HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-2023-336 - 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Development - Plan WITH Us Resident Panel Final Report
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REPORT TO: Finance and Corporate Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING: August 14, 2023
SUBMITTED BY: Dan Chapman, CAO, 519-741-2200 ext. 7350
PREPARED BY: Angie Fritz-Walters, Engagement and Program Manager, Strategic Plan,
519-741-2200 ext. 7058
WARD(S) INVOLVED: All Ward(s)
DATE OF REPORT: July 27, 2023
REPORT NO.: CAO-2023-336
SUBJECT: 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Development - Plan WITH Us Resident Panel
Final Report
RECOMMENDATION:
For Information
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:
The purpose of this report is for the Plan WITH Us Resident Panel to provide a summary of
their involvement in the development of the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, and share their report
and recommendations.
The key finding of this report is that the Resident Panel has successfully used a deliberative
approach to co-create a Strategic Plan that is reflective of resident priorities, and that
members are motivated to continue to work with staff to implement.
There are no financial implications in this report.
The Resident Panel is a new form of community engagement for the Strategic Plan, using
a deliberative approach to involving residents in a deeper way in decisions that affect them.
This report supports the development of the Strategic Plan.
BACKGROUND:
-
2026 Strategic Plan, by shifting participation beyond traditional consultation, toward a more
deliberative approach to strengthen trust and confidence, expand resident representation and
involvement, and provide informed recommendations on draft Strategic Plan content based on
consensus.
REPORT:
The final report attached to this staff report
Us Resident Panel, and includes an overview of the purpose, composition and process that the
Resident Panel participated in to support development of the City of Kitchener 2023-2026
also describes the experience of participating on the Panel,
and recommendations for the future. This report is part of a commitment to a transparent
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
process, providing an open, honest reflection on the public participation in the development of
the Strategic Plan.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
This work of the Plan WITH Us Resident Panel was a key input into development of the 2023-
2026 Strategic Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
Capital Budget The recommendation has no impact on the Capital Budget.
Operating Budget The recommendation has no impact on the Operating Budget.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
COLLABORATE AND ENTRUST This report includes input from broad, diverse, consultive
and deliberative -
2026 Strategic Plan. The Resident Panel was entrusted to write their own report and
INFORM
council / committee meeting.
PREVIOUS REPORTS/AUTHORITIES:
CAO-2022-160 Preparing for the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan
CAO-2022-198 Results of Environics 2022 Survey of Kitchener Residents
CAO-2022-413 Strategic Foresight and Community Engagement Update
CAO-2023-047 Compass Kitchener Advisory Committee Community Priorities
CAO-2023-081 Prioritizing Strategic Goal Areas
CAO-2023-217 20-Year Vision, Key Priorities and Approach to Action Planning
APPROVED BY: Dan Chapman, CAO
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A Plan WITH Us Resident Panel Report to Council
Plan WITH Us Resident Panel
Report to Council
INTRODUCTION
What do a high school student, a realtor, a computer science grad, a pastoral associate, a
newly minted Canadian, and a community health worker have in common? Well, if they are on
the Plan WITH Us Resident Panel, they live in Kitchener, they love living in Kitchener, and they
want Kitchener to be an even better place to live.
This Panel was an adventure, where a disparate group of individuals came together with
common cause to tackle one of the Big Questions we all face: Where are we going?
Purpose of the Report
This report provides an overview of the purpose, composition and process that the City of
2023-2026 Strategic Plan. It also describes the experience of participating on the Panel, and
recommendations for the future. This report was written by members of the Resident Panel,
and is part of our commitment to a transparent process - an open and honest reflection on the
public participation in the development of the Strategic Plan.
BACKGROUND
Deliberative Democracy and How It Is Different
Leaders in public participation are shifting the ways some governments make difficult
decisions. Encouraging new ways of thinking beyond traditional consultation, to include more
deliberative approaches that strengthen trust and confidence and expand resident involvement
in building their communities.
Consultation: Municipalities hold public meetings, distribute surveys, and host different kinds of
workshops to allow decision-makers to hear directly from the people they represent, or from
specific individuals, groups, and organizations that may be impacted by their decisions.
