 Public Invovlement Techniques
There are seven general public involvement techniques, as
well as hybrids that include aspects of several different
techniques.
Public Hearings – Usually, public hearings are required
by law and advertised broadly. They provide assurances that
government officials hear citizen comment. The risk with a
public hearing is that project supporters rarely attend, giving
the opposition a perfect opportunity to load the room. In
a highly emotional climate, it’s virtually impossible
to obtain input that will actually help shape a project.
Public Meetings – Often these include a presentation
in an auditorium, followed by a question-and-answer session.
The authors believe a public meeting works best when coupled
with a brief open house at the start of the meeting. The open
house, described below, allows the project team to meet and
greet the public, identify hot topics and address the public’s
issue in the presentation. When the project team feeds back
what was heard from the public, it shows they are listening
and can take the wind out of some angry sails. The risk is
that a question and answer session promotes grandstanding.
If a mob mentality takes over, angry constituents can easily
disrupt the meeting. To combat this, a strong meeting facilitator
is required to establish and enforce ground rules. Regardless
of the audience, ground rules are important to ensure all
citizens have an opportunity to be heard.
Open Houses – An open house offers no presentation,
but uses display boards, or continuous loop video to provide
project information. Stations are staffed by the project team.
The public can "drop in" any time during the open
house and talk to team members individually or in small groups.
It is a helpful technique in either introducing a project
or showing final outcomes. But, the risk is that the public
can perceive it as a "divide and conquer" strategy.
Activists will usually seek an opportunity to grandstand,
and an open house format does not permit this to occur.
Neighborhood Meetings – At the neighborhood level, meetings
help the team get close to the community and can help the
team discuss the facts in a less emotional atmosphere. For
a large community, this can be a very time-intensive technique,
requiring dozens of meetings.
Ad Hoc Committees – These groups are formed to help
with a specific task, such as developing siting criteria,
and then disbanded. While the technique allows stakeholders
to take some ownership of the results, it usually does so
without giving them a mandate to represent all citizens on
all aspects of the project.
One-on-ones – The authors prefer to use individual meetings
early in the project. For example, a project team will meet
with homeowner association presidents, either individually
or in small groups of three or four. It is an excellent way
to gather intelligence and identify topics, issues and even
other stakeholders. This information can then be built into
project materials and presentations.
Advisory Board – An advisory board is most helpful for
non-controversial topics and in early brainstorming stages.
Unlike ad hoc committees, an advisory board has long-term,
official standing and can become an extremely powerful adversary.
Techniques for Obtaining Input
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