Boring the people - can a municipality engage its disengaged citizens?

By Keith Vass - Saanich News May 20, 2009

Voter turnout is in the tank. Almost half the population in B.C. didn’t bother to vote in last week’s provincial election. But even as lamentable as those numbers are, they’re still the envy of Saanich’s civic leaders.

That 52 per cent provincial participation rate, a near-record low in B.C., is still more than double the 21 per cent that came out for Saanich’s municipal vote in November.

Public engagement -- or, more often, disengagement -- isn’t a problem unique to Saanich, but it is a growing concern, said Mayor Frank Leonard.

The challenge isn’t just getting people out to the polls, but keeping them involved between elections. Part of the challenge is simple demographics, Leonard said.

“People are younger, busier, (holding down) a couple of jobs.”

Another is the nature of the work local government does, he said.

“Some things you just can’t make exciting. I just spoke to a group at lunch about infrastructure (but) I usually don’t put it in the title of the speech. If I put ‘infrastructure’ or ‘emergency planning’ in the name of the speech, they usually have a very poor turn out,” he said.

Still, some on council are calling for new ways to try to get the citizens who have to live with council decisions more involved in making them.

At a recent meeting, Coun. Dean Murdock suggested opening up the council chambers for special public forums, “where we would put out an issue of importance, of relevance to the community,” he said, citing affordable housing and agriculture as examples that stir passion.

Right now, council’s Monday night committee of the whole meetings allow anyone to speak to an issue on the agenda. But Murdock argues people need a chance to speak their mind on whatever matters to them.

“There certainly are a lot of good ideas out there in the community that perhaps council hasn’t considered,” he said.

There are plans in the work to promote public involvement in decision making. Before Saanich sent out tax notices last week, municipal representatives held a round of budget open houses at locations around town.

But even the best-attended session only had five people in the audience, leaving Coun. Leif Wergeland skeptical more public meetings are the answer.

“I don’t think there’s a burning desire to speak to council,” he said.

Coun. Paul Gerrard calls voter turnout in Saanich “atrocious,” but said the best route to better public input is at the committee level, not necessarily before the full council.

However, Saanich’s mayor wants another try at getting council to meet with the public somewhere outside council chambers. Leonard is pushing for a “road show” for Saanich’s annual general meeting, planned for June.

Like Murdock, he’s also watching with interest as the City of Victoria rolls out its new public engagement strategy.

A key part of that plan is for the city to go to the people, rather than expect people to go out of their way to address council, said Katie Josephson, Victoria’s communications director. To that end, the city’s going to coffee shops with information and surveys and redeveloping its website to make it more accessible and interactive.

“Most people don’t have the time or means to come down to city hall to learn about city issues or sit through a council meeting for one agenda item that might be of interest,” said Josephson.

“We often find it’s a small minority that follow city issues really closely that come to (city hall) meetings and we’re not reaching the ones that don’t.”

Leonard said Saanich faces the same situation and also hopes trying new ways of talking to people will mean more people to talk to.

“We’re grateful to the regulars ... but success would be seeing them and others take the time to come out,” he said.