Deliberation: Is a process designed to determine what a group of people can agree to, rather
than what as individuals they might like or want. This process produces a set of well-informed
recommendations that can form the basis of future policy decisions, rather than generating a list
of top-of-mind opinions. Deliberation is useful for tackling complex or controversial issues and
empowering a group of citizen representatives to weigh different factors, exercising good
judgment, and proposing a solution.
How is the Resident Panel different from a focus group?
Here are six features that distinguish this process:
1. Duration: Panelists invested at least 25 or more hours into serving on the Panel, including
five in-person workshops
2. Learning: Panelists spent several hours of their time at home reading provided material,
learning about the topics, and preparing for the workshops
3. Public service: Panelists were tasked with understanding and speaking for the needs of their
community, even when they differed from their own concerns or preferences
4. Consensus: Panelists worked to reach consensus through dialogue on a series of detailed
recommendations that were shared with staff after each workshop
5. Public results
of
6. Representation: By using a process to randomly select a cross-section of the community
recommendations are more representative of the broader public
The Plan WITH Us Resident Panel
A recruitment process was conducted in the Fall of 2022, with a desire to recruit a diverse group
of residents to participate as volunteers on the Resident Panel. A total of 168 applications were
received following broad outreach to the community through social media, local newspaper, and
direct emails to networks of community partners. Forty residents were then randomly selected
based on demographic criteria that included ward representation, age, gender, representation of
marginalized groups etc. Studies have shown that a group of this size can be considered
representative of the broader community for the purposes of a Resident Panel.
Initially, some members had a perception that the Resident Panel would be a place for them to
focus on expressing their own individual needs and desires, and not so focussed on working
with others to come up with a collective response to the strategic plan. Setting the tone at the
first meeting was critical to the success of the process. Making it clear that the purpose of the
resident panel was to collaborate and engage on the strategic plan and work with City staff on
this, allowed those who were not interested in that to drop out. Those who remained were
committed to the process and the outcomes.
Resident Panelists had a unique opportunity to see and experience what City staff and Council
do when they develop and consider the strategic plan. In the past, the public was consulted on
their priorities, and the rest of the work to build the plan was done in the background by staff,
and then presented to council for their approval. This time, panelists learned about the issues,
saw the results of the public consultation, and made recommendations that were considered as
the plan is being created.
Roles of Key Stakeholder Groups
The Resident Panel is one of several Key Stakeholder Groups in the Strategic Planning
Process.
Compass Kitchener leads the Public Engagement process, including extensive engagement
with the public, Advisory Committees, and hosts the Resident Panel. Compass Kitchener
Analyses these inputs and defines the Community Priorities.
Staff bring an Organizational Perspective to the process. They analyse many inputs including
the current state of the City, conduct Strategic Foresight, and draft the Strategic Plan.
The Resident Panel brings a broad and diverse Community Perspective. They Analyse the
work that Staff have done, and provide recommendations to staff and City Council.
Council receives the input of each of these groups, and approves the Final Strategic Plan.
RESIDENT PANEL PROCESS
The Resident Panel was designed to provide broad and diverse community input as the
Strategic Plan components were being developed to ensure staff were getting it right along the
way. cision making to
Panelists, who would then provide feedback and recommendations at key milestones in the
process. The recommendations were incorporated into the work, and influenced the next stage
of the Strategic Planning Process. The chart below shows how each of the workshops aligned
and were incorporated into the final stages of the Strategic Plan.
How the Resident Panel Functioned
A key function of the Resident Panel was to share different opinions, and learn from other
Doing so in a respectful way was supported by developing shared
principles for how we work together, getting to know each other over a shared meal during each
workshop, skilled facilitation and the thoughtful participation of Panelists.
Each of the five workshops were four hours in length, and required Panelists to prepare in
advance by reading a package of material designed to provide background information on the
topics to be discussed in the session. The packages included videos to watch, charts with
detailed information, articles to read etc. to ensure the majority of the time in session could be
focussed on discussion and consensus building. The length of sessions and adding a fifth
session was necessary to fully complete the process. Members engaged willingly in another
session because their input was valued. Time invested is important to the quality of outcomes.
Each session included small group discussions with a staff facilitator. Feedback following
Workshop 2 resulted in additional staff participation to take notes at each table, ensuring notes
were captured accurately and voting was accurate.
openness to make changes as requested right away, and not waiting for the end of the process.
