November 16, 2006 - City of Minneapolis staff have released the "Community Engagement Report" that was directed by the Minneapolis City Council on May 12, 2006 to review and summarize previously documented feedback, reports and recommendations on the City's current community engagement activities. This report presents the results of that work.
Section I of the report describes the current Minneapolis community engagement system, outlining the different types of activity that comprise it. They include the activities of elected officials and their offices; standing committees of the City Council; formal public hearings; official advisory boards and commissions; temporary advisory groups; citywide communication and engagement activities; planning activities; department- or program-specific activities; citizen participation contract activities, and the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). This section also describes the Community Engagement Process Model that was introduced in January 2006, and the process of implementing this new model.
Section II summarizes observations and recommendations about the current community engagement system that the City has received from a wide variety of stakeholders. These observations and recommendations are organized according to eight principles of effective community engagement that were identified at the Minneapolis City Council Study Session in July 2003. This section comprises the bulk of the report, and contains a wealth of valuable community feedback and insight.
Section III condenses the observations and recommendations in Section II into five summary recommendations. In order to improve its current community engagement (CE) system, most internal and external stakeholders agree that the City of Minneapolis should:
1. Explain the decision-making authority for each type of city decision;
2. Clarify the roles and responsibilities of all official advisory groups;
3. Establish predictable, base-line CE expectations for each type of decision;
4. Develop accessible, consistent, two-way communication systems; and
5. Coordinate planning and priority setting with other public jurisdictions.
The report concludes with a recommendation that any engagement activities designed to inform the implementation of these recommendations - or other improvements - should be completed during the first quarter of 2007, in order to allow time for the resulting decisions to influence the 2008 operating budget, which the Mayor will recommend to the City Council in August 2007.
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Community Engagement Report
Download the report
Cover Letter from Steven Bosacker
Download the report
Transmitttal Memo to the Mayor, Council and NRP Policy Board from Steven Bosacker
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