Most councillors want to keep in touch with the community’s thinking
on the issues of the day. Traditionally we have done so by reading the letters
to the editor in the local papers, through submissions to council and hearing
directly from those who phone, email, write or chat to us.
A more recent feedback loop is the online comment on our
local paper’s website. A while back I was I was alerted to the dozen or so
angry comments on the sculpture in Garden Place. In contrast to the letters to the editor which
cover a range of topics, the online comments on one issue pack a powerful
cumulative punch.
The Waikato Times now includes some of the online comments
in their print version. Reporter Daniel
Adams covers council affairs and also writes a blog “off the record” - more of
an opinion piece than straight reporting.
His blog, in turn, attracts feedback and so on it goes.
Comment in the public domain extends still further through
Facebook.
Last week council was to decide whether to approve an
application to install a temporary artwork on the Wintec wall. The day before
the meeting I asked my Facebook
‘friends’ if they supported this. Within
two hours fourteen people had enthusiastically done so and a number offered other
suggestions for the wall. By the next day twenty-five people had
commented. It would be difficult to
obtain such an immediate response in any other way.
I recognise that my Facebook ‘friends’ are not a carefully selected
representative sample. Knowing most of
them, though, I can vouch for their sanity, public spirit and discernment. I accept that there are unlikely to be many
amongst them who regard me as a total tosser who should be gone by lunchtime. You will find those folk elsewhere.
My favourite feedback though comes from council’s citizens
panel which is selected to be representative of the community. From
time to time we ask them questions on issues we are about to debate. Their views were particularly helpful before
the long term plan decisions as they covered the broad range of pros and cons
we grapple with. We could see where the
consensus lay. Whereas we usually hear
from those with strong views, for and against, the citizen’s panel provides a
voice for the silent majority.
We can also follow comments
on Council’s website which helpfully provides links to councillors’ emails, facebook and twitter to encourage contact from the
community.
As councillors we have a choice whether to explore social
media or not. If we are concerned about
decreasing voting in local body
elections and little interest from
younger voters, social media offers
additional avenues to reach people - despite the challenges for some of us in
doing so.