Having staff engage at the tables at the same level with Panelists was very beneficial, balanced
and equal. The interactions were less about power and more about collaboration and active
listening. We felt the staff were genuinely invested in the process and that their participation
Staff were also able to speak to each other. For us, having representation from different areas
of the City was helpful. City staff even expressed the positive nature of the experience for them
in breaking down silos across departments. Not all staff had the same knowledge or experience
they learned more about each other and their roles, and we learned more about them.
Panelists shared their individual thoughts on each topic area, and a summary of those ideas
were shared with the large group. As a first step, table-level consensus was reached, followed
by group-wide consensus using the following tool:
The consensus model was foundational to the success of the Panel. Working toward consensus
really influenced how the Resident Panel feedback was developed having a way to share
different perspectives and to respectfully disagree with each other. Challenging issues that
were difficult to resolve were worked through using the model and helped the Panel keep
interactions constructive and not personal. The consensus model challenges people to
formulate full thoughts around their point of view and ideas, which in turn creates better
understanding by group members of individual perspectives and to openly consider them. The
Panel represented very broad perspectives and different opinions, thanks to the diversity of the
selection process from the outset. Sometimes seeing other points of view meant getting past
our own perspectives to better consider others points of view and what is best for all.
At the completion of each workshop, the full list of recommendations (reached by consensus)
was shared with the Staff Working Group and the Corporate Leadership Team. The
recommendations were incorporated into the next phase of the Strategic Planning process, and
a member of the Corporate Leadership Team attended the next workshop to report back on how
the input was used.
An example of how this process worked:
The workshop began with a list of priorities for the strategic plan suggested by city staff, 20 in
all, including among others civic engagement, housing, climate adaptation and mitigation, non-
profit health, employment etc. After careful consideration, the 20 suggested Key areas were
grouped into 5:
Belonging and Participation
Housing, land use and mobility
Environment and climate action
Economic prosperity and opportunity
Good Government
And under each of these areas were three to four key areas for strategic action to happen over
the next 4 years. The resident panelists had a lot to share and say about each area and how to
incorporate what was felt to be the best goals in each of them.
Some examples of feedback that the Panel shared that was incorporated into the draft strategic
plan included:
Identified language that was intimidating and needed to be more accessible
Request for a greater focus on small businesses and support for industries
beyond technology
Empower, support and develop staff to work cohesively together (not siloed) to
fulfill the organization's community-building purpose.
- get
away from the Us and Them the solution together we can
solve the issue
Over time, the process of planning together became easier. Roles became more clear, trust
developed between Panelists and each other, consensus was arrived at more quickly, and a
growing appreciation for differences of opinion grew. A Panelist described it as disagreeing
about ideas, while respecting each other as people. It also took time to build trust in staff and
the process and see that input was being incorporated by staff in a meaningful way. A Panelist
Process Related Recommendations
Future Resident Panels need a better room for community meetings like this the
Give people options to participate in person and virtually hybrid, etc.
The separate page on Engage Kitchener was helpful for sharing documents, asking
questions and engaging between meetings. Promote this usage.
Drop-off of participation should be evaluated. Perhaps there should be more time
invested in the screening of volunteers. Share in advance the expectations for
participation, to help them understand what they were getting into. They need to know
a first language to encourage them to participate. We need to develop advocates or
ambassadors within their communities who can share the messages with them in their
own language.
How our perceptions and understanding of the City and planning processes
evolved
the trade-offs, planning for the future,
different opinions, etc. is a lot to consider. More of that dialogue supported us at every level to
build understanding. For some of us, it might have also been a first-time awareness on the
limitations the City has with regard to some critical areas of planning, such as housing
affordability and environmental/sustainability, that the Province sets the limits in many of those
areas, and that the City, in some cases, can only play an advocacy role in the process. It is
generally felt that we expanded our understanding of how the City works and the challenges
and nuances to consider in strategic planning for a large and diverse population.
How we felt about our involvement and contribution to this deliberative
engagement approach
We were engaged. We braved snowstorms, slick roads and COVID to participate, coming by
foot, transit, personal motor vehicle, bicycle and mobility scooter. If it was nearly impossible to
meet in-person, we participated remotely.
There was that much commitment.
