POLICY REPORT
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
Date: February 13, 1996
Dept. File No.: JF-R
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: City Manager, in consultation with
General Manager of Community Services
General Manager of Engineering Services
Director of Social Planning
City Clerk
Chief Constable
General Manager of Parks and Recreation
SUBJECT: Public Involvement Review Process
INFORMATION
The City Manager submits this report for INFORMATION.
COUNCIL POLICY
The Better City Government initiative identified public consultation as
a priority including reviewing existing processes and a broader set of
relationships and links to communities.
CityPlan identified public involvement in decision-making as a component
of the CityPlan vision. CityPlan directions call for increased
involvement by people in the decisions that shape their city and
neighbourhood.
SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
This report provides an overview of the Better City Government public
involvement review process. The proposed review process involves two
stages. The first stage is a chronicling and evaluation of the public
involvement currently undertaken by the City. This will be complete by
early 1997. The second stage will involve changes to involvement
processes and practices where required. Both stages include extensive
public input from both program participants as well as the general
public. This review work will be co-ordinated with other City service
improvement initiatives that involve the public.
BACKGROUND
Vancouver's public is diverse, with a variety of interests,
organizations, and cultural backgrounds. The City has an extensive
array of programs through which citizens are consulted before staff and
City Council make decisions which affect how people live. One of the
priorities of the Better City Government initiative is a review of how
effectively and efficiently the City involves citizens in City affairs.
Recognizing that effective involvement of citizens is essential to good
City government, the goal of this review is to ensure effective
processes are in place that provide the opportunity for many community
interests in decision-making and service delivery.
DISCUSSION
The following outline is an approach to carrying out an open and
comprehensive review of the City's public involvement. The review will
focus on city public involvement processes currently being undertaken
in, and for, the community. This includes the full array of City public
involvement activities including (but not limited to):
- community consultation on service needs (e.g., consultation process
for the Gathering Place);
- major strategic involvement and policy programs (e.g., Civic Youth
Strategy);
- local improvement programs;
- consultation and notifications for zoning and development projects;
- building by-law enforcement notification;
- area zoning reviews (e.g., the RA-1);
- neighbourhood planning (e.g., Cedar Cottage "let-go" area);
- consultation on major capital projects and planning (e.g., Burrard
Bridge, transportation plan); and
- community partnerships (e.g., Block Watch, community policing
offices, Community Centre Boards).
The review process will result in:
- a shared understanding of the scope of public involvement
activities;
- objectives and principles for future public involvement activities;
- an open and fair assessment of what needs improvement from both the
City and the community's perspective; and
- improvements to individual processes.
The review will involve citizens who have participated in these
processes as well as those we have missed, or who have chosen not to be
involved. The broader issues which will arise (e.g., translation, the
role of community organizations, resources, etc.) will be noted and
resolved in the context of actual work in the community.
The proposed review process involves a number of steps and includes
reports to Council at significant points. It is proposed that the
process be directed by a Steering Committee composed of staff from
departments with extensive public involvement. However, the major work
will be carried out by consultants. This will help to ensure a neutral
review. The review will include a number of opportunities for public
consultation and input.
1. The Review Process
The proposed review is in two stages. The first stage involves
chronicling and evaluating current involvement activities. The second
stage involves changing processes and structures where required. These
are illustrated in the chart in Appendix A and outlined in more detail
below.
(a) Stage One - Review of Public Involvement Activities
The objective of this stage is to provide information about what we do
and, based on the views of participants, staff and Council, what works,
what is not working, and what needs to change. This stage will be
conducted in two parts as follows:
(i) Part One - A Guide to City Public Involvement
All City departments involve the public in some way but there is no
current record of all the ways the City involves the public in reaching
decisions and operating services and programs. As a framework for the
review process, a document outlining the City's current practice will be
produced. The document will also briefly describe the governmental and
legislative framework in which Council decisions are made.
This work, which will be reported to Council, will serve as a basis for
the review and will be a useful public resource.
This step will be completed by a consultant at a cost of approximately
$7,500. Consultant selection is underway--the project will take about
three months to complete.(ii) Part Two - Process Evaluation
Once an overview of the City's current involvement practices has been
completed, the evaluation can begin. This will involve an evaluation of
sample public involvement programs to ascertain how well they are
working. In some cases, this will involve reviewing processes currently
underway; or, it may involve conducting a "post-mortem" on a recent
program. The evaluation will determine in each case:
- if objectives were accomplished;
- whether appropriate interest groups and citizens were effectively
involved; and
- issues which need to be addressed.
