Mayor’s Task Force a step closer to public engagement framework and toolkit

The Mayor’s Task Force on Community Engagement began a consulting initiative with Oak Bay residents to get feedback on how they would like to have input on services and policies that affect their lives.

Over the past month, the Task Force was able to connect with hundreds of Oak Bay residents through an online survey and eight pop-up engagement booths at various locations in Oak Bay.

Over 300 residents participated in the pop-up booths, many who had not engaged with the district in the past. The online survey had a 100 per cent completion rate with 189 respondents.

The information provided will help to guide the municipality’s public engagement efforts.

“Residents have provided terrific ideas about how to improve our community. The themes that are emerging tell us that user-informed services and policies are what residents want. Now we need to develop the processes and frameworks to make this happen,” said Coun. Tara Ney, chair of the Mayor’s Task Force.

The next step for the Task Force is to hold a staff session to solicit staffs’ experience and perspective on public participation efforts historically.

Then the public and staff input will be reviewed and analyzed to inform draft recommendations for public and Council consideration later this summer.

Public input on draft recommendations will occur both online and in person at the Oak Bay Night Market on Wednesday, July 18, 2018.

“The outcome of this process, a public engagement framework and toolkit, will help to develop a culture of transparency and quality communications to support meaningful engagement and effective decision-making in Oak Bay,” said Ney.