This was an opportunity like we had never imagined. We were humbled and galvanized to
participate, to share our experiences and learn from the experiences of others. The Resident
Panel is a tool that could help increase communication with the community in the future.
projects, to bring passionate people together to build understanding on issues? This would
appear to be a scalable process.
Building relationships with people and understanding them is important.
you change when you get to know them, which helps break down barriers and find common
ground. Ongoing dialogue is important that is what makes a difference getting beyond
episodic interactions that are often negative.
Working together on something creates a community bond. It was a great experience to adjust
and expand our perspective based on the contributions of others. We became focused on the
benefits and the outcomes. None of this would have been possible without the listening,
sharing ideas, and deliberation.
This was a venture into authentic engagement, and we learned that making the effort to connect
with people on a personal level will move the needle, not just check a box.
Recommendations to Council . . .
The methodology that created this diverse Residents Panel is worth using again.
Because we were engaged with the big questions, we worked to overcome points of
This was a project with defined time limits that gave us motivation to complete it, to engage with
one another on important issues. This format for engagement might be a way to make the most
of the current volunteer trends where people tend to not commit for long-term roles but want to
still have a meaningful impact.
The majority of people who participated in the Resident Panel were not known to council. This
We
have all come out of this with a better idea of how the City is run a major opportunity for the
City to take advantage of in the future.
Could Resident Panel members become ambassadors for their communities to connect with the
City? Now that we have developed the trust that our opinions are respected, can we buddy up
with staff support to offer experience and voices to our peers in the community? And the
process showed how people with diverse opinions and experiences can contribute and speak
up in a respectful way.
Keep us engaged.
. . . and Recommendations to Kitchener Citizens
Have a different mindset as a resident of Kitchener, we are responsible for participating in
decision-making and moving us forward. It only works if we all participate. Every contribution
matters. Stay connected with what is happening in our City, and participate in any way that you
can.
We need to get the message out about this process to the media and the broader
community. We need to share these positive experiences in a variety of ways because
everyone receives information differently. What we accomplished needs to be shared.
A Message From Staff
As a City of Kitcheer employee who has worked with the community for over 20 years, I never
questioned the value in including residents in the Strategic Planning Process. I have worked
with many passionate community members who make a difference in this community every
day. But even for me, the Resident Panel was different.
Representation - selecting volunteers randomly to mirror the demographics of the
community was exciting. We often hear from the same people when we engage with
residents, this group was composed of almost entirely new voices. It is also the most
diverse group of residents we have ever assembled. Not surprisingly, it produced a wide
variety of opinions - just like those in our community.
Showing Our Work - Sharing work with residents that was incomplete, and still in
development for their feedback required vulnerability. They sometimes told us they
to them. It also allowed us to test ideas that we were unsure about with a group of
residents who were well informed and representative of the community. They
encouraged us to be bolder than we might otherwise have been without their input along
the way.
Quality Input - e, Panelists provided
us with key input that influenced our thinking, and improved the plan significantly. Some
examples include their suggestion that we be more flexible in our Strategic Plan -
anging or adding actions
throughout the four years of the plan based on changing circumstances that are not
currently known.
internal capacity to improve core service and advance the other Strategic Goal
Areas. They also showed great insight into the interconnected nature of the Goal Areas
and Actions - sharing that this should be presented in a way that highlights the positive
relationships between actions and how selecting some actions to invest in can produce
multiple benefits for the community.
Shared Learning - We knew going into the Resident Panel process that staff would learn
We hoped to provide learning opportunities for
residents as well, when we shared information with them on how the City works. What
other. Building consensus requires a considerable effort to understand and appreciate
the viewpoints of others. This focused effort to understand, resulted in a strong bond
between Panelists and a shared respect - regardless of their differences of
opinion. There is a strong message here for communities that can be polarized around
issues sometimes.
Trust and Respect -
transparent way in the strategic planning process, trust and respect was built between
Panelists and staff. f who
Many Panelists have offered to
continue to be involved and work with staff on behalf of the community after seeing what
is possible when we work together.
The 2023-2026 Strategic Plan will be tr
grateful for the contributions of the Resident Panel. You have truly made a difference, and I am
excited to move forward together over the next 4 years.
Angie Fritz-Walters
Engagement and Program Manager, Strategic Plan