Agenda - Council Work Session - 04/19/2011

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To overcome these challenges, it will be important for the City to involve property owners and local opinion leaders in the policy's creation and implementation. Specifically, HHI recommends the City consider implementing a public information and engagement program through the end of 2011 to: ■ Inform residents, businesses and other property owners about the long-term challenges that lie ahead for Ramsey's roads, and how the community will be impacted without a proactive approach ■ Engage Ramsey property owners in a public discussion about potential policy and funding options ■ Build public support for establishing a road reconstruction and long-term funding policy ■ If a policy is approved, increase property owner awareness about the new policy and how it will affect them To work toward accomplishing these goals, HHI recommends the following approach: Step 1— Research — Design research to identify: ■ What residents know/perceive about the city's road maintenance needs and potential policy solutions ■ Information gaps and what information residents need or want to make informed decisions ■ How best to communicate that information to residents ■ Also, test community attitudes/satisfaction with city services and other issues Specifically, the research would include: ■ Online/media scan of 3-4 other municipalities that have taken a similar long-term approach to road maintenance to learn from their successes, failures and messages ■ Public opinion survey that involves a 30 -question telephone survey among a randomly -selected sample of 300 adults in Ramsey. The sample would provide an accuracy rate of +/- 6.0% at the 95% confidence level. HHI would design, manage and analyze the public opinion research. We recommend working with Decision Resources, Ltd. to develop survey samples, conduct telephone interviews and tabulate data. ■ Present public opinion results/analysis during a meeting in Ramsey (up to 2 hours) with City staff and/or council members. Step 2 — Messaging and Public Information Plan — Based on the research, develop a plan for a public information and engagement program to be largely implemented by City staff and officials. The plan will include goals, audiences, a strategic overview and key messages, as well as outline public information and engagement strategies and related tactics. To accomplish this, HHI would: ■ Draft a public information plan to include the sections outlined above for implementation during calendar year 2011; review and finalize plan in cooperation with Ramsey staff ■ General talking points document, including information for specific stakeholder groups as needed 2 ru•o r. FF ■vr Ka • rm A!. K v Yrr]Hr