How to give effective citizen input
Anyone who has spent any time at all in a City Council Chambers or a County Board Room, has heard a speaker start out..."I'm a Citizen and a Taxpayer". As if that is suppose to sway the elected officials views on an issue.
In order for input citizen input on an issue to be effective it needs to be:
Thoughtful: If not this... then what alternative do you like, and why.
Considerate: Name calling is counter productive
Timely: As early in the process as possible. The longer you wait, the less effective you will be.
Not one or two of those. It needs to be all three.
It does not matter who you are, or what you think, if your input into an issue is not thoughtful, considerate and timely, you will not be an effective advocate for your position on an issue.
What has set my off on this rant is an issue that is happening in Eau Claire County (WI). A new jail is being proposed. A new jail has been in the works for years. I mean years. Serious discussion has been slowly moving the Eau Claire County Board of Supervisors to a vote for the past few months. I have followed the progress of this issue from a distance (60 miles) the entire time. I knew how much the project would cost and knew where the location would be. It didn't take a lot of work to know these details. It has been headline news for quite a while.
Which all brings me to an Editorial in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram this past Sunday.
The issue: Protesters object to plans for a $59.1 million Eau Claire County Jail.
Our view: The jail is virtually a done deal; where have these objections been over the years while the project was being planned?
Woody Allen is often quoted as saying "80 percent of success is showing up." If the goal is to influence government decisions, we'll add that the other 20 percent of success is paying attention.
And it's that missing 20 percent that has doomed recent efforts to prevent the new Eau Claire County Jail from being built next to the existing courthouse, near the Chippewa River.
On Feb. 20, a crowd estimated at between 60 and 80 people marched on the Eau Claire County Board, objecting to the board's looming decision to approve a $25 million bond to begin the $59.1 million project. (The bond measure passed 17-10.) Jail opponents complain the jail is too costly, that its location is wrong, that such a pricey project should require a referendum, and that the board has ignored their objections.
Their objections also imply that the jail project has been pursued in secret.
As one letter to the editor published in local magazine Volume One asked, "Who knew?"
I did. And, I don't even live there.
Over the years, dozens - if not hundreds - of public events have been held to discuss the project, including community forums and public meetings of the County Board and its committees. In addition, scores of media reports detailed the planning process both before and after the board's approval of the project last June.
With these facts in mind, it seems the question shouldn't be "Who knew?" but "Where have you been?" Trying to block the jail project now is like dashing breathlessly into a church and trying to stop a wedding after the vows have been exchanged. It's a dramatic but ineffective gesture.
This "taxpayer protest" did not meet all of the qualifications of effective input. It was NOT...Timely.
Government issues are like snowmen. They start out as little snowballs and the more they are pushed around the bigger they get. It is easier to smash a little snowball than it is to tear down a full snowman which has been around so long it is now covered with ice.
Remember folks...Thoughtful...Considerate...Timely.
Al Arnold
1 Comment
Reader Comments (1)
Of course, Al, you're absolutely correct. Citizens only show up when the dollars are put on the table and they usually don't have a clue about how much discussion and work went into the project.
The problem is that this kind of citizen reaction is the norm as opposed to the exception. (We're going through the same gyrations now on a fire station) So i'm thinking that maybe we (local political junkies or "yokels") have to come up with a process that forces involvement earlier in the process and gives the public a "buy-in" earlier in the game. I haven't got it "fleshed out" but it needs to be addressed.
Thoughts?
Sky