On April 30th, 2007 the Strategic and Corporate Planning Committee of the City of St. Catharines, has presented a Report for the Acting Chief Administrative Officer, including a discussion paper specifically for the second of five priority objectives determined by the newly elected council's strategic planning session.
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Good evening Mayor Brian, Council, Staff and public.
My name is Bernie Slepkov. I live at 213 St. Paul Street, Unit 1. Thank you for the opportunity of allowing me to speak to the matter of "Enhancing Communications".
In early 2004, after attending many a council meeting over the years, I identified to Mayor Rigby and a couple of then newly elected councillors, gaps the decision-making process, suggesting an open-mike as one means by which citizens like myself, might assist in decisions about to be made by council. These open-mike sessions emanated from council's acknowledgement that we could likely offer valuable insight.
Apparently these sessions have proven successful enough that the CVC report recommended enhancing them. The announcement in today's Standard, much like the one some three weeks ago, are proof that sincere efforts are being made to inform the public that they are welcome to weigh in on matters pertaining to the future of their city.
Monday, April 30, 2007 (The St. Catharines Standard)
"St. Catharines city council holds its second in a series of strategic planning meetings tonight at 6:30 in the third-floor council chambers at City Hall.
The topic is "enhancing communications" and members of the public are invited to make presentations to council. A discussion paper on the topic is available in the city clerk's department, at the Centennial branch of the St. Catharines Public Library, or on the city's website at stcatharines.ca under Mayor and Council agendas
One of the key recommendations in the discussion paper is the creation of a comprehensive corporate communications plan. "
Before I get to the matter I specifically wish to put before you, there are flaws in all of this for which I request your consideration.
The announcement in today's paper, much like those for past Strategic and Corporate Planning Committees came too late for anyone potentially interested to adequately prepare an informed presentation. Additionally the information regarding issues for which the open-mike will be used is not available to the public well enough in advance for them to obtain and digest. The final flaw I think is that the best time to open the mike to the public, is at some point after the public has had a chance to hear how council and staff are dealing with the matter at hand. An informed member of the public might be able to provide further insight to a comment or question raised by council or staff.
This is all relevant to how to 'Pursue Public Involvement', the name of chapter 5 from the 'Guide to Good Municipal Governance', a new book by Richard and Susan Tindal, I just happen to be reading before this "Enhancing Communications" discussion paper was made available. The following passage from that chapter provides a nice segway into the main point of my presentation:
"[P]olicies are best developed with-and even by-the public. Not only is this approach much more consultative and democratic, it is also an eminently sensible approach for today's municipalities and their very heavy workloads. In this regard, the results of a recent study of small and rural municipalities in Saskatchewan and Ontario are note-worthy.[1] While these municipalities have limited resources, those that actively involve their citizens in municipal decisions enjoy greater local support and have more capacity to take initiative." 1. Victoria Hagens, Becky Lipton, Benoy Jacob and Bill Reimer, "Autonomy and Discretion in Local Governance," Municipal World, April 2006, pp. 19-22 and p. 68
How tragic that a city which, for the past 10 years has acknowledged the need for attracting to it emerging technologies has totally overlooked them as the tools of modern communication and public engagement. It is sadly ironic that this city has failed to realize the opportunities they offer for leveraging them, and their drivers, to our greatest advantage.
Over those same 10 years we have identified youth retention as a major concern for our long-term success, and yet we continue to ignore them as partial solutions to the very problems with which we constantly struggle.
I say this mainly because this city's website is hardly reflective of those objectives.
The best solution to one problem is that which seems have the potential of solving others as well. I am but one voice with, I hope, workable solutions. What if this community could tap into a collective of dynamic workable solutions?
The chapter of the book I mentioned deals with ways of engaging the public and the need for 'developing a collaborative community'. Chapter 6 deals with 'Partner[ing] Where Possible'.
Page 8 of the discussion paper rightly suggests, "Institutions located within municipal boundaries offer opportunities to leverage knowledge, resources and ideas to produce partnerships and initiatives that enhance quality of life in St. Catharines. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, information needs to be shared on a regular basis to identify where mutual interests exist."
Page 9 from the discussion paper further suggests that; "In order to ensure that resources are used wisely, the communications plan must identify those channels that will most effectively deliver the message to the target audience."
As so it is in that spirit I suggest that council direct staff to explore with our education systems and youth opportunities for experiential learning in the research and development of models of communication and public engagement. It would be far less than the cost of a consultant's report, to develop interactive websites to collect ideas, input and suggestions from the public-our youth in particular. Besides which; who better to direct you in staying abreast of this moving target called modern technology than them who are driving it forward. And as students become involved, they will need to integrate up-to-date information into whatever they do, thusly increasing the outgoing capacity of physical communications.
Councillors could adopt at least one school within their wards to work with faculty and students in the research and development of communication tools and methods for input and feedback labs. Please accept my apology for not fleshing out this idea further. Then again, that could be part of the experiential lessons.
Additional partnering opportunities would include such institutions as BEC, The Standard and NiagaraThisWeek. Please don't overlook how all this community engagement would significantly increase the capacity levels of communication, relevant knowledge and creativity in an often-overlooked sector of our community. What better strategy is there to retaining our youth than to allow them to help define a community wherein they might wish to remain?
Not to be overlooked Information Niagara's recently launched 211 information line. There too exists potential for maximizing resources and increasing our community's communication and information capacity.
Beyond all that I wish to suggest that a communications and public relations officer is essential to any successful major corporation or institution.
Again, thank you for the opportunity of presenting my ideas to you in this matter.
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