White Board check marks showing resident rankings for the importance of municipal responsibilities

Thirty-one participants took up white board markers and sharpie pens as they went from table to table last Tuesday writing the answers to pre-set questions during Tantramar’s third strategic planning session at the Sackville Music Barn.

Two earlier sessions in Sackville and Dorchester attracted 51 participants for an overall total of 82.

“I’m happy with the turnout,” Craig Pollett of the consulting firm Strategic Steps told CHMA’s Erica Butler.

“We’ve got literally hundreds of points of data, ideas that people left, ratings and rankings that they left when they went through our questions,” he said.

“That’s all tremendously valuable and we’ve had a lot of interesting conversations.”

Sticky notes

Participants filled out multi-coloured sticky notes to express their ideas about municipal services and policies.

Multi-coloured sticky notes with ideas for engagement with residents (click to enlarge)

The above photo shows that when they were asked how the town could improve its engagement with residents, participants at the Music Barn had a variety of ideas.

“There should be a clear way for citizens to present ideas and to get action taken,” reads a red sticky note at the upper left of the photo.

It continues into the adjacent right-hand column: “when presented with ideas, council / staff should have the courtesy to respond and explain why they can’t / won’t act or support ideas they disagree with.”

” “YES!!” says the note below with arrows pointing up. “Engage with residents. Be true public servants.”

And below that someone has written: “Totally. Town Hall meetings are very important for allowing everyone to have a voice.”

Other suggestions include: “A feedback box that is always open and available” as well as, “An advertised email/phone/address to ask about town plans and have questions & answers published,” and “Have an easy to access page on the town website with all budgeting and transactions available to the public.”

Another note suggests creating a newspaper.

‘Quality of life’

The sticky notes show that answers also varied when participants were asked about life in the town.

‘One big thing’

No elected reps or staff

Members of town council and senior staff were told not to attend the three drop-in sessions because the consultants felt residents would be freer to concentrate on expressing their ideas using sticky notes and marking pens.

One of the longest responses at the Music Barn was written in blue ink on a red sticky note:

To read more details about what participants wrote at last Tuesday’s drop-in, click here.

To complete an online survey or contribute your own ideas on the town website, click here.