Press Releases

City of Arcata Receives Digital Governance Award and Launches Public e-Comments

July 11, 2008

The City of Arcata received second place in the national 2008 Digital Governance Award presented by Granicus Inc. and Microsoft for "Excellence in Constituent Engagement". The award recognizes government agencies for excellence, innovation, creativity, and leadership using digital technology to improve their government.

"We are proud to honor the City of Arcata. They are the first among our 400-plus clients to develop a program that will integrate a Public e-Comment service into their webcasting solution to improve citizen involvement in local government" stated Lauren Alexander, Corporate Communications Manager from Granicus.

The Excellence in Constituent Engagement Award recognizes excellence in the application of digital media to measurably improve public outreach and citizen engagement. Other recipients in this category:

The City of Arcata received the award for the development of Public e-Comments – An online process for the City Council to receive Public Testimony. The e-Comment Form allows the public to give online feedback and weigh-in on items coming before the Council from their personal computers prior to the meeting, and have the comments be included in the public record.

The Community will have an opportunity make online comments starting noon Friday when the City launches Public e-Comments for the July 16^th Council agenda, though 8:00 a.m. the morning of the meeting, by going to the City’s Website www.cityofarcata.org and opening the July 16, 2008, City Council agenda. Public e-Comments are considered part of the public record for that agenda item and will be compiled into a report by the City Clerk for the City Council in advance of the meeting.

DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC E-COMMENTS

THE GOAL was to develop a system, taking into account Councils desire for condensed, online public input on agenda items, that meets the legal parameters government works under, by creating an electronic avenue for Citizens to participate in the public process that would:

• Help focus citizen comments to items currently on the agenda.
• Provide a convenient means for citizen input to those who find it difficult to attend meetings.
• Encourage more informed comments by providing a one-stop shop for receiving background information regarding agenda items including staff reports and attachments like maps or photographs.
• Be a convenient online system for citizens to reach all 5 Councilmembers at the same time.
• Provide a method for increased civic engagement in the democratic process through electronic media;
• Allow electronic citizen comments to be part of the public record in accordance with California open government laws.
• Enable the City Clerks Office to track, maintain and archive electronic comments.
• Provide the City Council an easy to read, organized report of the Public E-comments prior to the meeting for their final deliberations and vote.

THE IDEA: To enable new voices in the democratic process by designing a web comment form embed into Council’s agendas in the same manner documents are currently placed directly into the web agenda. The data received from the form would go into a database to generate reports for the City Council and be maintained by the City Clerk’s Office.

HOW IT WORKS: When the web agenda is posted (at least 72 hours prior to the meeting) the Public E-Comments link is embedded directly in the agenda under the staff report for a specific item. Prior to the Council meeting, citizens not only have the opportunity to read the staff reports and materials, they can then click on the Public E-Comments link, complete the convenient form online, and formally weigh-in on the item.

Just like verbal public testimony, Public E-comments are:

• Limited in the numberof words, much like the three-minute public comment rule, by setting the number of characters in the text box.
• Directed to the Council-body, as all five Councilmembers receive the same information in the report.
• Considered testimony and, as such, part of the public record subject to the Brown Act and Public Records Act disclosure.

FORM FIELDS:

• Name, Address, Email: As per The Brown Act the City can request, but cannot require, a citizen to provide their name or address; anonymous comments would tend to be less weighted.
• Neighborhood: There is a drop-down field with a list of neighborhoods for citizens to choose from. This information would help Council greatly if the topic under discussion impacts a specific area of the community.
• Agenda Items: There is a second drop-down list of the Old and New Business items for citizens to choose from.
• Select One: Support, Oppose, Maybe or Neutral. Although this is not a scientific survey it does provide the Council with one more tool to gauge the pulse of the community.
• Brief Comments: E-Comments are intended to be a snapshot, easy to read, organized form for Council to receive public information. This format keeps comments to a minimum.
• Attachments: If citizens feel the need to provide additional information or provide attachments they are directed to send them via traditional mail or deliver them to the City Manager’s Office.
• More Information: Citizens can always call, email, write or attend a meeting. There is also a link to the Council’s contact page on the City website.

THE DATA: from the form is imported into a database that can be sorted and compiled into an easy to read final report or analyzed in a graph format.

THE E-COMMENT PERIOD: runs from the time the agenda is posted and made available to the City Council at noon on Friday until 8:00 a.m. the day of the meeting, at which time the E-Comment link is removed from the agenda. By closing the comment period 10 hours prior to the meeting, staff has adequate time to compile the data and distribute the comments to the Council and staff for review prior to the meeting and, at the same time, make copies available to the public as per SB 343 (Effective July 1, 2008) amending California Government Code Section 54957.5.

Additional materials will be provided at the Press Conference.

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About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Jan Kraepelien