The City of Hampton has already received accolades for its Hampton Youth Civic Engagement program, where nearly two decades after its inception, the program is still in operation and recognized as a national model for fostering civic engagement. A study of Hampton’s college-age residents has found they outperform peer groups in three key measures of citizenship: the ability to engage in civic discourse, passion for their community and leadership skills. Fewer families are fleeing the city, crime is down and Hampton’s voting rate is about 20 percent higher than similar communities.
Hampton has also been named one of the top digital cities in America, and its Mayor has started her own social media connection with citizens on The Mayor’s Blog.
It only made sense that the next logical step in the engagement evolution would be for the Hampton City Council to adopt a new citizen-friendly participation format for its public meetings. The “Audience Granted to the Public” portion of the meeting, which has traditionally taken place at the end of the meeting, will now be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The normal business meeting time for public hearings and other transactional business will remain at 7 p.m.
Both the “Audience Granted to the Public” and the business meeting sessions will continue to be televised. However, the earlier time for the “Audience Granted to the Public” session will provide a more predictable and convenient opportunity for residents to be heard.
This new format aligns with Council’s ongoing commitment to focus on citizen engagement. All Council Members embrace the citizen engagement which occurs at Council meetings and other civic events. However, they shared a concern that the current format of Council meetings has required citizens to wait until the end of the Council session to be heard. The ending time of the Council business meeting varies from meeting to meeting and, at times, is very late in the evening. These factors are barriers for some residents’ participation. By providing a more convenient time for participation, the City of Hampton hopes to increase citizen engagement even more.
Another added benefit to the change is that residents will have the opportunity to address matters of concern with City Council members before the business meeting portion of the agenda. While residents will still be allowed to speak during the 7 p.m. business portion of the meeting for public hearing items, this earlier “Audience Granted to the Public” time will allow residents to address any item on the Council agenda (such as consent agenda items) before Council consideration at the business portion of the meeting.
The new “Audience Granted to the Public” approach will begin at the Wednesday, February 10 meeting. There will also be a transitional period during the month of February that will allow speakers who were not aware of the change to speak at the end of the business meeting.
Tell us more about positive government and citizen connections being made in Hampton Roads at Contact@HRP.org.
1 comment
Joan Charles
February 16, 2010 at 3:46 pm (UTC -4)
I truly wish I could give you more positive government citizen engagement in Hampton. I cannot.
If the City of Hampton had engaged the citizens before making a decision to change the order of meetings it would have surprised them. Many can not go from work to a Council Meeting by 6 PM. But what is sad about this situation is if there are more speakers than the one hour allows, they will not be heard. It is the straw that will break the camel’s back. We are already limited to three minutes and Council only meets for public comment once a month … the only jurisdiction in Hampton Roads doing so.