Town of Cape Elizabeth Communications Strategy - pdf
(Adopted July 12, 2010)
07/14/10
Council adopts municipal communications strategy
The Town Council on July 12, 2010 adopted a municipal communications strategy intended to improve citizen participation in local government.
"And the proof will be that we can actually implement it and people will feel connected to their government," said Town Councilor Jim Walsh, who spearheaded the strategy as one of the council's goals for 2010. "That's really what this is all about," he said.
The new policy was introduced in draft form at a council meeting in April, but began in concept soon after this year's council took office last December, said Councilor Sara Lennon. "I think that every single person, as we went around the room collecting our goals, said 'I want help the citizens better understand what we are doing, I want them to have greater ability to express their views and feel that that's going to alter decisions,'" Lennon said. "I think it's safe to say that every single one of us thought this was important," she said.
The strategy identifies the Town website as the primary source of municipal information, but additions made to the draft during council review also expand use of cable television. "We discussed the fact that we should probably use CETV (Cape Elizabeth public access Channel 3) to broadcast some small segments of interest to the community," said Walsh. For example, a short, televised working-group discussion on an issue such as pay-per-bag trash disposal could reach an audience that might not view a whole council meeting or attend a public hearing, he said.
Other additions include more replays of televised council meetings, and more use of RSS feeds on the municipal website to distribute web updates, Walsh said.
Some of the initiatives outlined in the new strategy continue the work of a council subcommittee which recommended updates to public-access TV and website guidelines in 2009.
Walsh said other communities have asked for copies of Cape Elizabeth's new policy. "They've seen what we're trying to accomplish and they too are concerned that they have more a formalized approach to it," he said.
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