HomeMy WebLinkAboutmemorandum for Bozeman Online City Hall Launch, 12-19-13
Bozeman Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Aimee Brunckhorst, Deputy City Clerk Stacy
Ulmen CMC, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Bozeman Online City Hall Launch to the Public
MEETING DATE: December 9, 2013
MEETING TYPE: Special Presentation
BACKGROUND: The City Charter
preamble affirms the values of representative democracy and citizen participation. Our core values call out teamwork - respecting others, welcoming citizen involvement and working together
to achieve the best result. When the Commission and staff worked together to establish leadership team expectations and obligations, understanding the value of citizen trust of our local
government was stated as an important expectation.
The City Clerk’s office is proud to announce the launch of a new suite of internet tools that will assist the city in advancing their
goals to further encourage and enable citizen involvement and trust in government. Bozeman Online City Hall is a customized site for Bozeman residents to utilize a suite of internet-based
public civic engagement services provided by Peak Democracy. There are a variety of widgets that can be used that provide different ways for users to interact. The main way this tool
is used is through the use of topics provided by the city. Topics provide a means for the city to direct engagement towards areas that the city has jurisdiction over or may have resources
to implement change. The city can provide additional information on the topics, pose specific questions and use different widgets, customizing the experience to the topic, questions,
audience or information needed.
The public will sign in and provide some very basic information to participate, thus eliminating anonymous public comment and the often negative, non-productive
content anonymity can produce. The sign in will be fast and easy and any questions or issues regarding sign in will be answered quickly by Peak Democracy directly. The user will be able
to see other comments made, and if we allow, post video and pictures. The customizable analytics can be used to show the user and staff demographics on comment authors and other tools
such as word clouds and similarity factors. There is no limit to the number of users that can interface with us through our Bozeman Online City Hall site.
An internal use policy establishing
guidelines for the use of Bozeman Online City Hall has been written and will be adjusted during the learning process. These guidelines include how the forum will be monitored, comments
downloaded, forums closed and topics chosen. A topic submittal questionnaire form will help guide Directors in the development of their topic. The city has reviewed Peak Democracy’s
standard civility guidelines and customized them to mirror our social media policy and our current acceptable use policy. We have established procedures for monitoring Peak Democracy’s
emails to disruptive authors and similar services to help us monitor comments and ensure we are in compliance with all applicable laws and our own policies. Written procedures cover
response guidelines and records retention.
Citizen advisory board members and staff liaisons were asked for their input on names for the new site and over twenty responses were received.
Staff decided to use Bozeman Online City Hall submitted by Allyson Brekke because this title is simple and clear.
FIRST TOPIC: Peak Democracy explained the importance of choosing a topic for the first question that has wide interest to establish a good base of users that can be informed as new
topics are posted. The city has historically received a lot of public comment on the subject of dogs. The issue of dealing with dog waste has been ongoing but is especially relevant
now with the release of findings that e-coli bacteria levels are high in Bozeman Creek partly from the contribution of dog waste. The first topic therefore will be - Encouraging Dog
Waste Pick-Up. The question is as follows:
How can the city and its citizen’s better support and encourage the picking up of dog waste in our city? This could be in parks, off leash
areas or anywhere else in the area.
An introduction is provided outlining the issue and what is currently being done to help inform responses. This includes what the city already does
to support and encourage the picking up of dog waste, information regarding nonprofit partnerships the city utilizes regarding dog issues and some of the consequences of not taking responsibility
for dog waste. A recent video produced by the MSU Extension Water Quality Department is prominently shown. This video talks about recent testing of Bozeman Creek and the connection between
dog waste and increased e-coli levels.
In preparation for the release of this topic, pertinent staff was consulted including the Director of Recreation and Parks, Mitch Overton, Parks
Superintendent Thom White and the Animal Control Officer John Edelen. They were highly supportive of posing this question and look forward to hearing the ideas and concerns of the public
on this issue.
While we will start slow with the number of topics and breadth of departments involved, extensive advertising of the site is planned once the training is complete and
the site fully tested. Release to the public is scheduled to coincide with this commission meeting online demonstration. Peak Democracy provided customized press releases, email wording
and other tools to inform the public and produce interest. Bozeman Online City Hall can be accessed via browser at www.peakdemocracy.com/1576, text message to 406-219-0338 or through
a QR scan code. The success of this engagement suite will rely on ensuring the public is aware of and comfortable using it. In addition, it will be important to close the engagement
loop by informing the public how the information was used or how it will be used to inform future policy discussions. This is an exciting and powerful tool for public engagement and
staff plans to use it in a strategic and thoughtful way to ensure both public trust and engagement are strengthened. The Commission will be provided with the comments and information
gleaned on a regular basis so they can consider the thoughts and views of Bozeman Online City Hall users just as the Commission currently considers public comment through traditional
methods. To see an example in action, visit Salt Lake City Open City Hall.
FISCAL EFFECTS: This tool cost $4,000 for initial one-time set up costs. In addition, the ongoing subscription
is $200 per month minus a 10% discount for payment of a year’s subscription, totaling $2,160 for the first year. Subscription costs will begin today even though supportive services have
been provided for several months. The first year of subscription costs and the initial one-time set up costs were budgeted in fiscal year 2013 and will be carried over into fiscal year
2014 in the computer software portion of the City Clerk’s budget.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
ATTACHMENTS: Peak Democracy Service Agreement with the Scope of
Work provided via link
IN MEETING HANDOUTS: Advertising Materials
Bozeman Online City Hall QR Scan Code: