EMBRUN – During their regularly scheduled meeting on Mon., June 23, Russell Council accepted for information purposes Public Engagement Report (Report CSAS-COMMS-20250-01.)
The report was prepared for the Township by Redbrick Communications, who had vice-president Andrea Mongomery attended the council meeting in person in addition to providing a very detailed report that was 46 pages in length plus a 32-page appendix displaying survey results. (The full report can be viewed as part of the agenda for the June 23 meeting.)
Mayor Mike Tarnowski, in introducing both the agenda item and the presenter identified that more than 900 residents were involved in the process, and as well both staff and Council participated, which gave what he described as a strong representative sample.
“I was happy to see that the findings confirm what some of us already had a feeling is that Russell already is performing above average when it comes to public engagement, said Mayor Tarnowski. “Having said that, there are some great ideas, and so we know that there’s more that we can do here to reach more people, to communicate more clearly and to show how public input shapes our decisions. It’s a great path forward, so thank you, everyone who contributed to this process. I look forward to the discussion ahead.”
Andrea Montgomery, lead consultant and vice-president at Red Brick Communications presented the report to Council. After thanking everyone who participated in the gathering of information for the report, she identified and clarified the purpose in having it prepared.
The purpose of the report, and I just want to be clear about some expectations around this report, the idea here is to support and shape discussions and next steps for decision making when it comes to public engagement,” said Montgomery. “So, it’s about supporting the planning. It’s about providing some insights, giving some perspective around best practices, what we’re seeing in other municipalities and offering, hopefully what will be realistic and practical recommendations or things to consider as you move forward.”
Montgomery admitted that there was no expectation that in creating their communications policy, that the Township would do everything recommended in the report, and that the goal was not really consensus, as there are few topics that will cause 100 per cent of the people involved to agree on a path forward.
“The purpose really is to be listening, to be gathering different opinions, providing an opportunity to open up that conversation and to welcome different opinions,” said Montgomery, “And then look at those and have a process for coming up with decisions in a fair and balanced way.”
Trust in government has decreased according to Montgomery, particularly since the pandemic, and that an important cornerstone in building a communications strategy is building, or rebuilding trust, and that isn’t always an easy thing to do. Still, the report revealed some positive aspects, such as that 75 per cent are overall satisfied with the programs and services that they’re receiving from the township. Still, there are times when input is sought, but not received, and the questions that creates.
“Is it because they’re disgruntled and they’re just not talking? Or can we get some feedback as to whether they are actually overall satisfied,” continued Montgomery, “And based on what came through on the survey, you have some pretty high satisfaction rates, for sure.
“We also there is 60 per cent so you know, above half of the community who responded to the survey as well, agreed that there are certainly opportunities available to them to provide feedback, whether or not they take advantage of them.”
Fortunately, however, it’s not always about quantity when building engagement. Sometimes, according to Montgomery, you may get a low number, but it is necessary to be thinking about what’s the quality of that feedback.
“Are we talking to the right audiences? Are they the ones that are going to be most impacted? So, we want to we get there by having a more consistent, coordinated approach. We talked about ease and simplicity, of course, we talked about offering different levels of engagement, being visible in the community, setting clear goals, reporting back and seeking quality feedback. So that’s really kind of at the end of the day, this is what we want to try to do as often as possible.”
In summary, Montgomery provided a list of five report themes for Council’s consideration. They are:
- Consistent internal processes and standards
- Enhance skillsets
- Offer alternatives
- Enhance communications
- Measure, evaluate, report back
Mayor Tarnowski thanked Mongomery for the report and all the work that went into it and added that he was encouraged that the Township was already doing many good things. “So, this, to me is, you know, there’s some great ideas here where we can engage residents where they are. And so, I’m thinking, Meet Me on Main Street as a great opportunity.
“Possibly, I know it’s a little bit last minute, but where we can start, you know, connecting with residents on some of those things, and whether those kiosks are simply an opportunity to meet some of the different departments or so on, I think now that we do this more regularly, I think those are great opportunities. I really like that.”
Councillor Lisa Deacon was also inspired by the report. “As I was reading it, similar to the Mayor, I had a lot of different ideas pop up. And that always speaks to a great process, is when people feel inspired through it.”
Councillor Charles Armstrong made the comment that he felt it is very important to explain what Council saw was not only the good, but also the bad in some of the decisions they make in order for the public to understand the reasoning for the decisions they chose to make. “It’s important to keep that balance in what we say about our
communications, that there are some good things and there’s some bad things, and we should have should acknowledge that some things are not always perfect, but we’ve chosen this way because and we’ve shown the balance of things, and the balance of all the consideration is to go in this direction,” said Councillor Armstrong. “And that’s a key thing to making people who’ve come to these meetings that may seem to have a negative attitude, make them understand why the township has actually gone that way.”
Councillor Marc Lalonde commented that he was thankful for the sincere effort that so many had put into the preparation of the report. “I hope they’ll be satisfied with the amount of work, and the seriousness that was shown in sort of putting all this stuff together in the hopes that when staff come back in the fall, we’ll have something very meaningful, not just interesting, but actually meaningful, to share back and to implement for the sake of the public, and for our sake as well. So, thanks for that.”
Councillor Jamie Laurin posed a question to Montgomery that other members of council must have at least considered at some point, and it was a question with no easy answer.
“I guess where it’s going to become difficult down the road, is we talk about it and in the report is where people just don’t believe what we say, right? We can put on every expert report that we can say that we trust that report, and unfortunately, the person’s beliefs are different, and because they don’t believe what we’re saying, or what the experts are saying, or multiple opinions, because it’s not what they want, right?
“So how do you counter that? How do you because that’s not poor communication. We’ve communicated, we’ve engaged, we’ve done everything that we are, that we can do, to get the right information out as we know it, but they still don’t either trust it, believe it or like it, because it’s not what they want. How do you counter that?
“As I said in the beginning, you know everyone, it does not matter the topic, will have a different matter of opinion,” said Montgomery. “And you’re absolutely right, that there are some that fundamentally will believe something different than what Council has chosen to do. You’re never going to escape that. So, it’s really more about ensuring, as we’ve talked about, that you’re communicating, that you’re demonstrating your values essentially every single day. That’s really the core of it.
“This is how we got here. This is what we’ve heard. This is why it’s good for the township, all of those things, but the more the sort of consistency that you provide, coordinated effort, the more that this council is talking with a unified voice, that makes such a significant difference in terms of building trust and showing that the township is well managed.”
Prior to the presentation Council had waived the rules and procedure regarding questions to allow questions from members of the public, but when Mayor Tarnowski asked if there were questions, no one responded.
Staff will now, using the results of the report, work towards returning to Council in late 2025 with an action plan and a Public Engagement Policy and Toolkit.
Terry Tinkess is a professional photographer, educator and journalist. He has been making a living with a camera and keyboard since 1999 and has been featured in such publications as The Ottawa Citizen, Cornwall Standard Freeholder, The Globe and Mail, The Miami Herald, Ottawa Construction News, The Ontario Construction Report, Ontario Home Builder Magazine, Reed Construction Data, Canadian Potato Business and most recently, The Record and Eastern Ontario AgriNews. Terry lives in Ingleside, Ontario with his wife Brenda, Mia the anxious Pittie and cats Wally and Chubbers.
