Mountain View County council has approved an updated public participation policy following input from residents.
The move came during the recent regularly scheduled council meeting.
The new policy and accompanying procedure is designed to follow the guidelines for public participation outlined by the International Association for Public Participation and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta Association toolkit for public engagement, administration said in a briefing note to council.
After coming before the policies and priorities committee in April, the proposed policy was advertised seeking public input. A number of comment letters were received.
In one letter, writer Ronald Boghean said, in part, that, "As a minimum, all matters addressed by a department that are required to be placed before council should contain a departmental recommendation of why there should not be a public campaign."
The policy statement reads, in part, that, “Mountain View County recognizes the role and decision-making authority that citizens have entrusted them to fulfil on their behalf for the betterment of the county as a whole. However, although council can exercise this responsibility much of the time, there are instances where council will determine that the inclusion of additional public participation will strengthen the decision-making process.
“In these situations the county is committed to utilizing appropriate citizen and stakeholder engagement activities that provide county council and administration with the most complete information and data possible to inform decision making on policies, programs, services and projects.”
The policy states that the county will choose to use public participation that is “proactive, equitable and fair, community minded, focused, relevant, innovative and transparent.”
“Initiating public engagement will begin at the earliest stage possible and allow enough time for appropriate information dissemination and exchange,” the policy states. “A commitment to plain language and to clear and concise information will be undertaken by those conducting engagements to promote understanding.
“An effort will be made to engage those who will be affected directly and indirectly by decision making, including diverse community members to augment and improve the quality of feedback. All information and data that can be shared and provided to the public will be available, and all engagements will be done in an open manner without prejudice.”
The policy also requires that all public participation campaigns to “utilize conduct guidelines and terms-of-use statements to provide clear expectations of citizen conduct while interacting with the municipality through participation activities.”
All public participation campaigns will have an evaluation component undertaken immediately after its conclusion to chart the process and outcome of the campaign.
“The evaluations should include adherence to the principles of the public participation policy, completion within time frame and budget, communication of results/input, and utilization in decision making.”
