Communication and transparency are two things that came up countless times on the campaign trail of the 2020 municipal election.

Voters and candidates alike stressed their desire to see more of both, and they're both things Okotoks' mayor and council are working on facilitating.

Despite how common the desire for more communication has been in town, it's not for lack of trying.

Mayor Tanya Thorn has carried on holding live Q&As on Facebook, something Mayor Bill Robertson held regularly, though low attendance and the lack of back-and-forth conversation have left her searching for other ways to communicate with residents.

"They're good, it's a great way to disseminate information, but I like the more interactive events. Just the conversation, people having a conversation back and forth, ensuring I've understood their question, they've understood my answer, and that we've actually got an effective process there."

Low uptake with things like surveys, live Q&A's and other public engagement events are something the town has been seeing for a few years.

While those events and opportunities are often made available for members of the public, if people don't know about them, they can't serve their purpose.

"We're the link from the community to administration, and if we're not able to share that information out, it tends to result in people thinking there's no transparency. I think there is a lot of transparency in our organization, but it comes down to where people can access information. If we, as council, all are putting out information, whether it's on our own mediums or through the Facebook lives I do on the town site, it touches a broader group of our community," says Thorn.

With a few town councillors now operating Facebook pages of their own, there are plans to utilize them as a way to spread town information and engage with members of the public.

Having a two-way mode of communication is important for Thorn, which is why social media is likely to continue to play a big role in town communication

It also provides immediacy, which is beneficial, considering how people engage with social media.

"We've become, as a society, everything is in five-second segments. That's how quickly we're processing information, so if you don't grab their attention within five seconds, they've moved into something else. How do you break through that? What information is relevant? What you want to know from me as to what's happening at the council table and what the guy down the street wants to know could be two very different things, so if you're not coming to the table to ask those questions, I might not hit on what you want to know," says Thorn.

Regardless of how visible and available these engagement opportunities are though, it comes down to people taking the town up on these opportunities.

"At the end of the day, it's our role as elected officials to ensure we put the information out. What residents choose to do or not do with that information, we can't do anything about that. As long as we're putting the information out, whether it's through the town as an organization or us doing it as elected officials, that's our role to that point, but if people don't come to the other side of that, we can't do anything about that, I can't knock on every door and say 'hey did you get this information and is this what you wanted to know?'"

 

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