HomeMy WebLinkAbout021225 email - RE_ PUBLIC COMMENT_ JAC survey violates ADAALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Dear Mr. Thiersch:
Thank you for raising your concerns with regard to the aquatic center survey. We have endeavored to construct a survey which is accessible to all with the goal of receiving feedback
from as many respondents as possible.
To respond to your comments below:
1. Audio Captcha. The platform we are using does not provide an audio captcha option. We are addressing any visual or technical challenges by providing a phone-based alternative.
2. You are correct that initially we intended that answering any of the questions would be optional. I did state that in one of my presentations to the BOCC. However, upon further
reflection and feedback received, we decided to have three questions that are non-optional: 'Do you live in Jefferson County', 'In which city or area do you live?', and 'What is your
age?" - expressed as a broad range, not a specific age. Everything else is optional. I'll add that these demographics are essential to evaluating survey responses. We can't tie the
responses back to the overall population without these pieces of information. Demographic data about age is not personally identifiable information and we felt that it was a very small
“speed bump” to require that respondents answer these questions even if they were otherwise not interested in answering the majority of other questions.
3. Zoho Corporation. This company does not hold personally identifiable information from any Jefferson County resident or visitor. Zoho’s survey platform was selected by JAC because
it offers multi-lingual options, good mobile phone readability, and advanced reporting capabilities at an affordable price for non-profit JAC. Their business model does not rely advertising
or on the reuse of captured data. We instead pay a fee for use of the survey platform. You can review information about Zoho survey platform here. <https://www.zoho.com/survey/?src=zGlobalAllProdu
cts&src1=zGlobalAllProductsFilter> They have a robust privacy statement <https://www.zoho.com/privacy-commitment.html> which states that they segregate end-user data by jurisdiction
meaning that all of our Jefferson County survey data remains in the United States.
4. The typo has been corrected. Thank you for pointing it out.
5. The survey questions were reviewed by a wide variety of folks. There are many public studies commissioned by the City of Port Townsend outlining Mountain View Pool’s deterioration.
Here is one example: CG-Engineering---Mountain-View-Common-Pool-Assessment-Report-10302023 <https://www.co.jefferson.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/19692/CG-Engineering---Mountain-View-Common-Pool-Asses
sment-Report-10302023?bidId=> Including this factual information about Mountain View Pool does not constitute bias.
6. All decisions about exactly what features to include or exclude and at what cost at a new facility will be made by the Public Facility District. <https://www.google.com/maps/search/5837+Hill+Stre
et+%0D%0A+Port+Townsend+WA+98368?entry=gmail&source=g> The purpose of the survey is to gather community sentiment in aggregate. There has not been a county-wide survey on these topics
performed in the past decade.
I really appreciate your interest and attention to the survey particulars. I am sorry that we were not able to provide you with a draft survey ahead of finalization, as you requested.
We would have benefitted from your review.
Please let me know if you want to discuss any of these topics in more detail or depth.
Thank you,
Diane McDade
Diane V. McDade
5837 Hill Street
Port Townsend WA 98368
Mobile 206.658.7656
Land 360.344.2737
From: Tom Thiersch <tprosys@gmail.com <mailto:tprosys@gmail.com> >
Sent: Saturday, February 8, 2025 3:31 PM
To: jeffbocc <jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:jeffbocc@co.jefferson.wa.us> >
Cc: Mark McCauley <MMcCauley@co.jefferson.wa.us <mailto:MMcCauley@co.jefferson.wa.us> >
Subject: PUBLIC COMMENT: JAC survey violates ADA
ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Commissioners,
If the Jeffco Aquatic Coalition (JAC) were a public agency, it would be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for the survey that it is using to promote their pool project.
The “captcha-like” verification used in that survey does not have the audio alternative required by ADA.
The fact that the county has apparently allowed its official seal to be placed on this flawed survey is disturbing; doesn’t anyone at the county pay any attention to the legality of
what’s being done in its name?
Then, there is the outright lie told by the JAC representative at the BoCC, who stated that all responses on the survey would be optional and that the age question would only be used
(if entered) to select which additional portions of the survey would be presented to the respondent.
Note also that the survey is hosted by a non-US company.
Zoho Corporation Private Limited
an Indian multinational technology company
Global headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Zoho is not an outfit that should be trusted for the official business of any public agency in our country.
Then, there’s this: [ its’ ] Really??? Careless work, at best.
The survey is obviously biased, as one would expect from any work product of an advocacy group; the results will untrustable.
The questions asked about which amenities might be included a new facility are particularly offensive for two reasons: (1) there are no price tags associated with any of the options
and (2) most of the added amenities would be in direct competition with existing private businesses and would actually harm county and city revenues. How much harm is the county trying
to do to those exercise clubs, yoga studios, et al and for what possible reasons?
The manner by which this survey was developed, distributed, and deployed is yet another of the county’s several missteps in its fervor to build a pool “by any means necessary”.
Do better, please.
Tom Thiersch
Jefferson County, WA