The Flagstaff Community Forum, an online civic engagement platform hosted by Peak Democracy, Inc. was launched in December 2015. Staff will provide a presentation on the administration, features and uses for the new platform.

COUNCIL GOALS:
8) Improve effectiveness of notification, communication, and engagement with residents, neighborhoods and businesses and about City services, programs, policies, projects and developments

Introduction
The Flagstaff Community Forum, an online civic engagement platform hosted by Peak Democracy, Inc. was launched in December 2015. The Forum will enhance public participation opportunities in the City by providing a centralized place for citizens to engage about City policy and project discussions without having to attend a formal public meeting. The topics are generated by City staff, commissions, and Council for the purpose of public participation in government decision-making.

Currently, the City of Flagstaff has multiple contracts for website development and applications on a project-by project basis. Mind-Mixer was used for the Flagstaff Regional Plan and Survey Monkey is used by multiple departments as two examples. In addition, there are 39 social media accounts, which also solicit feedback and comments on City programs. Each project and social media account has to work to build a base for the project or program, resulting in duplicated outreach efforts. The Flagstaff Community Forum offers an opportunity for department staffs to build on each other’s outreach efforts because a visitor only has to register and subscribe once, instead of liking 3 social media pages and having multiple accounts in order to provide comments and input on City governance.

Support from Peak Democracy
As part of the subscription to the platform the City also receives extensive technical support from Peak Democracy. Peak Democracy does all of the website management, except for the creation of the initial portal, which means the Communications and IT departments are not taking on more work as part of maintaining and operating the platform. Peak Democracy will provide webinar trainings for staff using the website and monthly updates on new platform features and tips for engaging the public. Peak Democracy will also help new users post topics with one-on-one support. For instance, a city staff member who is not a trained topic administrator can send a request to Peak Democracy, through Public Affairs or Comprehensive Planning, and Peak Democracy staff will create the topic for them, without significantly impacting staff time. This feature of the contract adds capacity to our ability to conduct timely outreach efforts.

Management by City Staff
Communications, Comprehensive Planning and the Legal staff all have site administration access to the platform. This team will be working to solicit new topics, review controversial issues, and help staff who haven’t used the platform create new content. The team will also be responsible for reviewing comments that do not meet the participation guidelines for being posted on the forum. The team will also coordinate a training for City staff in February or March and provide support for new topic administrators.

Forum topics
The Peak Democracy platform offers 11 topic types and this list will grow over time. (See attachment for samples of what each type looks like.) Whenever Flagstaff or another city on the platform requests a new type or feature be created Peak Democracy can add it to the list available to all its clients. Flagstaff staff can also use a knowledge database to see if any other City in the US or Canada has created a similar topic on the platform. Form there we can borrow or customize the topic for Flagstaff’s needs. The 11 topic types available currently on the Peak Democracy Platform are:

• Formal feedback – Collects comments from participants without inviting them to support other participant’s comments.
• Feedback with support– collect comments from participants allowing them to support other participant’s comments.
• Idea – Invite citizens to post one or more ideas. Citizens can be given the option to place their ideas on a map and/or comment on ideas (similar to Mind-Mixer or my Sidewalk).
• Poll – collect responses to a quick poll along with optional comments.
• Budget- Invite citizens to allocate dollars or percentage points among goals that you specify.
• Priority list –Invite citizens to prioritize a list of items by dragging the items up and down the list.
• Area Plan – Invite citizens to drop place type markers on an area plan map to indicate the kind of land use they want to see.
• Survey – Collect survey responses.
• Blog topic – Traditional blog format in which posts articles, and citizens can be invites to comment on those articles.
• Annotation topic – Invite citizens to annotate a document or photo that staff has created (such as proposed code updates).
• Photo topic – Invite citizens to post a photo.

All topics also allow for videos, interactive maps and other multimedia materials to be included in the introductions to the topic, which can enhance the users understanding of the topic and improve accuracy of responses. There is also a public kiosk mode that allows staff to administer surveys and participation exercises at events and public meetings.  When in public kiosk mode, individuals can submit their comments and decide at a later time whether or not they want to register for the site by providing their name and address.

Participation and Satisfaction
In the first month, City staff have posted 2 topics: a survey for the Blueprint 2040: Regional Transportation Plan update and a priority list for input on future specific plans. These two topics have brought over 250 visitors to the site. The Blueprint 2040 survey has almost 200 responses, about half those respondents have chosen to register and post their topic on forum.

Satisfaction with the site is currently at 88% (61 satisfaction survey respondents). Nationally, Peak Democracy averages a 91% satisfaction rate. Of the 8 participants who were dissatisfied, 6 submitted a reason why. Four people were concerned about the privacy and security of registering, one was dissatisfied with the question in the survey not giving enough flexibility and one stated they did not have enough experience with the site to be satisfied. Staff has also received a few off-forum questions related to security and concerns that the topics posted are too narrowly focused. Of those satisfied with the website ease of use, new opportunity for giving input, and compatibility with current technology (smart phones and tablets) were the top reasons given for satisfaction.
Participation Guidelines
The Forum is a place for the discussion of proposed City projects and upcoming policy topics related to local government in the City and its partner agencies. To ensure that all voices are heard and that forum participants are able to speak freely about the posted topics, participants who register to use the forum must agree to not post disruptive statements. When users register they must agree to the participation guidelines which describe disruptive statements and the process for resolving them. These guidelines have be customized by the City and reviewed by legal staff.

Budget Implications
The subscription to Peak Democracy's platform from October 2015 to October 2016 was paid for by carry over money from the Regional Plan update. This will allow City staff 1 year to test the efficiency of the product and its usefulness. Currently, three departments and two partner agencies are set up to use the platform.  Future funding for the subscription will be submitted as a recurring cost in the FY17 budget request for Public Affairs. The cost is between $8,000-$9,000 depending on the number of years the City is willing to commit to the platform.