Based on participation, the public comment segments of government meetings in the City of Williamsburg have become more of a formality than a useful tool for gathering input.
City officials want to change that.
The city will announce an online system for collecting public comment at today’s City Council work session. Created by Granicus, the new system has two parts that work together to integrate public comments into city business.
The first part, called eComment, works as a function of city government websites. Currently, the city posts agendas for public meetings of the various boards, such as City Council or Planning Commission, on the city’s website for public access. Rather than waiting until the public meeting to express their opinions, members of the public can comment on individual agenda items and accompanying documents online, like an annotation or a message board. The comment is added to the public record and is visible to all.
The new system allows members of the public to make their opinions known, but it also opens up a dialogue between the public and city officials. EComment integrates public comments made online with the city’s iLegislate app, which is the computer program city administrators use to plan and hold public meetings. Officials are notified of public comments as they are made, and can view them in relation to specific agenda items.
City spokesperson Kate Hoving said contextualization and navigability were central aspect of the new system.
“It makes it easier for people to find one thing that interests them and comment on it,” she said. “The council sees [the comment] and in the same context.”
The other part of the system is a new website, Speakupwilliamsburg.com, which allows users to submit comments, concerns and ideas to the city. Both the website and eComment require users to sign in with a Facebook account or by creating a user profile with their full name and address.
The cost to the city to run both parts of the new system totals about $300 per month. City Director of Information Technology Mark Barham said other cities using the Granicus system included Austin, Tex., and Bend, Ore. The only other Virginia municipality to use it is Blacksburg.
Hoving said the city had various programs, like Peak Democracy, to collect public comments electronically since 2008, but those previous systems were limited in their capabilities.
“We felt in the last two years that we got as much interaction out of it as we were going to get,” she said. “It wasn’t making the conversation better.”
Unlike the “one-size-fits-all” functionality of Peak Democracy, Hoving said the new system could be tailored to reflect Williamsburg’s unique community. By opening up the commenting function and connecting it directly to city government materials, Hoving said the new system would take engagement between the public and local government to “another level.”
Although today marks the official debut of the system, both eComment and Speakupwilliamsburg have been live for several weeks. Members of the public can comment on posted agendas for future meetings, and the website currently has one question for visitors: How would you improve the City of Williamsburg?
Hoving said that question will be posted for the foreseeable future, but Barham said the system would have other uses and questions.
“Others will be more focused, but just in general, 24-7, 365, ‘How would you improve Williamsburg?’” he said.
Barham said the overarching question spoke to the underlying purpose of the new system — to increase public engagement.
“You have to ask, ‘How do you reach someone who might not have been engaged otherwise?’” he said. “We want to see our audience broaden.”
That sentiment is particularly relevant this week, as the city begins its biennial Goals, Initiatives and Outcomes process. The GIOs represent the city’s strategic objectives for the next two years, and rely partially on public input. Hoving said members of the public are welcome to submit their ideas for civic improvement through the website or eComment.
Eventually, the city hopes to expand the new system to include tourism. Hoving said the city planned on soliciting public comment to compile a list of residents’ favorite Williamsburg activities for tourists, a “must-do in Williamsburg” list.
“We want people to know about the stuff that’s not just in the commercials,” she said.
Ultimately, Barham said the new system would increase engagement between residents and local government compared to the previous systems.
“We’re hoping that it’s easier and more user friendly,” he said. “Other software just wasn’t as flexible. We’re hoping with this that we’ll get some great comments and get the discussion broader.”
City Council meets for a work session at 4 p.m. today in the third floor conference room of the Municipal Building at 401 Lafayette St. Click here to see today’s agenda.
