Engage Dane: #irony

More illegal meetings? Some county board members, not a committee with open meetings, but a group appointed by Chair Sharon Corrigan came up with a report on how to increase public engagement, without engaging the public.  Or the rest of the county board.  Who even knows about the report?

In defense of the likely illegal meetings, County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan brought up “Engage Dane”, and you probably wondered what it was.  Since she brought it up, I thought I’d look into it and share my findings.

WHAT IS ENGAGE DANE?

At this website there’s a 14 page report, an action plan, and “resources” that include a planning worksheet and checklist, 6 essential strategies, 12 best practices, tool and techniques and info on the public participation spectrum along with a few other documents.

My question is, has anyone actually used the tools?  I’m guessing not.  And honestly the report and action plan seem a little light on substance and heavy on marketing.  I remember they had a press conference, but I really hadn’t heard anything more about it until . . .

WHO PRODUCED THE REPORT?

Where did this thing come from?

Was this a case of more illegal meetings?  Seems like Sharon Corrigan, the County Board chair pulled together a group of Supervisors to work on the report.

• Sharon Corrigan
• Paul Nelson
• Kellly Danner
• Yogesh Chawla
• Tanya Buckingham

MORE ILLEGAL MEETINGS

So, when did they meet?  Where are the agendas and minutes?

The report on page three says the following:

WHO WAS “ENGAGED” WHILE CREATING THE REPORT?

Not the general public.  These were the hand picked organizations:

WHAT INPUT DID THE REST OF THE COUNTY BOARD HAVE?

I searched legistar (county’s legislation tracking software) for the words “Engage Dane” looking for when the report was approved, what committees it went to, budget authority for the work, creation of the committee, and follow up reports they might have, etc. etc.

All of these items were on the Executive Committee agendas and were the only items I found.

Those are the only public records I can find of any meetings on “Engage Dane” which is just overwhelmingly ironic.

WHO IS WORKING ON IMPROVEMENTS?

The “action plan” doesn’t say.

I’m not sure if they checked the box and moved on?

Or if there is work going on that we just can’t see?

And four of the five involved supervisors are retiring in April, so who will continue this work?

SIMPLE THINGS THE COUNTY COULD DO TO MAKE BIG PROGRESS TOWARDS PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

A brief list brainstormed off the top of my head in less than 10 minutes.

Inform – lets start here, with the basics!!!!

• Get meeting notices out sooner – finding out on Friday about a meeting on Monday doesn’t leave much time to prepare or rearrange your schedule.
• Don’t hold important public meetings and hearings right after busy holidays
  • Recent example: The notice for the public input meeting on January 6th regarding the gaps in mental and behavioral health system.  The notice for the meeting went out during the 2 week winter holiday period and then the meeting was held the Monday night when people were returning to work after a 2 week break.  Press release went out on Jan 2 for the Jan 6 meeting.
  • Don’t hold the county board budget meetings the week after Labor Day (they have been doing them the 2nd week in September now).  Insiders know to expect it, but the general public won’t have a chance of attending if it is lost in the get-the-kids-back-to-school/last-vacation-of-the-summer haze.
• Put all meetings in legistar – electronic legislation tracking software
• If agendas aren’t in legistar but posted in the hallway by the clerks office, at least put a list of which meetings are happening on the website, if not the agendas for the meetings
• Make sure that the final “uber amendment” for the budget is out more than a week in advance of the final meeting where the public can speak to the budget.
• Make sure that everything that is handed out at meetings is in legistar for that meeting, so people can access it on their computers if there aren’t handouts and they can review it before they speak.
• Make sure if there are handouts at meetings that the public can see them – preferably before they speak to the item.
• Allow public to testify about an item after the staff or others do the presentation on the item.
• Don’t hold private/secret meetings.
• Stop using so many acronyms, especially on agendas, everything should be spelled out so the public can figure out what you are talking about.
• Audio record all the meetings and put in legistar.
• Video record all standing committee (all supervisors, no members of the public on the committee) meetings.

There is sooooo much more, but this would be a big start, and then we could talk about more ideas.

Consult

• Allow people to give input on a budget at the final county board budget meeting.
• Allow people to speak once at every meeting where the budget is discussed.  Currently there is a rule that says if you spoke to an amendment at one meeting, you can speak at a subsequent meeting
• Actually listen when the public is speaking, even if you don’t agree with what they are saying.
• Check your attitude!  The disdain for the public shows through loud and clear from some members (biggest examples are Sharon Corrigan, Paul Rusk, Jeremy Levin)
• Explain the rules about public speaking at the beginning of the meeting if there are public speakers and again before the items starts.  Not everyone knows the rules and the rules are different in different meetings.
• Or, how about consistent public speaking rules (2, 3 or 5 minutes?).
• Allow people to finish their thought if they are running out of time, instead of the hard/angry cut off.
• Have registration slips at all the meetings, not just a notepad of paper asking people to sign in.

Again, there is more, but this is a start, some simple things.

Involve

Until the above items get addressed, who will get involved?  If you can’t find information about the meetings or the agenda items and you are met with hostility if you try to participate, why bother.

Collaborate

You can’t pick and choose who you collaborate with – when you resolve the Inform and Consult issues, then we can move on to collaborate, with anyone who wants to get involved, not just the handpicked people.

Empower

We have a long, long, long, long ways to go.