Shaping Burlington

NEWS RELEASE

Shaping Burlington to outline Civic Engagement Charter

January 10, 2011

BURLINGTON – Shaping Burlington, an independent citizens committee, will present its proposal for a Civic Engagement Charter to the City of Burlington’s Budget and Corporate Service Committee on January 18, 2011.

The Charter would be a plain language policy document that incorporates best practices to ensure greater citizen involvement in Burlington’s municipal government, including a commitment to inform citizens and respond to their ideas and contributions. It was a key recommendation of the Shape Burlington report that was presented to the previous City Council.

“Our goal is timelier citizen involvement in the decision-making activities of local government. One of our proposed reforms is an early notification system to provide citizens adequate time to understand, discuss and develop positions before decisions are made,” said Chris Walker, chair of Shaping Burlington “We are looking for support to include our recommendations in the City’s Strategic Plan.”

Shaping Burlington member Ken Edwards will present the group’s recommendations at the January 18 meeting, which begins at 9.30 a.m. Shaping Burlington is an independent citizens committee dedicated to recommending ways that best enable residents to become more engaged in their communities and empowered to effectively communicate their concerns to City Hall.

It is a successor organization to the Mayor’s Citizen Advisory Committee on Civic Engagement, which spent three months in early 2010 working with Burlington residents, City Hall staff and members of Council to produce its blueprint for municipal renewal. Many of the members of the Shaping Burlington committee were part of the predecessor group.