Shaping Burlington

On 30 August, Shaping Burlington will be presenting the following report to the Budget and Corporate Services Committee suggesting a framework to build on the work already done or in progress, as well as to deal with two of Shape Burlington Report’s recommendations to transform City communications.

Read the full report on City Communications here

Key Points:

1. The Shape Burlington Report called for a major transformation of City communications and the City Talk newsletter.
2. In particular it was recommended that City Talk not be a primarily a political vehicle, but a corporate information provider.
3. While there has been some change in City Talk, we note that the most recent edition is still dominated by political content.
4. City Talk‘s was originally intended to be for corporate communication for keeping citizens informed of important matters early in the decision-making process, not political content.
5. We understand the vital role of councillors’ political communication.
6. We therefore further recommend that
   1. Councillors be encouraged to communicate political content, but separately from corporate communication. Print and other media should be encouraged.
   2. The City should review the entire communication process with the objective of transforming city communications in line with the Shape Burlington recommendations.

The City of Burlington has now advertised for a two year “Public Engagement Coordinator” position as per staff report CORPSERV 5-11 available on the City’s website as part of the agenda for the Budget and Corporate Services Committee on 21 June 2011. Shaping Burlington presented the following comments on the staff report at that meeting.

Engagement Coordinator Comments

Ted McMeekin, MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale, honoured John Boich’s life and work, including his work for Shape Burlington, last week. See the video below.

The Strategic Plan is perhaps the most important document produced by each council, as it shapes everything they do during their term of office. It’s essential citizens get involved in informing the council about what they want in the Strategic Plan. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!!