HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-24-2020-min (ECiL Subcommittee) EnliandlIrllg C( iiiiiiliiiiilii,i'llicatIlIo' ii In I ekingtain (IECI11 Meefiliig Wnuites,
24, IMay 2018 / 4:30 61.00piim I im 24,2 CoiiMii"uini,-ty Ceirr-teir
ATTENDEES
Present: Mark Manasas, Harry ors ick, Sherry Zhu P.K. Shiu MarianCohen Koren Stem bridge*,
Carl Valente (guest)
Absent: Bhumip Khasnabish, Glenn Parker
+ Member elect® Membership approved by 20/20 committee, but not yet recognized by Town Clerk.
* Liaison
AGENDA
• Review / approve minutes from 3 May mtg ® Mark / All (if quorum)
• Planning for 26 June mtg with Sr. Mgmt ® Mark
• Discussion w/ Town Mgr Carl Valente re: ECiL project ® All
• Discuss "communication" findings from 20/20 Survey and options for
seeking citizen input for ECiL project ® Marian
• Review planning for Best Practices research ® PK & Sherry
• Review planning for Benchmarking ® Harry
• Review thoughts on managing Town communication requirements & ECiL
project requirements ® Glenn (via Mark if time allows)
MINUTES
Town Manager, Carl Valente, attended this meeting. Several agenda topics were therefore
down-prioritized and not covered.
A vote for subcommittee chair was postponed, and meeting minutes from 3 May were not approved, since
a quorum was not reached at this meeting.
Plaiiniinlliing ,foiir 26 Juine Ill tg. Wltl--iii Sin. Ill ainageirnein't
Mark mentioned that the ECiL team is currently scheduled for a 1/2hour slot at the next Sr.
Management meeting on 26 June. Mark will be out of town and unable to attend. If there are no
volunteers from the team to lead this session we will reschedule for July. Draft questions have
been started here.
11[111scusslloiin Wit1h ""own Ill ainageir
Carl Valente, the Town Manager, and the team discussed the communication project. Discussion included
the following points.
Carl sees improved communication as a means to improve transparency and trust in town
government. He provided the team with provided the team with the following communication
objectives.
Mission: Provide fimply,atcurate,coordIinaled information in ways the public wants to receive it,
increase public aware"ess.
increase corrinnunity engagennent
Bufld trust between Town government and residents,himirkess cornIMUnity and
community organrzatian5
Understand diverse coininnunity in providing messaging
what: FACE TO,FACE
Recruiting divt;"rso work force
Recruiting for Town boaMs/cornmittees
Neighborhood 01W reatfi V,4;.
Training Boards and Committeej on public corninwnicatuafls
Marketing of prograrns and services
How: Block parties
WeII
SociaIl mediia
II subscription ksts
Sign,boards
Code Red
Town staff
SelectmeiI IF-Notes
Apps for routine,inforinnation
LexMedla
• Part of the role of the ECiL project should be to help develop priorities for PIG
• Reduced readership of newspapers (Lexington Minuteman especially) has changed
communication in Lexington. There is currently no common, prominent independent news source
from which people get information about Town matters.
• Arlington, Concord, Franklin ahead of Lexington in terms of Municipal Communications. Carl has
already been in contact with these communities re: communication.
• Marin county has similar demographic® Carl had copy of County of Marin Public Communications
Plan.
• Carl mentioned Issaquah Washington as a municipality with good communications practices.
Mentioned that Issaquah uses a "public engagement toolkit" to engage public in budget and other
discussions.
0 See Community Engagement Guide and Community Engagement Worksheet @:
• Carl mentioned that Public Information Officers often have a Certified Public Communicator
degree, or an Accreditation in Public Relations. We should look at organizations that provide
these accreditations for resources.
• Likely to begin recruiting PIO after Labor Day.
Cornimuirflicatioin IlFliiindngs IEliiscussliioin
Marian updated the team on the communications related findings from the recent 2017 20/20 Town-Wide
Survey: Discussion included the following points:
• Town website was a common source of frustration. People cannot easily find the info they are
looking for.
• Frustration seems to arise from two types of issue:
0 1 went searching for info about X and I couldn't find it
0 1 didn't know about Y and it will affect me
• Team felt that we don't need to conduct another survey but that it would be useful to understand
what different groups within town government get asked on a regular basis to see if this
correlates with the 20/20 Survey comments. The idea would be to see if questions from
"Residents and those who work in Lexington" match up with FAQ's received by:
• People/departments in town government
• Town Meeting Members (TMM)
o [Al] Koren will ask other Sr. managers if they can pull together a list of FAQ they receive
from residents. Do the various department websites reflect these FAQs? [All] Ask TMM
about FAQ they receive® Harry(?)
• The library often gets "I don't know where to start"type questions, thereby acting in an
Ombudsman type role. Discussed a "Knowledge Corps"which could be volunteers, overseen by
a paid position, perhaps administered via the library?
• Harry mentioned that people were asked to write down suggestions or questions on 3x5 cards at
the grand opening of the Community Center,Approximately 400 cards with 700 responses were
completed. This information could be a good source of insight regarding communication desires
of these respondents. [Al] Determine if the review that was done on these cards contains any
insightful communications information® Harry.
Best Practices !::�Iaininii iiing
Discussion of Best Practices planning was superseded by discussions with the Town Manager.
[Al] PK and Sherry will send out a brief email update on their work on Best Practices,
Beiindhiirnairklliing IPlllanurmliing
Discussion of Benchmarking Planning was superseded by discussions with the Town Manager.
[Al] Harry will send out brief email update on his work on Benchmarking.
�ll::Zequlliiireiii,neiii"iii,ts Ill ainageirniein't
Discussion of Requirements Management was postponed until next meeting so that Glenn Parker
(unable to attend this meeting) could present the info he prepared.
Other
• Mark and Harry noted that since signing up for all of the "Town of Lexington Email Subscription
Lists" available via the town website, they have received mostly agendas for upcoming meetings.
It would be equally useful to also receive minutes from these meetings via the listservs.
• Since a large part of our discussions centered around the Town website, we should ask Tom
Case, Chief Information Officer, to attend a future meeting to discuss website plans and priorities.
[Al] Mark invite Tom Case to future meeting.
ACTION ITEMS
A comprehensive list of all action items, from all meetings, is maintained here: Comm jProject Action &
EjaLEflgjaLef. New action items, from this meeting, are shown below.
Action Owner Due
Ask other Sr. managers if they can pull together a list of FAQ they receive from Koren 7 June
residents.
Ask TMM about FAQ they receive Harry 7 June
Determine if review that was conducted on comments received on -400 UY
cards collected at Community Center opening contain any useful communication Harry 7 June
insights.
Send out a brief email update on their work on Best Practices, PK/Sherry 1 June
Send out brief email update on his work on Benchmarking Harry 1 June
Invite Tom Case to future ECiL mtg to discuss plans and priorities for Town Mark 7 June
website