modification of these terms must be negotiated and approved prior to proposal submission and are at the full discretion of the City. 2. SUMMARY OF INDEMNITY AND INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS a. These are the Indemnity and Insurance Requirements for Contractors providing services or supplies to City of Santa Clarita (City). By agreeing to perform the work or submitting a proposal, you verify that you comply with and agree to be bound by these requirements. If any additional Contract documents are executed, the actual Indemnity language and Insurance Requirements may include additional provisions as deemed appropriate by City's Purchasing Agent. b. You should check with your Insurance advisors to verify compliance and determine if additional coverage or limits may be needed to adequately insure your obligations under this agreement. These are the minimum required and do not in any way represent or imply that such coverage is sufficient to adequately cover the Contractor's liability under this agreement. The full coverage and limits afforded under Contractor's policies of Insurance shall be available to Buyer and these Insurance Requirements shall not in any way act to reduce coverage that is broader or includes higher limits than those required. The Insurance obligations under this agreement shall be: 1—all the Insurance coverage and limits carried by or available to the Contractor; or 2—the minimum Insurance requirements shown in this agreement, whichever is greater. Any insurance proceeds in excess of the specified minimum limits and coverage required, which are applicable to a given loss, shall be available to City. c. Contractor shall furnish the City with original Certificates of Insurance including all required amendatory endorsements and a copy of the Declarations and Endorsement Page of the CGL policy listing all policy endorsements to City before work begins. City reserves the right to require full -certified copies of all Insurance coverage and endorsements. 3. INDEMNIFICATION a. To the fullest extent permitted by law, CONSULTANT shall defend (with legal counsel reasonably acceptable to CITY), indemnify and hold harmless CITY and its officers, agents, departments, officials, representatives and employees (collectively "Indemnitees") from and against any and all claims, loss, cost, damage, injury (including, without limitation, economic harm, injury to or death of an employee of CONSULTANT or its subconsultants), expense and liability of every kind, nature and description that arise from or relate to (including, without limitation, incidental and consequential damages, court costs, attorneys' fees, litigation expenses and fees of expert consultants or expert witnesses incurred in connection therewith and costs of investigation) that arise from or relate to, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from: (1) CONSULTANT's performance of Services under this Agreement, or any part thereof; (2) any negligent act or omission of CONSULTANT, any subconsultant, anyone directly or indirectly employed by them, or anyone that they control; (3) any actual or alleged infringement of the patent rights, copyright, trade secret, trade name, trademark, service mark or any other intellectual or proprietary right of any person or persons in consequence of the use by CITY, or any other Indemnitee, of articles or Services to be supplied in the performance of this Agreement; or (4) any breach of this Agreement (collectively "Liabilities"). Such obligations to defend, hold harmless and indemnify any Indemnitee shall not apply to the extent such Liabilities are caused by the sole negligence or willful misconduct of such Indemnitee, but shall apply to all other Liabilities. The foregoing shall be subject to the limitations of California Civil Code section 2782.8 as to any design professional services performed by CONSULTANT and in particular the limitation on CONSULTANT's duty to defend whereby such duty only arises for claims relating to the negligence, recklessness or willful misconduct of CONSULTANT as well as the limitation on the cost to defend whereby CONSULTANT will only bear such cost in proportion to CONSULTANT's proportionate percentage of fault (except as otherwise provided in section 2782.8). b. The foregoing indemnification provisions will not reduce or affect other rights or obligations which would otherwise exist in favor of the CITY and other Indemnitees. c. CONSULTANT shall place in its subconsulting agreements and cause its subconsultants to agree to indemnities and insurance obligations in favor of CITY and other Indemnitees in the exact form and substance of those contained in this Agreement. 4. INSURANCE a. Before commencing performance under this Agreement, and at all other times this Agreement is effective, CONSULTANT will procure and maintain the following types of insurance with coverage limits complying, at a minimum, with the limits set forth below: Type of Insurance Limits Commercial general liability: $1,000,000 Professional liability $1,000,000 Business automobile liability $1,000,000 Workers compensation Statutory requirement b. Commercial general liability insurance will meet or exceed the requirements of ISO-CGL Form No. CG 00 01 11 85 or 88. The amount of insurance set forth above will be a combined single limit per occurrence for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage for the policy coverage. Automobile coverage will be written on ISO Business Auto Coverage Form CA 00 0106 92, including symbol 1 (Any Auto). Liability policies will be endorsed to name CITY, its officials, and employees as "additional insureds" under said insurance coverage and to state that such insurance will be deemed "primary" such that any other insurance that may be carried by CITY will be excess thereto. Such endorsement must be reflected on ISO Form No. CG 20 10 1185 or 88, or equivalent. Such insurance will be on an "occurrence," not a "claims made," basis and will not be cancelable or subject to reduction except upon thirty (30) days prior written notice to CITY. c. Professional liability coverage will be on an "occurrence basis" if such coverage is available, or on a "claims made" basis if not available. When coverage is provided on a "claims made basis," CONSULTANT will continue to renew the insurance for a period of at least three (3) years after this Agreement expires or is terminated. Such insurance will have the same coverage and limits as the policy that was in effect during the term of this Agreement, and will cover CONSULTANT for all claims made by CITY arising out of any errors or omissions of CONSULTANT, or its officers, employees or agents during the time this Agreement was in effect. d. CONSULTANT will furnish to CITY duly authenticated Certificates of Insurance evidencing maintenance of the insurance required under this Agreement, including endorsements, and such other evidence of insurance or copies of policies as may be reasonably required by CITY from time to time. Insurance must be placed with California -admitted insurers with (other than workers compensation) a current A.M. Best Company Rating of at least "A:VII." e. Waiver of Subrogation: The insurer(s) agree to waive all rights of subrogation against CITY, its elected or appointed officers, officials, agents, volunteers and employees for losses paid under the terms of the workers compensation policy which arise from work performed by CONSULTANT for CITY. f. Should CONSULTANT, for any reason, fail to obtain and maintain the insurance required by this Agreement, CITY may obtain such coverage at CONSULTANT's expense and deduct the cost of such insurance from payments due to CONSULTANT under this Agreement or terminate pursuant to TERMINATION section. In the alternative, should CONSULTANT fail to meet any of the insurance requirements under this Agreement, City may terminate this Agreement immediately with no penalty. g. Should CONSULTANT'S insurance required by this Agreement be cancelled at any point prior to expiration of the policy, CONSULTANT must notify City within 24 hours of receipt of notice of cancellation. Furthermore, CONSULTANT must obtain replacement coverage that meets all contractual requirements within 10 days of the prior insurer's issuance of notice of cancellation. CONSULTANT must ensure that there is no lapse in coverage. h. The CITY shall be entitled to any coverage in excess of the minimums required herein. I have read and understand the above requirements and agree to be bound by them for any work performed for the City. Authorized Signature: Printed Name: Timothy McLamey, Ph.D. Date: 12/27/25 DESIGNATION OF SUBCONTRACTORS/SUBCONSULTANTS PROPOSAL # CMO-25-26-18 2026 Public Opinion Poll City of Santa Clarita, California Listed below are then a mes and locations oft he places of business of each subcontractor, supplier, and vendor who will perform work or labor or render service in excess of %: of 1 percent, or $10,000 (whichever is greater) of the prime contractor's total bid. If no Subcontractors will be used fill out the form with NA. Please add additional sheets if needed. Subcontractor Dynata DIR Registration No. NA Dollar Value of Work $18,000 Location and Place of Business 4 Research Drive, Suite 200, Shelton CT 06484 Bid Schedule Item No's: Tasks 1 C, 2A & 213 Description of Work Data Collection/ CATI & Web Programming License No. NA Exp. Date: / / NA Phone ( ) 208.530.0466 Subcontractor DIR Registration No. Dollar Value of Work Location and Place of Business Bid Schedule Item No's: Description of Work License No. Exp. Date: / / Phone ( ) Subcontractor DIR Registration No. Dollar Value of Work Location and Place of Business Bid Schedule Item No's: Description of Work License No. Exp. Date: / / Phone ( ) NOTE: A contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to propose on, be listed in a proposal, subject to the requirements of Section 4104 of the Public Contract Code, or engage in the performance of any contract for public work, as defined in this chapter, unless currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Section 1725.5 of the Labor Code. It is not a violation of this section for an unregistered contractor to submit a proposal that is authorized by Section 7029.1 of the Business and Professions Code or by Section 10164 or 20103.5 of the Public Contract Code, provided the contractor is registered to perform public work pursuant to Section 1725.5 of the Labor Code at the time the contract is awarded. REFERENCES PROPOSAL # CMO-25-26-18 2026 Public Opinion Poll City of Santa Clarita, California The following are the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three public agencies for which proposer has performed work of a similar scope and size within the past 3 years. If the instructions on this form conflict with the references requested in the scope of work, the scope of work shall govern. Complete this form out accordingly. Fill out this form completely and upload it with your proposal. 1 City of Thousand Oaks - 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousands Oaks CA 91362 Name and Address of Owner / Agency Andrew Powers, City Manager - 805.449.2148; APowers@toaks.org Name and Telephone Number of Person Familiar with Project Approximately $38,000 each survey 9 Community Surveys 2009-2025 Contract Amount Type of Work Date Completed 2 City of Lake Forest - 100 Civic Center Drive, Lake Forest CA 92630 Name and Address of Owner / Agency Debra Rose, City Manager - 949.461.3414; DRose@ci.lake-forest.ca.us Name and Telephone Number of Person Familiar with Project Approximately $45,000 each survey 28 Community & Biz Surveys 1998-2025 Contract Amount Type of Work Date Completed 3 City of Glendora - 116 E Foothill Blvd., Glendora CA 91741 Name and Address of Owner / Agency Adam Raymond, City Manager - 626.914.8200; araymond@cityofalhambra.org Name and Telephone Number of Person Familiar with Project Approximately $30,000 each survey 8 Community & Employee Surveys 2011-2025 Contract Amount Type of Work Date Completed ***Please note the body of our proposal (per Section 1.1.4 of the RFQ) includes nine (9) additional references for community surveys conducted for California cities. