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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-16-012 - Update on E-Participation and Community Engagement InitiativesKjTC' - F,_N'i, Staff Report CA0 Office www:kitchener ca REPORT TO: Council Strategic Session DATE OF MEETING: March 21, 2016 SUBMITTED BY: Jana Miller, Executive Director of the CAO's Office, 519 - 741 -2200 x7231 PREPARED BY: Josh Joseph, Community Engagement Consultant, 519 - 741 -2200 x7221 WARD (S) INVOLVED: All DATE OF REPORT: March 15, 2016 REPORT NO.: CAO -16 -012 SUBJECT: Update on E- Participation and Community Engagement Initiatives RECOMMENDATION: For information only. BACKGROUND: On February 8, 2016, staff provided an information report to Council which outlined a comprehensive update about the City's community engagement efforts to date including: • Details of the comprehensive community engagement review (now underway) • Details of the City's acquisition of an e- participation (online citizen engagement) platform At the strategic session of March 21, 2016, staff will provide a demonstration of the new e- participation platform to Council, highlighting its look and feel, its various features. An additional real -time input tool included in the acquisition of the new platform (called Open Town Meet) will also be demonstrated. The acquisition of an e- participation tool was originally a recommendation contained in the E- Participation Executive Summary which was approved by Council in September 2014. During the 2015 budget process, Council approved a strategic initiative to fund the acquisition of an e- participation platform. REPORT: Expectations of government are changing. In a world where individuals can earn a degree online, bank at home, share pictures and talk to family and friends in real -time, we expect government to be just as accessible. Citizens also expect to be able to actively — and easily — participate and contribute ideas that make our communities better. E- participation, a rapidly - growing element in local government communications and engagement, essentially refers to use of online technology tools to strengthen citizen participation in democratic decision - making processes. E- participation platforms — centralized online forums that house all of a municipality's engagement opportunities in a single place — enable citizens to participate in various ways online. * ** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. * ** Please call 519- 741 -2345 or TTY 1- 866 - 969 -9994 for assistance. Implementing electronic means to engage with citizens is a recognized priority of Council and has a strong base of community support evidenced by the findings of the City's Open Government consultation and the 2014 Environics citizen survey. For example, the Environics Survey found that residents are satisfied with the City's efforts to ensure residents are engaged and active in decision - making, but they expect the City to come up with new ways of doing this, particularly online. Research into approaches in this area was a key first priority within Kitchener's Open Government Action Plan. In recent months, the City of Kitchener, the Region of Waterloo and the City of Cambridge have all acquired a single e- participation platform from vendor Peak Democracy. The City of Waterloo has been using the Peak Democracy platform for about a year. The municipalities based their collective decision on factors including: • Ease of use for citizens: Because the single tool pulls from the same population database, citizens will be able to use a single log -in to access consultations occurring across Waterloo Region municipalities. • Efficiency: In 2014, the City of Waterloo conducted substantial research and an RFP process for an e- Participation platform, and found that Peak Democracy was one of the most robust in terms of capabilities, flexibility, training, support, customer service, and cost. The City of Waterloo shared these findings with the all municipalities resulting in efficiencies in researching and evaluating e- Participation platforms. • Cost Benefit: The e- Services collaboration group was able to realize a cost savings for each municipality by partnering with the other municipalities. • References: The City of Kitchener participated in reference calls with other Canadian municipalities currently using Peak Democracy, including the cities of Edmonton and West Vancouver. They reported a similar positive experience to the City of Waterloo. Specifically, the cities found the tool robust enough to meet the various needs of their organizations and the platform has been well received by the public. • Flexible and responsive to change: e- Participation platforms are new and evolving, and the strength of Peak Democracy is the ability to be flexible in responding to municipalities' suggestions on how to improve the platform. Some of the benefits of the new e- Participation platform for citizens include: • Single log -on that enables citizens to access consultations at municipal or regional level • Easy to use functionality and mobile access is available • Ability to add comments to posted topics that can be viewed by all users • Ability to view and edit City documents — within the document itself • Ability to drag and drop pre- determined items on a map for geospatial purposes • Easy to use budget visioning and priority tools • Use of video and other graphics to simply difficult concepts • Dashboard and search tools to look up specific topics and projects • Subscription options so citizens can receive notifications as new information is posted • Citizens automatically receive a message about how their feedback will be used and next steps With the platform acquired, key additional initiatives are underway, including: • Development of a training plan for appropriate internal staff • Development and implementation of a project launch plan — including an inventory of corporate community engagement initiatives that will populate the platform at launch and beyond. • Development of additional policies and criteria that will govern internal and external use of the tool, including: 1.a. - 2 • Criteria that describe what City projects are eligible and appropriate for e- Participation and what topic type is most appropriate for a given project. • User guidelines to address comment monitoring, issue reconciliation, records retention and privacy concerns. • Governance protocol that describe the roles and responsibilities of the Community Engagement Consultant, City staff and Peak Democracy staff in delivering e- Participation initiatives. Work for the Community Engagement Review is currently underway and interviews with members of Council are being completed to identify key challenges and opportunity areas. Staff will provide further updates on the status of the review, including internal stakeholder interviews, external community engagement with citizens and review of best practice research. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: Strategic Priority: Open Government Strategy: 1.3 — Create more opportunities for citizen dialogue on community issues and introduce new ways for people to get involved in decisions that affect them. Strategic Action: Community Engagement Review, Implement E- Participation Platform FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: The cost for the two -year agreement for the Peak Democracy e- participation platform is $30,728.66. All costs are allocated within existing budgets. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: INFORM — The community will be informed of the City's e- Participation platform, and its comprehensive community engagement review, through a comprehensive public awareness plans that will involve information on the City's website, social media and posters at community centres and city facilities. Additionally, the launch of an e- participation platform is intended to create a new, more convenient opportunity for citizens to participate in civic decisions and see their opinions shape positive change in the community. ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Michael May, Deputy CAO of Community Services