St. Albert city council took a big step Monday toward achieving their goal of keeping the lines of communication with citizens wide open.
Council approved the terms of reference for regular town hall meetings that will vary in location and time of day in order to get a broad range of demographics out to express their views on the issues of the day.
The initiative was first put forward by Coun. Cathy Heron in February, and she saw it as an honest effort of council to reach out and engage citizens.
"Sometimes coming into city council and speaking up there at the mic, in front of people and on TV, is a bit intimidating, so this would provide an opportunity for anyone to talk one-on-one, talk in a group, bring up issues, hear what council has to say about the future," she said. "I think this is a very positive step, and I'm really hoping it will work and lots of people will show up."
The town hall meetings will be held a minimum of three times a year, likely in October, February and May. Each will be about 90 minutes in length, although it would be up to council's discretion to extend them if they see fit. Each meeting would likely deal with a specific issue determined and advertised beforehand, but councillors made sure Monday to include an "open mike" session into the terms of reference so residents could bring other concerns forward.
One of the meetings would be held mid-day, one in the evening and one on a weekend. This, city manager Bill Holtby said, would allow a wider cross-section of people to come out and make their voices heard.
"It provides an opportunity for a different demographic than what the evening or weekend ones might provide. … I know from talking to some council members who were door-knocking that they seem to find as many people home on weekday daytimes as they are able to find on weekends or evenings," he said.
The meetings would be held in local schools, city-owned clubhouses or other community facilities.
Another tweak made to the terms of reference Monday was to cancel the October meeting in election years for fear of it being used for campaigning.
The process and structure of the meetings will be reviewed in January 2013.
Social media
Also on Monday, council received a report from the corporate communications and marketing department on the city's recently launched Facebook and Twitter pages.
The social media pages became active on Friday, and Heron, who also first put forward this idea in February, was glad to see it finally come to fruition.
"I have expressed some frustration with administration, council and the public that it has taken this long, so today is a day of rejoice for me," she said.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how many people click 'Like,'" she added.
On both Facebook and Twitter, the city has a main corporate account, as well as five sub-accounts focusing on specific areas: Servus Place, recreation, culture, business and tourism.
"It's really a menu of choices for residents that caters to specific interests they may have. … Not everybody is interested in all things," said Maya Pungur-Buick, director of corporate communications and marketing.
What the city has done so far comprises the first stage of the city's social media strategy and the second stage is underway. Councillors had concerns, however, over the third stage, with costs that may be associated with a new full-time staff position just to monitor the city's website and social media accounts in the future.
"I'm hoping we'll be able to manage this with existing resources. … I think we'll see what the response is from citizens," Pungur-Buick said.
Pungur-Buick also said her department is working on a policy dealing with who can update city accounts, what information will be provided and how to deal with abusive posts.
It was also noted Monday that the streaming of council meetings over the Internet should become available by November.
