Can you hear me now?
By Chris Wilkerson
Good communication on behalf of a government body is essential to addressing the concerns of its citizens. When checking the City of Folly Beach’s web site for information on the council meetings regarding the reconstruction of City Hall there is nothing; not even on the calendar. But lots of information about the Christmas Parade and a nice letter from the mayor are easy to find. One can argue about which is more important, but when it come to spending millions of the city’s money (potentially), one would hope that these meetings would be important enough to at least mention on the web site or a blurb in the Sandspur or Folly Current. Evidently they are not.
Lately, communicating with residents in regard to special City Council work sessions to which the public is invited to attend and comment has been reduced to a two day notice put up at the post office. On November 10, the City Council scheduled a special meeting on November 19. At that meeting they scheduled another special meeting for December 10. Neither were advertised on the website. Advertising required residents to stop by the post office or City Hall to find out.
Some say, “well the staff is overworked and they don’t have the time.” But again, referring to the web site, if there is time to write up the Christmas Parade and the mayor has time to post his monthly letter, there is time to post something about special City Council meetings that public should be attending. There were at least three weeks in between these last two meetings so there was plenty of time to get the information out about the first meeting and the date for the next publicized. This lack of notification has made me wonder if there is some reason why the public is not being informed about these meetings until the last minute. There was no problem letting people know about the special meeting about the trash issue. What’s happened between then and now? Special Council work sessions with public comment should also be held at times when more residents can attend. Most of our council is retired or self employed and have the luxury of meeting early in the day. Early meetings leavemany residents who work unable to attend. The December 10 meeting focused on the City Hall and Public Safety expansion was scheduled for 4pm in addition to the lack of public communication.
To say that our city is technologically challenged when it comes to communication is putting it nicely. We are stuck in a time warp. Putting up a notice at the post office is quaint and a nice reminder to look at when we get our mail, but we also need the ability to sign up for email notifications on the City’s web site and the residents must be informed of what is happening on a timely basis. We still don’t have an effective emergency notification system and if there was ever anything we wanted to throw some money at, that should be it. I know council and staff feel overwhelmed, but it is time for a formal Communications Plan to improve the relationships between the Council, Public Services, Administration, staff, business’s, clubs, committees and most importantly, the residents. An effective Communication Plan will enhance the way we work and live and enable our city government to work more efficiently. What is our priority as a City?
Furthermore, the lack of communication leads to an “us versus them” mentality or in this case, more like the Surf Bar versus The Crab Shack. I’m sure it’s too late for this Council, as it is, to heal the obvious fissures. Using a facilitator to help with these special meetings that address the trash issue and City Hall reconstruction was a good idea and enabled our crippled counsel to move ahead. I have no doubt that the Mayor and every Council member work with the best interests of Folly Beach at heart and I commend them for taking on these, all but, volunteer positions. In the future, the Mayor and Council need to take advantage of every opportunity to reach out and use every resource available to keep each other and the residents informed and involved. Let’s hope the next batch can do that.
