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“We heard that surveys are all the rage right now, so we thought we’d assist by adding to the collective body of data points that asks ‘Is Janesville moving in the right direction?’” SNOW Janesville wrote in a social media post attached to its six-question survey.

The two surveys have been rolled out in the run-up to the April 7 election, in which seven candidates are on the ballot for three open Janesville City Council seats.

SNOW Janesville organizer Cathy Erdman said in the six-question survey’s first 13 hours, about 175 people responded, most of them southside residents.

According to preliminary results Erdman shared with The 69����, SNOW Janesville’s survey shows just 14% of respondents said they were satisfied with the job Janesville City Manager Kevin Lahner is doing — far lower than the 41% job approval rating among those Forward Janesville surveyed recently.

It’s also far lower than the 66% overall satisfaction rate residents showed for city staff in a National Community Survey the city of Janesville conducted in 2025.

The 2025 city survey polling about 550 people showed 45% of respondents were satisfied with how transparent city officials are with public information. Only about 10% of those who’ve completed the SNOW survey say they’re satisfied with the city’s transparency.

Erdman, a southside resident, is the spouse of Janesville City Council member Josh Erdman. She readily acknowledges her group’s polling this week is “unscientific,” in that it’s a set of questions that gives a snapshot of the views of mostly southside residents.

But Erdman says SNOW plans to share the results with the city and residents to point out what she believes is an “ongoing trend line” showing public trust in how the city is run has been eroding.

Erdman believes a falloff in trust is driven in large part by the Viridian Partners data center proposal at the former GM site on the city’s southside. Among SNOW’s survey takers, about 89% say they do not believe it will bring a “financial boost” to the city.

“SNOW’s (follower) population has a leaning — it tends to say the city isn’t working for us,” Erdman said. “It’s because the southside is trying to overcome 30 years of being backburnered. The feedback comes out reflective after that. If you look at these (survey results) as trend lines, it’s not getting better.”

Erdman says she’s not criticizing earlier surveys by Forward Janesville or the city.

She says it’s more information — and SNOW intends to lobby the public and local government as an advocacy group that represents and stands up for the views of southside residents.

“We’re going to put it out there. It’s a snapshot, a tool, not the end of a conversation. We’re seeing a diminishing level of satisfaction in multiple surveys, so that information shouldn’t be taken in isolation,” Erdman said.

“The community discussion that needs to happen now is what does the city need to look at in terms of policy overhaul to change the direction we’re seeing.”