HomeMy WebLinkAboutmemorandum for Peak Democracy Agreement - final
Bozeman Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Aimee Brunckhorst, Deputy City Clerk & Public
Engagement Coordinator Stacy Ulmen CMC, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Approve a Service Agreement for Open Town Hall powered by Peak Democracy Inc. for a public engagement internet
service
MEETING DATE: July 22, 2013
MEETING TYPE: Consent
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. Based on these philosophies, the
Clerk’s office identified goals related to improving technology utilization and efficiency. Four vendor internet solutions were evaluated focusing on improving public ease of use and
staff time efficiencies related to Commission meeting agendas, minutes, live broadcasts, citizen engagement and public comment. From an in-depth analysis of the three vendors evaluated
that focus on public engagement, Peak Democracy was identified as providing the best fit for the public engagement and comment portion of the identified needs. For the meeting efficiency
needs the software solution AVCapture All has been recommended for Commission approval separately.
The Clerk’s office would like to implement Open Town Hall, a suite of internet-based
public engagement services provided by Peak Democracy that will build trust by allowing citizens to become more informed, involved and engaged in city decision-making. Open Town Hall
will allow exploration of other ways to allow the public to advice the commission, thus putting into place an alternate way of reaching out for civil engagement prior to examining the
efficiencies of the advisory boards.
OVERVIEW OF SERVICES: The attached scope of services provides a detailed outline of the services that will be provided by Peak Democracy. This will
include training, assistance with implementation including topic development and best practices, custom designed maps, technical support, community assistance, forum monitoring, user
authentication and issue reconciliation. Peak Democracy will also host the service, provide network bandwidth and maintain access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They also offer reliable
records retention, though the clerk’s office will also keep all the records downloading them on a regular schedule.
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
both 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 Open Town Hall site.
The possibilities of how this tool could be
used across the organization are vast. However, staff time is limited and it will be vital for staff to use this tool in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. Implementation will start
slow as we learn how this can best be utilized and how much staff time will need to be devoted. For the first year or so, Public Engagement Coordinator Aimee Brunckhorst will be the
main point of contact, with City Clerk Stacy Ulmen trained as back-up. The Clerk’s Office and Information Technology Department will first concentrate on implementing the new AVCapture
All software solution provided for approval before launching this site. Long term goals are more extensive and include utilization by departments across the organization on a wide range
of subjects. Budget and planning widgets will also likely be brought to bear eventually.
Internal procedures and policies will be written prior to implementation and adjusted during
the learning process. These procedures will include how forums will be monitored, comments downloaded, forums closed and topics chosen. The city will also review Peak Democracy’s standard
civility guidelines and customize them to mirror our social media policy and our current acceptable use policy. We will also establish procedures for monitoring Peak Democracy’s emails
to disruptive authors and the other similar services offered to help us monitor comments and ensure we are in compliance with all applicable laws and our own policies. Written procedures
will also cover response guidelines and records retention. All procedures will be reviewed and approved by the City Attorney and City Manager and will be provided to the Commission for
feedback. The Open Town Hall site can be customized throughout, so decisions will need to be made regarding what areas will be customized and when standard templates provided by Peak
Democracy will be used. We can use any name for the site we wish, so consideration will be given to a name that will be catchy, obvious and geared towards the city of Bozeman.
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 will be scheduled for a commission meeting with an online demonstration. Peak Democracy will assist with press releases, email pushes and other tools to inform
the public and produce interest. The success of this engagement suite will rely on ensuring the public is aware of and comfortable with using it and the quality of interaction in response
to the public. 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 and will be expected to take into consideration the thoughts and views of Open
Town 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 will 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 when the site is functioning and available to the public. 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: Service Agreement, Scope of Work