Borough effort seeks to improve process
The Haines Borough released its draft Public Participation Plan last week, a 12-step effort outlining how the borough can better engage the public in the formation of important policies, laws and regulations.
The plan, drafted by community and economic development director Bill Mandeville, was prompted by citizens and assembly members voicing desire for the borough to upgrade the way it engages public participation in the decision-making process.
Upcoming municipal decisions about how to regulate marijuana also make this a good time for discussion of a public participation plan, Mandeville said.
“Reportedly, Haines has a reputation as a contentious community that has difficulty making decisions on key issues and gathering the public support necessary to implement those decisions. This problem was among the ‘community needs’ mentioned in the Chamber of Commerce’s recent ArtPlace grant application,” Mandeville said. “All of these comments indicate a need for greater civility.”
The plan has 12 steps: 1) Identify stakeholders, 2) Issue generation and articulation, 3) Identify process parameters, 4) Clarify decision-making process, 5) Establish work plan, 6) Establish and implement a communication plan, 7) Gather information and public education, 8) Clarify key issues with initial draft of policy document, 9) Public hearing process, 10) Preliminary draft presented to the Borough Assembly, 11) Final draft adopted by Borough Assembly, and 12) Evaluate process and prepare the “Public Participation Process” report.
Assembly member Ron Jackson this week said the first draft of the plan looked “rigid” and said he’d like to see something a “little more free-flowing.”
Former Mayor Stephanie Scott and residents Mike Denker and Dana Hallett immediately balked at step one and the use of the word “stakeholders.” Hallett said he wanted to know how stakeholders would be determined, to avoid being exclusionary from the get-go.
“I would be concerned about starting a public planning process like that and skewing the results right away,” Hallett said.
Scott said her main questions about the plan were why the borough needs a new system, and how that system would work with the current structure.
“I’m confused about how this interfaces with our existing process of advisory boards and assembly standing committees. I thought that was the mechanism that we had adopted to increase public participation in the development stage of an ordinance or a policy,” Scott said.
Mandeville stated in an email the purpose of the policy is to supplement and assist committees, not supplant them.
“It cannot replace existing public notices/public hearings because many of them are statutorily required. Hopefully, these public hearings/public meetings will become more productive and less contentious because the general public will be more informed about the issues and the reasons behind proposed policies, plans and/or ordinances,” Mandeville said.
Scott, Denker and Hallett also wondered why the draft plan wasn’t posted publicly – like to the borough website – but was sent to select agencies and individuals.
Mandeville said he sent the draft to borough boards and commissions, as well as to local nonprofits and state and federal agencies with offices in Haines. “I will update my distribution list as the project proceeds along,” he said.
In the document, Mandeville also included a list of “expectations and responsibilities” for members of the public, elected officials and borough staff. For example, one of the responsibilities of elected officials is to “assist citizens with working hard to understand the issues, respecting opposing viewpoints, working for good solutions and helping to define the ‘public good.’”
Borough staff are expected to “identify and involve as many affected or interested citizens as possible by designing a process that makes public participation easy, meaningful, and effective.”
Likewise, members of the public are expected “to work hard at learning about the issue, listening to all perspectives, attempting to understand opposing viewpoints, trying to reach compromise on difficult issues, and to consider the ‘public good’ perspective on all issues.” After the final decision is made, citizens are responsible for “support(ing) the final decision because it was made in the best interest of the public after careful consideration of all the issues.”
Mandeville, when speaking of the need for civility in the public process, referenced the 2011 attempted assassination of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a response to the attack by the National League of Cities that indicated lack of civility and respect “has turned our public debates into shouting matches that only encourage more hard feelings and more division,” according to the league.
“Although a number of other communities are much more rancorous and uncivil than Haines, it is still a problem,” Mandeville said. “It is serious enough to cause public officials to quit their jobs and a larger than normal number of Haines citizens to speak disparagingly about their local government. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.”