To start the conversation, the City has provided for a few topics to review, Downtown Revitalization, Proposed Cannabis Retail Locations, A Recreation Survey, Emergency Preparedness and where to take in a view in the city.
Those wishing to participate in the new program can register for Rupert Talks here.
At the bottom of the home page for Rupert Talks is some background as to how they will administer the new conversation site and what their moderation policies are for those that use it.
The City notes that the new information system won't take the place of official consultation processes that are required under the Local Government Act or the Community Charter.
In an outline of the program, Veronika Stewart, the City's Communication Manager observed that Eighty percent of the Funding for the program is coming through a grant provided by the BC Smart Communities Pilot funding program, the remainder will be taken from the City's Communication Budget.
The cost to set up and operate the programs was not disclosed as part of today's launch.
Mayor Lee Brain noted now many residents look to find out information about civic initiatives and issues through online sources and how this program will be one way to deliver information and seek feedback from the community.
“We know that our residents look online more and more for information and to engage, We want this new site to be a one stop shop for the community to get information on upcoming City initiatives and priorities, and provide valuable feedback.”
The launch for the program was delivered today on the city website and Facebook page
As an incentive to complete the surveys, the city notes that all those who register in the next 60 days will be entered to win a draw for a $100 grocery gift card.
To spread word on the program, a community-wide mail out will be going out this week to advertise the new platform to residents.
The move to engage the community through a civic administered forum comes after some fairly heated commentary delivered through a few of the Facebook pages in the community, this new venture could perhaps give the City a bit of control over how those kinds of discussions take place and keep the message making on target to a fashion.
The new civic platform may also help to keep some of the City's council members out of trouble when it comes to their observations on those who use social media and offer comments on civic issues through the many social media forums of the community.
Some of the genesis to the new approach to information delivery and collection can be traced back through the first term for the majority of the current council membership, back in October of 2017 Council members bounced around a few ideas as to how they may wish to change the approach that the city takes on communications issues.
The new Rupert Talks program appears to be one of the concepts that has come out of those discussions at the time.
For more items of interest related to initiatives and discussion topics at City Hall follow our discussion archive page here.
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