communicating the city's plans, and listening to the public
For our community and city government to have a positive relationship, the public needs to be well-informed, and have sufficient time to be heard before decisions are made.
The most common reaction I have seen from people upset with our government has been surprise. While city staff are diligent about sending out required notices, invariably there are people in the community who feel like they are finding out about a policy change or a land-use decision only just before it’s too late to raise a question or an objection.
The other reaction I see is frustration - that by the time the public has a chance to weigh in on a topic, council and city management have all but made up their minds already.
I do not think the city will always be able to get exactly the right piece of information to exactly the people who need it at exactly the right time. Day to day people are rightly focused on their lives and not what city government is up to. But here are some ideas that could help us move in that direction:
Notices sent earlier for public hearings
City code requires that all households affected by decisions made at a public hearing be notified at least 10 days in advance. From my time on the planning commission and attending city council meetings, it is rare to have a pubic hearing that is not known about at least a month in advance. I would like to see the 10-day minimum be just that: a minimum. Sending notices as soon as a public hearing is confirmed will give people more time to ask questions, do their own research, and feel more prepared when the date arrives.
Continue quarterly town halls and host open houses on specific topics throughout the year
The format of the city’s twice-monthly council meeting does not lend itself well to deep community involvement. That could be improved, but as the council’s primary means of conducting the city’s business the meetings often run three hours long. The recently started quarterly town halls are an excellent venue for open-ended discussions with the community. An open-house, similar to what the community development director has done for the city’s housing needs analysis and its wetland inventory, is a good way to gather community feedback on a particular topic without the pressure of making decisions in the moment.
Include meeting agendas and minutes as part of the city’s regular news streams
City staff has done a good job of keeping information organized on the city website. If you know what you are looking for, most things are only a couple of clicks away. However, if you aren’t actively looking for a piece of information there is little chance you will run across it by chance. It is helpful that upcoming agendas are posted to Facebook, but I would also like to see links to those and recent minutes posted in the news section on the city’s homepage and other regular streams of news.
Regularly ask the community how they get their news
Ultimately, to keep in touch with our community, the city needs to know what sources of information people are paying attention to. The city’s website will continue to be an important centralized source, but if most people do not visit, its usefulness is limited. Are they on Facebook? Twitter? Do they prefer email? Physical newsletters? Where and how people want to hear from the city changes as technology changes, and we need to check in with the community every few years and make sure they can hear about what’s going on even if they aren’t actively looking for it.
How do you prefer to keep up to date with what the city is doing? Let me know.