Welcome improvements to city communications

Welcome improvements to city’s communications

Over the past few years, I have been a critic of the City of Peterborough’s practices of community consultation and engagement. The ways in which the city communicates or fails to communicate with its public has easily taken top spot in terms of the frequency of mentions in this column. In making the case, I have consistently resisted unaccountable criticism, choosing instead to make specific and practical suggestions for improvement. While there have been some modest communication gains by the city this term such as such as the funding of community events by councillors and the online streaming of council meetings, my call for improvement has generally been met by a wall of habitude or indifference.

In the past few weeks, all that changed. First, the city has decided to create a new manager of communication services. The staff report recommending the change frankly acknowledged that the absence of a communications strategy had left Peterborough well behind other Ontario municipalities, many of whom have been innovative in the field since the 1970s. The city deserves praise for this initiative and I will be the first to offer it.

City council has also approved the establishment of a new planning advisory committee – with four citizens and only one councillor – to give community advice on some of the city’s key urban planning issues. Although this modest and limited initiative was mandated by provincial law, credit is due to the city for putting it in place.

Better still, the city has agreed to make changes that will result in much improved opportunities for people to contribute to city council decisions.

Here’s the current process: City staff reports are published online – with no other notice to the community – on a Friday afternoon. Councillors get to see them a day before you do. Those reports are then dealt with one business day later, on a Monday. City council then votes on them one or two weeks later. Assuming that people even know what issues might be up for discussion – a job now performed by the media and not the city – that simply is not enough time for people to decide if they care, speak with their councillors, or prepare a reasoned presentation to council.

A new pilot process will begin with the publishing of online staff reports on a Thursday rather than a Friday for consideration on the following Monday by a general committee – replacing the former planning committee and committee of the whole. This gives people an extra day to review the reports. City council would then wait two weeks to consider the committee’s recommendations, permitting more time for interested people to analyze the reports and for councillors to consult with their constituents. Increased time for public input means decision making that is more responsive and more likely to earn public traction.

These are good first steps, although the city’s failure to consult with the public on them speaks loudly to the need for more reform. In time, they should be followed by actions such as the creation of a corporate communications strategy; the development of a community engagement plan including community-based meetings; methods for wide public notice of committee agendas and decisions; practices that inform the public before its opinion is sought; a greater migration to interactive digital services and apps; resolution and consistent application of a city brand; timely market research into public opinion; and attentive assistance to people presenting at city council meetings.

The city has much ground to make up in its communication functions; the positive changes introduced in recent weeks indicate a welcome willingness to do just that.