The review will be carried out by a consultant team of public
consultation experts (including facilitation, survey and diversity
expertise). Their role will be to design and carry out an investigative
process. For each case study, the evaluation process will involve past
and/or current participants, as well as the general public, Council and
staff. The consultant will observe processes in action wherever
possible and use a variety of techniques to determine the effectiveness
and efficiency of our current practice, including consulting with former
participants, staff and Council; using surveys; and conducting focus
groups--as well as hearing from the general public.
The consultant will also be required to investigate public involvement
in some other cities to put the review in perspective and provide some
context for discussion.
After the evaluation process is complete, the consultant team will
produce a working paper that provides:
- an evaluation of the City's involvement practices and suggested
"quick fixes" where appropriate;
- a discussion of proposed objectives and principles, on which to
base further changes;
- broader issues that need to be addressed (e.g., translation,
resource allocation, etc.); and
- recommended process(es) for public discussion and further reviews.
This working paper will be reported to Council and then circulated for
public discussion. The latter could take the form of focus groups,
workshops, surveys and/or public meetings depending on the consultant's
advice and what Council deems appropriate at the time. With the working
paper as a framework, issues and approaches to public involvement will
be discussed in the context of actual work and real choices for
citizens.
Based on the public input and the consultant's report, staff will
prepare a further report to Council recommending:
- objectives and principles for public involvement;
- approaches and directions on any major issues (e.g., translation,
notification, resources, etc.);
- selected processes and practices for in-depth review; and
- tools, timelines, and resources for further work.
The report will provide a further opportunity for public input as
delegations to Council. This work will take about one year to complete
(March, 1997) to complete and will likely cost between $35,000 and
$50,000.
(b) Stage Two - Process Change
This stage involves the detailed review of individual processes where
necessary, as recommended in Part Two above. As in Stage One, new
approaches to public involvement will be developed in the context of
actual work so alternatives can be tested and evaluated, and public
participants can be directly involved in developing new approaches. For
each case, this could be done through a working group which would also
include staff and consultants as required. Major process changes will
be reported to Council on a case-by-case basis.
This work would be completed over approximately a one-year period (end
of 1998).
Once all the recommended process change is complete, the Part One Guide
to City Public Involvement will be revised and expanded to reflect the
new principles and revised processes.
2. Relationship to other City Initiatives
There are four other initiatives underway that relate to the public
involvement review. These are:
(a) Bringing CityPlan to Neighbourhoods - A Proposal for Discussion
This discussion paper describes a proposal for City staff to work with
each neighbourhood to prepare neighbourhood visions that would bring
CityPlan to the neighbourhood level. The public discussion period for
this proposed process is January through March 1996. This will provide
some public input into the neighbourhood planning process.
(b) The Wards Review
In his 1993 Inaugural Address, the Mayor proposed that as part of the
November 1996 civic election, a referendum be held on whether the City
should have a ward system or continue with the present at large system
of electing Councillors. The City Clerk will issue a discussion paper
in May, and will seek and encourage public input. Whether or not a ward
system is adopted could affect some of the consultation and decision-
making processes.
(c) City Communications Strategy
Council adopted a City Communications Strategy in November that aims to
enable staff to communicate more effectively with the diverse
communities that make up Vancouver. The strategy involves funding the
Communications Division to provide such services as advertising, media
relations, external and internal communications programs and the use of
new communications technologies. Early work includes the use of
multilingual telephone lines, ethnic media monitoring and the use of the
Internet to communicate with citizens.
(d) Development and Building Review
This Better City Government initiative will review the way we produce
plans and regulate building including the role of public participation--
particularly as it affects the policy and zoning content. This work
will be co-ordinated with the public involvement review to avoid
duplicated effort on these processes.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Funds will be from the existing Better City Government budget.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The review is currently being carried out as part of existing work.
However, additional staff may be required during later phases of the
study. Staff will report to Council at the time.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The consultant mandate will include the full range of social and
cultural groups for comment on the City's involvement activities.
CONCLUSION
Public involvement is an important part of the City's well-being.
Reaching the broad spectrum of public interests is essential to making
good decisions. An open review and public involvement in designing new
approaches will help to ensure City decisions are in the best interests
of it's citizens.
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