Oxford Community Television (OCTV) has a question for the residents of the two townships and two villages it serves.

Actually, it has 20 to 25 questions.

Last week, the Oxford Area Cable Communications Commission, the body that oversees OCTV, voted 4-1 to spend up to $7,500 – the price it was quoted – to have an on-line survey conducted.

Drew Benson, assistant interim manager for Oxford Village, will conduct the survey through the limited liability company he formed, Benson Professional Services.

He proposed doing the survey, the data from which he will use to provide a “comprehensive analysis of OCTV’s community engagement strategies.” This will serve as his capstone project for the Master of Public Administration program he’s been enrolled in at Oakland University since August 2016.

The survey is intended to provide cable commissioners and OCTV staff with a better understanding of what residents want and expect in terms of programming.

“This is what people who are watching OCTV are saying. This is also what people who aren’t watching OCTV are saying,” Benson said. “Are there ways that we can connect with them better?”

Every household in Oxford and Addison townships, as well as the villages of Oxford and Leonard, will be invited to participate in the on-line survey via a postcard they will receive in the mail.

“Each postcard will contain a unique access code that allows one member of each household to participate in the survey only once,” stated Benson in his written proposal. “Respondents will be invited to visit the OCTV website, or to (visit) a specific branded link, to access the survey. From there, all they will need to do is input the unique access code and complete the survey.”

According to a timeline provided by Benson with his proposal, the postcards will be mailed the week of Oct. 30 and the survey itself will be open to the public from Nov. 6 through Dec. 4.

The cable commission will be presented hard copies of the survey report and any “major findings” at its January 2018 meeting. The comprehensive analysis and recommendations from Benson will be presented at the April 2018 meeting.

Concerns were expressed about the considerable expense to conduct such an extensive mailing.

“I’m not sure that we need to mail out (postcards) to every single household in order to be accurate and effective,” said Commissioner Lori Fisher, treasurer for Addison Township.

As part of his proposal, Benson indicated the cable commission would have to pay an up-front amount of $3,750 to cover the cost of printing and mailing the postcards “as well as incurred expenses.”

Given such a mailing is “not cheap,” Fisher suggested mailing the postcards to “every other household” coupled with promoting the survey via other means, such as social media, the station website and commercials on OCTV.

But Benson argued a wide net must be cast in order to garner healthy participation. He noted that when he conducted a citizen survey for the City of Rochester while interning there, more than 1,200 responses were received from the approximately 5,100 invitations that were sent out. That’s approximately 24 percent participation.

“That’s the reality of doing any broad-based survey,” Benson told commissioners. “Honestly, that’s part of why you send it out to everybody because the larger response rate you have, the more credible your data is.”

Commissioner Ed Hunwick, who represents Oxford Township, expressed his concern that having too many survey questions “might turn (people) right off.”

“The more questions, the more resistant people are to wanting to do (surveys) only because it absorbs their time,” he said.

“If you reduce the number of questions . . . in order to get your point across, I think you’d have a better shot at getting more people to participate,” Hunwick noted.

Benson agreed the number of questions “definitely can be a hindrance.” However, the survey he conducted in Rochester had “a little over 100 questions” and approximately 24 percent responded, which “is actually pretty good.”

Commissioner Bill Dunn, supervisor for Oxford Township, was dead-set against funding the survey. He cast the lone dissenting vote. Dunn doesn’t want to keep paying for studies that just sit on shelves and nothing is ever done with the results.

“I’ve just seen so many. I’m tired of spending money,” he said.

“I don’t know what you’re going to do with this. I really don’t,” Dunn told Benson.

“I can’t guarantee what you will or will not do with the final results of this,” Benson replied.

When the survey and his analysis are complete, Benson told commissioners he’s going to give them a series of recommendations and “it’s up to you” what happens after that.

Hunwick said he believes OCTV does “a great job,” but he still asks himself, “Are we really relevant to the community? Does the community really care we exist?”

He hopes the survey will help answer these questions by picking the brains of average residents.

“I’d like to know what they think,” Hunwick said. “I’d like to really know if this is what they want. I think the station is relevant. I like to watch the station here. I think that it needs to be around. But I guess I need to know what the rest of the community (thinks).”

Hunwick indicated he would feel “more comfortable” allocating cable funds if he knows what residents want.

Station Manager Bill Service and Production Manager Teri Stiles noted OCTV is getting feedback from people based on the 8,000 to 10,000 views a month the programs are receiving via YouTube.

Stiles told commissioners it’s these numbers that drive OCTV programming and they don’t even tell the whole story because they don’t include the people who are watching on television via Charter Communications and AT&T U-verse and on-line through Facebook and the station’s website.

Instead of funding a survey, Dunn indicated he would rather allocate funds to send OCTV staff to visit other public access stations to learn what is and is not working for them.

“I think you’re going to get a lot better quality input,” he said.

Dunn noted he doesn’t wish to see the cable commission “micromanage” OCTV. He believes it’s up to the station manager to run things.

“We should put it all on him to run the damn thing . . . If he’s not doing his job, we fire him or anybody else that’s not doing their job.”

“There’s not an intent here to micromanage, in my mind,” Fisher responded.

She said the survey’s purpose is to find out “what direction can we go (in) to be better” and “what programs would people like to see.”