County Still Struggles to Communicate

In our last issue, writer Andrew Phillips looked at the possibilities for government using social media sites like Facebook to keep in touch with constituents, and he found that most have reservations about it.

Many of those concerns are well-founded (legal questions especially), but the larger question I keep coming back to is how do we do a better job of opening the lines of communication in our communities? With more methods available than ever before to talk to each other, there’s little excuse for the failure to get information to the public. When government gets stubborn (“Hey, people can come to meetings if they want to know what’s going on,” is a tired, lazy excuse I’ve heard all too often over the years.) it only makes for wasted time and bad decisions. The Gills Rock marina discussion, room tax, Egg Harbor marina, Sister Bay fire station, and last year’s Baileys Harbor town core controversy were all issues that could have gone far smoother with better, more pro-active communication with constituents.

Sometimes it takes an extra step – phone calls to specific citizens to invite them to a meeting when they might have insight on a discussion item or project, or a post on Facebook inviting the opinion of teens about what they’d like to see at the beach or park – to get more involvement. An especially crucial step is to invite the input of those who may have an opinion that dissents from the majority.

Robert Kufrin of Sister Bay has taken the extra step often, sending out a short email in layman’s terms with a little more info about the ramifications of an agenda item. Ben Meyer, when he was a member of Sturgeon Bay’s common council, did a fantastic job of informing citizens about what the council was discussing through regular emails. He laid out what at least some of the pros and cons of certain decisions might be, and most importantly, took the discussion beyond government jargon and legalese. He asked for and invited input, which is much different than simply sitting back and accepting it if it comes.

John Lowry of Liberty Grove began compiling a regular column of updates from the town when he became chairman, which we publish in each issue of the Pulse. It seems that this and other steps the town has taken in the last year have cleared the air a bit in a community where tempers were flaring only a year ago.

Unfortunately, there are many in local government who still believe that it’s the people’s job to come to them, not their responsibility to take the government to the people.

NOTE: An earlier version of this article identified Ben Meyer as a former member of the Sister Bay common council, not Sturgeon Bay. We regret the error.