Minutes - Council Work Session - 07/17/2007

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Councilmember Look commented that one of the problems is that there were televised work sessions and they were taken away, and he thinks people have a big problem with that. He would be interested in knowing who gets cable, who does not, who uses satellite, and who uses both if they can. He agrees in making every effort they can to get everyone their desired form of information. There is a benefit to seeing the Council in a casual atmosphere in work session, and that they are ordinary residents hammering at hard issues. However, if there will only be 50 people watching the work sessions he would not want to spend the additional money. Consensus of the Council was to direct staff to proceed with conducting a survey to determine the form of communication desired by the residents and the topics of interest. Councilmember Strommen suggested a professional survey. Councilmember Dehen stated he does think the survey needs to be done professiona:lly. Councilmember Jeffrey noted that residents who respond to the survey and indicate they would like things emailed electronically to them can be informed about subscribing on the City website, and the newsletter could be emailed to those residents. Councilmember Look stated there is a company in the City that has a phone bank, and their business is to telephone people. He would volunteer his time to make calls to the residents. Mayor Pro Tern Elvig stated he would be against having councilmembers making the phone calls. He noted one option would be to offer an incentive for residents that respond to the survey. 4) Communications Plan Interim City Administrator Nelson noted this item was discussed with the last agenda item. The current external and internal communication efforts the City has in place are included in the Council's packet. She informed Council that at some point staff would like to bring someone in from outside to look at what the City does from a communication perspective, and whether there is a way things can be redirected in a better way. Councilmember Strommen noted it is a goal of the City to provide a clear message to the residents. This information could be included on the City website. The Council has discussed the communications coordinator position, and part of the reason she believes it was right to pull back on that is that they were looking for more of that culture change. They have taken strides towards that. Secondly is having an idea of what this person would be responsible for. Mayor Pro Tern Elvig questioned if the position would be for a communications person or a marketing person with communication as their goal. Councilmember Strommen stated communication is what the Council wants. City Council Work Session / July 17, 2007 Page 10 of 12