Best practices consultation adopted

No one asked us? It is a common complaint when local governments make decisions and are often accused of not doing proper consultation with the public and stakeholders.

It can be a difficult task to achieve but one Okanagan regional district is going to make sure it has a world class framework in place to try achieve the best results.

The Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) has conducted a public engagement best practices review based on the International Association of Public Participation engagement model, as well as feedback from other similar-sized regional districts.

Going forward the RDCO will engage with the public on the following engagement guiding principles:

• Transparency: Public engagement opportunities are developed so that participants clearly understand their role, the level of engagement and the decision-making process. Feedback is shared publicly.
• Consistency: Engagement opportunities are presented in a predictable and consistent manner to build understanding of participants’ roles and how they can be involved.
• Inclusivity and diversity: Public engagement processes allow all community members a reasonable opportunity to contribute and share their perspective. Effort will be made to ensure diverse voices are identified and these voices invited to participate.
• Timeliness: Public engagement is commenced as early as possible so the community and stakeholders have enough time to learn about the issues and actively participate.
• Plain language/clear communication: Information and instructions related to public engagement are provided in clear and simple language and easily understood by the community. Complex ideas will be shared in ways that are easy to grasp and the impact of different decision options will be explained.
• Suitable process: Design and implementation of public engagement processes that reflect the size, complexity and community impact of any initiative.
• Regional perspective: The RDCO recognizes the unique values and perspectives of its varied and diverse communities and stakeholder groups. Engagement activities are developed to balance the specific needs of individual communities with the region as a whole.

The RDCO plans to have the new framework operational by this fall.