New Communication Survey
How the Queenstown Lakes District Council enables its community to have a voice and be informed is the subject of a new Council survey, QLDC communications manager Meaghan Miller said.
“Council communication comes in multiple forms. We use communication to consult, engage and enable the community to be involved and informed but how we communicate and involve is an assumed and sometimes stuffy statutory process,” Ms Miller said.
The Council was able to look at innovations used successfully by other Councils and organisations but without having the conversation with this community, Council could not be certain people felt they could participate in the way they preferred.
“There are really two parts to this, importantly how we enable the community to get involved in what happens in our community and secondly how we keep the community informed,” Ms Miller said.
Council used multiple mediums of involvement and information such as online, social media, Scuttlebutt newsletter, drop-in sessions, submissions and feedback, community forums (Shaping Our Future partnering), direct communication, txting, flyers, radio messages, newspaper advertising and bulletin snippets.
“We even have 850 followers on twitter but we don’t know what we don’t know and this is a really important issue that goes to the heart of what this organisation does so we are putting the question out there,” Ms Miller said.
Council also had to keep in mind the community was made up of a rich mix of cultures and all age groups. A further challenge was ensuring Council’s high number of out-of-town ratepayers were kept involved and informed.
A two minute survey was now available on line and a hard copy survey was available at Council offices and libraries district-wide. “We are also going to test these issues with a focus group,” she said.
All residents and ratepayers of all ages were encouraged to take part in the survey which would be open through until 16 December. “Once we have collated the feedback we will make the information available and set about reviewing how we can build on what we do now,” Ms Miller said.