Three Steps After Your First Meeting On People Speak

Phew! You’ve done it. You completed your first meeting using the People Speak platform, joining a handful of trailblazing cities across the country working to make public hearings more inclusive, convenient, easy, and transparent. But as excited as you were, the response from citizens was less than spectacular. What now?

Remember Change Takes Time

Most cities find it takes six months or so for citizens to start regularly using the platform to comment. Keep in mind the general public, just like the staff and decision-makers, have been used to a different approach for the last hundred years. Stepping into the future takes time, and boldness. Keep at it!

Update Issue Status

After the public hearing and vote is complete, it’s important to go back to the site and update the status of issues. When you do, the status icon and text on the homepage and detail page for the issue will reflect the approved, denied, or continued status and citizens who subscribed to updates for the issue will also be notified by email.   

Drive Awareness

The more you raise awareness of this new option for citizens, the more you advertise it (hand out cards, put up notices) and talk about it (at meetings and out in the community) the faster you will start to see people using it.

At minimum:

• All of your notices - mailed notices and posted notices - should be updated to clearly point citizens to the site. Include the URL and a QR code to make it easy.

• The mayor and chair should read a script at the beginning of the meeting with info about the site and how to comment on it.

• Update the city website to direct people to the new site

When you first launch, you may consider additional efforts, such as:

• Decision-makers can hand out business card handouts for meetings/gatherings

• Publish articles in the city’s monthly newsletter or other local media

• Post notices around the city

• Highlight the site via an article on main website

Here are some examples of articles in newspapers, postcards, live announcements, and mailers used by one city.

Learn More

Want to learn more? Find out how you can make your public hearings inclusive, convenient, easy, and transparent. Checkout this webinar recording hosted by ELGL and featuring the City of Lakewood and City of Wheat Ridge.

Click here to view the recording and slide deck.