By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 22, 2011 – There it was on the agenda – the job description and work plan for what the city is going to call the Public Involvement Coordinator (PIC). Think in terms of a ‘superman’ or ‘superwoman’ with the political skills of Winston Churchill and you might have some sense of what this person is going to be asked to do under a two year contract.
The PIC position is one of the recommendations that came out of the Shape Burlington report and was perhaps the most significant of the eight recommendations and certainly the one closest to the late John Boich’s heart. The job will be a very politically charged one and getting the right person is not going to be easy.
Council wasn’t in full agreement on just what the Coordinator would be doing. Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor wanted this coordinator to be available to help him set up his neighbourhood council by October. Councillor Sharman saw the job as one where there would be significant leadership – coordinators are not traditionally leaders and they certainly don’t develop policy or strategy; they coordinates things that other people created.
The coordinator is expected to “foster and co-ordinate enhancements to citizen involvement in Burlington” with an intent to:
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Implement and support a citizen engagement charter (which the city doesn’t have yet. It would take a full two years just to create a charter).
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Enhance community development
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Foster information sharing through social media
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Focus staff training and effort on meaningful citizen involvement.
Everyone and no one is going to want to involve this coordinator. The Council membershave a political turf they want to foster and protect. The position will come under.
Corporate Services management with Kim Phillips being the key person on this file.
Shaping Burlington, the community group that created itself to ensure that the Shape Burlington recommendations were implemented spoke favourable of the job description which they apparently had some input on. They did have a small concern over some of the wording and wanted to know if the “civic engagement coordinator” is actually the Public Involvement Coordinator. The question wasn’t that clearly put and was never answered.
Shaping Burlington doesn’t seem to have any concern over the title the job has been given. One would have thought there would be an appreciation for the difference
between a coordinator and a person who is going to write and recommend policy and develop process plans to implement the policy once it has made its way through Committee and Council.
The work plan for the coordinator is significant. It includes:
- Content, format, measurement and implementation of a Citizen’s Engagement
- Charter. The charter by the way is to include an inventory of decisions made by the city and the level of public participation planned for each type of decision.
Does that sound like a report card? We held xx number of meetings and therefore the citizens were engaged. Burlington has yet to fully understand that data is not information.
- Expand modes of communicating and sharing information (fewer CLOSED SESSIONS of Council would be a good place to start.)
- The city wants to make more use of electronic services with enhanced use of social media for dialogue and consultation. (Are we watching what is happening in Vancouver with the Stanley Cup riot – interaction is people talking to people, people meeting with people. Real dialogue)
- Advocate and champion community engagement – John Boich just smiled.
- Provide advice to staff and Council on engagement matters. (The coordinator will first have to gain the confidence of staff and Council. There are significantly different levels of buy in on this idea at both levels.
- Provide staff` training
- Establish engagement expectations and measures in consultation with Council – the ability to herd cats will help here.
Reporting relationships have yet to be fully worked out – and with this position that is not going to be an easy task but Council seemed to be prepared to hand it all over to Kim Phillips and let her manage it. There was the sense that Phillips herself was just the kind of person Council wanted for the job. Too many drops in the pay grade for Phillips to even look at this one.
Speaking of pay grades – the job description is close to complete and it now goes to the rating committee which determines which pay grade this job belongs in – with the suggestion that this would fit into grade 11 that ranges from$70,103 to $87,629. Clearly the coordinator isn’t going to make the Sunshine list (all those who earn more than $100,000. get their name placed on a list that is then published each year).
Councillor Sharman commented that there are a number of significant, challenging matters to be dealt with in terms of citizen engagement. “Time have changed” he explained and “the key factor for this person is to be able to think differently and work differently”. Sharman felt the person hired had to be able to “create strategy and have some background in changing the game.”
Mayor Goldring mentioned what he had learned from the Neighbourhood group in Portland – they told me we wanted a strategic thinker, a top ranked person with great process design skills who wants to empower others.” Is this what Burlington really wants or are both Council and senior staff saying what they think people want to hear. At a top rate of $87,000 + a year (plus the free parking) the city is not going to get someone with the more than five years experience needed.
Councillor Lancaster wanted a “driving force behind unique changes, someone who can bring everyone together and value one another.”
Councillor Taylor said this was an important job so” get it going”. He wants the person in place to help him set up an independent community council that will be up and running by October. Don’t be the farm on that one John.
There are so many different views on just what the coordinator is supposed to do that we may end up with no one being satisfied. The job calls for someone to walk all over nearly everyone’s turf and get the city to really allow for true civic engagement – which we have yet to fully define.
The coordinator will report to a steering committee that will hopefully be prepared to handle all the noses that are going to get bent out of shape during the first few months.
In discussing the qualifications many felt were needed, reference was made to a university degree and some understanding of municipal government. Councillor Sharman seemed to be a little closer to the mark when he said the person hired had to be a strategic thinker able to design processes that will allow people to be involved in the design making process.
Meed Ward said she was very supportive of public involvement. She is the Council member with the most active ward level organization. She holds regular meetings and gets real input from her people who meet once a month. “We want someone who can give us support and guidance on what public engagement will look like. Someone who can give us assistance.”
Sharman, one of the Council members who was involved in the creation of the Shape Burlington report, said “the person hired has to be someone who is seen as a leader by both the community, Council and senior staff”. The questions is: will Council and senior staff really let the coordinator lead?
Craven, who doesn’t say all that much these days, had the one comment: “My confidence is in Ms Phillips”.
Dennison didn’t have much to say. Yet he is the council member with the weakest ward level organization.
During the discussion there was not a word from the city manager. At times he looked a little confused – worried perhaps, because it is his desk the proverbial will land on after it has gone through the fan.
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