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & ACCEPTANCE OF SCOPE OF WORK PROPOSAL # CMO-25-26-18 2026 Public Opinion Poll City of Santa Clarita, California By providing the three (3) required signatures below, the Contractor acknowledges full understanding, complete agreement to, and accepts in its entirety, all Scope of Work for the 2026 Public Opinion Poll. The Contractor will be expected to perform maintenance practices and uphold the standards herein to the established Scope of Work throughout the length of the contract. *Supervisor's Signature: Date:_12/27/25 *Estimator's Signature: Date:_12/27/25 *Owner's r Signature: Date:_12/27/25 *All three signatures required CITY OF SANTA CLARITA DISCLOSURE STATEMENT PROPOSAL # CMO-25-26-18 2026 Public Opinion Poll City of Santa Clarita, California The following information must be disclosed: 1. List the names of all persons having a financial interest in the Request for Proposals. Timothy McLarney, Ph.D., President Frauntene McLarney, M.S., CFO Richard Sarles, M.S., Principal Researcher 2. If any person identified pursuant to No. 1 above is a corporation or partnership, list the names of all individuals owning more than ten percent of the shares in the corporation or owning any partnership interest in the partnership. True North Research is a California S-Corporation owned entirely by Dr. Timothy McLarney and Frauntene McLarney. 3. If any person identified pursuant to No. 1 above is a non-profit organization or a trust, list the names of any persons serving as a director of the non-profit organization or as a trustee or beneficiary or trustor of the trust. Not Applicable 4. Has the offeror had more than $250.00 worth of business transacted with any member of the City of Santa Clarita staff, boards, commissions, committees, and Council within the past twelve months? If yes, please indicate the person(s) with whom you have conducted business. No NOTE: Attach additional pages as necessary. Signature of Offeror Timothy McLarney, Ph.D., President Print or Type Name of Offeror 12/27/2025 Date C O S T P R O P O S A L True North Research - 1 592 N Coast Highway 101, Encinitas CA 92024 In this section we present True North's not -to -exceed price to design and conduct the 2026 Public Opinion Poll as described in this proposal (see Table 1), as well as the costs for conduct- ing the Optional Focus Groups (see Table 2). The costs shown are inclusive —there will be no additional charges for travel, incidentals, meetings, post -project advising, or any other matter. If selected as the City's research partner for this study, our payment terms are simple: we request full payment at the conclusion of the study. No interim or up -front payments are needed. When comparing our costs to those of other bidders, please note that our costs include value- added services that may not be provided by other firms. Our value-added services include: Using a stratified random sampling methodology that ensures a representative sample of Santa Clarita residents regardless of whether they use land lines, cell phones, both, or nei- ther. Using a three -pronged recruiting strategy of email, text and telephone calls to recruit par- ticipation in the survey. Using a mixed -method data collection methodology that allows sampled respondents the flexibility of participating by telephone or online at a password protected web site in their preferred language (English or Spanish). Guaranteeing at least 800 completed interviews, but we will very likely exceed that amount —as we have for every prior City of Santa Clarita survey by at least 200 interviews. All additional interviews will be provided to the City at no additional cost. Including graphics in the report that track the 2026 survey findings against prior surveys conducted for the City by True North Research (2018, 2020, 2022, 2024) and performing statistical significance tests to identify meaningful changes. Being able to track and conduct statistical significance testing and ad hoc analyses for the City at the subgroup level (e.g., by length of residence, age, ethnicity, etc.) which requires having access to the raw data from prior surveys conducted for the City by True North. Providing comparison benchmarks on key performance measures from a selection of the hundreds of community satisfaction surveys that True North has conducted for California cities, if desired by the City of Santa Clarita. Providing the most thorough and insightful report in the industry. We don't just report the results —we put the findings into context and explain their meaning based upon related questions in the survey, the City's goals, relevant secondary information, the results of prior surveys, as well as our experience working with California municipalities on hundreds of similar resident studies. Although some of these services are likely not included in the proposals submitted by other bid- ders (and we could similarly follow suit and offer a lower cost), our experience is that these addi- tional services are necessary to ensure that the City receives statistically reliable survey results and the maximum value for its investment in this study. City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025 TABLE 1 PROPOSED COSTS FOR 2026 PUBLIC OPINION POLL Labor Dr. McLarney Mr. Sarles Direct Costs Sample & Matching Language Translation CATI & Web Programming/Hosting Data Collection (subcontractor costs) Hours Rate 66 $224 $ 14,784 20 $184 $ 3,680 Description Random Sample $ 2,500 Spanish Translation $ 500 18 minute average $ 1,250 Phone & Online $ 12,250 TABLE 2 PROPOSED COSTS FOR OPTIONAL FOCUS GROUPS (2 GROUPS) Labor Hours Rate Dr. McLarney 40 $224 $ 8,960 Mr. Sarles 5 $184 $ 920 Direct Costs Description Recollective Platform Online Focus Groups x 2 $ 1,000 Recruiting 24 for 16 to show $ 3,600 Participant Incentives $150 x 24 $ 3,600 ft City of Santa Clarita True North Research, Inc. © 2025