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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,July 13, 2015 <br /> Page 16 <br /> ways to listen to and respond to the community about how to live the best life <br /> they can, and while not necessarily be part of the City Council's strategic ef- <br /> fort, what residents want and how to make it happen. <br /> • Civic Participation or Engagement: A more narrow term in scope around a cit- <br /> izen's relationship to government or the government process; involving peo- <br /> ple in civic participation with a goal in mind, such as to improve city services. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte thanked CEC Commissioners Grefenberg and Gardella <br /> for their efforts to-date; and noted the community engagement process would con- <br /> tinue to evolve. <br /> Mayor Roe acknowledged that, opining that this was only the end of the begin- <br /> ning. <br /> At the suggestion of Councilmember Laliberte, Mayor Roe concurred that as it <br /> fits into the process, it may be necessary to hold more than one joint meeting per <br /> year with the CEC as well. <br /> Arlene Christiansen, Human Rights Commissioner <br /> Ms. Christiansen spoke specifically to the IAP2 document regarding community <br /> engagement versus only civic engagement. Ms. Christiansen opined that in the <br /> City Council considering partnering with the CEC, it should consider utilizing <br /> each of its advisory commissions, since that is their purpose to serve as advisors <br /> to the City Council representing all parts of the community over the entire spec- <br /> trum, of budget, finance, human rights, etc. If the City Council is seriously con- <br /> sidering community engagement, Ms. Christiansen suggested it start by involving <br /> other members beyond the single aspect of the CEC. If the City Council wanted <br /> to know how good of a job it was doing, Ms. Christiansen noted that advisory <br /> commissioners were representing government and the public. <br /> Regarding using community engagement measurements by using advisory com- <br /> missioner expertise, Ms. Christiansen suggested caution, since a person may have <br /> applied to a particular commission based on their interest, but many not be an ex- <br /> pert in the field. Ms. Christiansen opined this emphasized the need to consider <br /> the whole spectrum of talent and backgrounds, by looking to all advisory com- <br /> missioners for input and involvement. Ms. Christiansen noted whether or not the <br /> City Council chose to use an outside consultant if supported by the budget, there <br /> were already people having expressed an interest; and further noted the need to <br /> customize, implement and measure efforts. Ms. Christiansen spoke in support of <br /> using graphics for the important component in showing the community where an <br /> issue or project was at in the process; but cautioned the need to keep it simple, <br /> since people didn't have time to search out the information by reading a narrative, <br /> but were more amenable to small bites of information provided via graphics. <br /> Councilmember McGehee agreed with that suggestion. <br />