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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompass Kitchener - 2005-10-05 COMPASS KITCHENER COMMITTEE MINUTES October 5, 2005 CITY OF KITCHENER The Compass Kitchener Committee met on this date, commencing at 4:05 p.m. Present: Don Bourgeois, Pat Doherty, Glen Woolner, Douglas Parker Staff: Shelley Adams, Michael May, Rosemary Pitfield, Glynis Martin Regrets: Trudy Beaulne, John Hall, Paul Royston 1. Review of minutes The September 21 and 27 minutes were approved. 2. Council presentation discussion Don, Pat, and Glen were present at the council presentation on October 3. Their comments were:  Reaction was positive  The questions were more in support of the process  No negative comments  Cost was raised and legitimacy of survey  The presentation was on television later that night on Rogers Channel 20  The story in the Record was positive and so was the coverage on radio stations 3. Citizen engagement process It will be a phased approach that will fulfil Compass Kitchener’s mandate, vision, and report card. A bonus will be teasing out a Kitchener identity from the survey data. We can use the Environic’s data for:  Growth management strategy  3 year strategic plan. A concern was how to report on Compass Kitchener’s mandate by May 2006. The key is to first engage citizens, especially the ones who do not usually take part in discussions with City Hall. To do this, we will:  Create excitement that fosters engagement and maintains the engagement throughout the citizen engagement process  We have to remind people that this is a values based study not an opinion based study; we should stress this in the process as values change slowly  Go back to the Healthy Communities Model to help decision making process for the future  Since is it values based, this information is good for many years to come as core values take a very long time to change; opinions on the other hand, change very fast  The Environic’s data is a tool and we need to develop this tool for use in the community to: o Fulfil mandate o Create excitement to sustain citizen involvement through the three phases o Help the public to understand the underlying values in future development.  To create excitement we should ask citizens to self identify a segment of the beginning  The councillors showed some interest in self identifying during the presentation so get the mayor, councillors, business leaders and so on to self identify COMPASS KITCHENER COMMITTEE MINUTES October 5, 2005 - 2 - CITY OF KITCHENER  The possibility for people to be like important people is very tempting  We could use cards that identify the people in their segments  The arenas could be used to reach people as there are many parents and grandparents there on weekends  The key will be to launch Compass Kitchener’s citizen engagement in a new way – “Who are you Kitchener?” – everyone talks about it and wants to know more; create an interest so people want to know more  What does it mean to me? The different segments gives us an opportunity to talk to people about what it means in their own comfort zone  Groups will not take the time to be involved, we need to interrupt their lives  Before every citizen engagement, we ask everyone to self identify, buttons can be worn at the meeting but do people want to be labelled?  People are proud of the individual characteristics of the six segments  We need all the six groups of people  To grow the community in a positive way we need to reach everyone  We can have a meeting in each ward with the respective councillor  We also need focus groups, reach the special needs groups, service clubs  Can use arenas, community centres, find out where the people from the segments like to be  This citizen engagement will be more exhaustive than the city has ever done before  We need to map everything out  Go to malls, that is where suburban seekers and up and comers are so that we can engage them  Define goals around identity  Have dialogue, people have different ways to be engaged  What do we want them to tell us, how to get the information?  Who am I? What does it mean? What do we get out of these meetings?  Timing is important, we cannot use December because of Christmas  Use November 1 as a city blitz with self identify; growth budget; we could tell them of opportunities that is still to come to keep them engaged in the process  Some groups would like to communicate through the internet  People do not want a useless exercise, they want something for their own personal stake  The challenge will be: o What and how do we educate and inform people? o What do we ask them when they are engaged?  We need to plan the whole exercise, who do we expect to get to events (target) and how do we distribute information?  We need to identify some good forums for people to be engaged on Growth Management Strategy, financial planning or specific issues we want to engage them in  Start growth management strategy in November and end in August 2006  Start financial planning in April, ongoing for 3 years  The timing is very tight, we need a 3-4 month process  Launch is one week of hype and excitement, then roll on to website, Your Kitchener; CTV to be involved through entire process  We need to get the plan ready, what we need to identify and engage - November 1 through to March COMPASS KITCHENER COMMITTEE MINUTES October 5, 2005 - 3 - CITY OF KITCHENER  Can be kitchen table discussions, stalls at malls, arenas, etc.  Who are you Kitchener is the whole campaign, then we can report back to the community  Look at non traditional ways to give us insights that are quick  A challenge is that we cannot test Compass Kitchener’s vision from 5 years ago now  The public has expressed two distinct visions o Liberal government support and public sector directed o Socially conscious, private sector directed  Direction for us to head in the next 20 years; this information was never included in the original vision  In the past Compass Kitchener has informed council and pushed for downtown revitalization  Has council achieved the objectives identified?  The next part is where should council go in the next 3 years?  This is done in a large part as the community is satisfied with municipal government but there is still room for improvement  Where do we want to be in the next cycle?  Nuances of the vision to appeal to different segments of the population  Go out there with something new – identity piece  Usually it is the same people involved in visioning, now we can reach other people, do something different  Vision is a picture of where you want to be  We should start to produce one or 2 page document, what do these results say about customer service, citizen view to their involvement to government, here is what we heard?  The Record can do a piece on diversity and how it impacts this community using the six segments, who are these people?  Though we have to keep in mind this is Kitchener, not the Region of Waterloo, newspapers tend to include Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, etc.  We could use community newspapers in different languages  Customer service is important in arenas though working on this is a separate initiative than what the city undertook a few months ago What is our next step? We should come up with a proposal and meet again next week. Should we form a sub group to act as a working group? The next meeting is October 13 at 5:00 pm in the Heritage Room. 4. Action Items * Meet on October 13 to discuss engagement process for Compass Kitchener * Look at Compass Kitchener’s vision and tell us what outcome you are looking for 5. Adjournment Meeting adjourned 5:05 p.m.