MSU Extension Community

Michigan State University Extension Educators often work with local organizations on projects that involve the public and therefore need to be more creatively designed to ensure effectiveness. There is an art to involving the public, but this article includes some suggested guidelines in planning these types of meetings.

Public participation is important for successful community development and positive change. There are three levels of public participation described in “A Ladder of Participation” by Sherry Amstein (Journal of the American Planning Association, 1969).  Amstein divides public participation into three levels:

• Non participation: When the public is generally uninformed, or the “participation” is only the public hearing at the end of the process.
• Tokenism: Public might be informed, consulted, but does not participate in policy making – the public does not really participate in or actually write the plan.
• Citizen Power: The public participates actively in planning and policy making.

A community can increase the level of public participation by making sure their participation will truly make a difference -- done at the “Citizen Power” level. When people are empowered to be able write the plan, many choose to participate and stayed with the project to the very end. This involvement requires the local organization, planning commission, economic development office, elected body, to recognize the value of public comments.  It means whatever the committee(s) of stakeholders agreed to, that would be part of the plan. It is important to bring together people who represent different stakeholder groups and viewpoints to discuss critical issues and reach consensus on decisions represented in the final plan.

Consider obstacles that may prevent or make it hard for people to participate. There are also some basic meeting logistics to be followed.  Some are suggestions (optional), some are necessary for truly successful meetings (important), and some are mandated by law according to the Open Meetings Act (required).

1) Create a list of key people to invite. Be sure to identify and include:

1. Individuals from each geographic area of the community (important).
2. Individuals who represent each topic/aspect of the planning project (important).
3. Compare your participants with the U.S. Censusdata to have roughly the same proportions of people for each racial and ethnic group in the community (important).
4. Compare your participants with U.S. Censusdata to have roughly the same proportions of people in various economic income levels (optional).
5. Make sure all possible viewpoints are represented (important).

2) Send a formal letter of invitation (important). For all public meetings, be sure to post information about the meeting according to the Open Meetings Act (required). You may read more about the Open Meetings Act in the related article: https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/open_meetings_act  

1. Promote opportunities for public participation with one-on-one contact (optional). Meet with civic organizations, special interest groups or advocacy organizations to personally explain what the project is, why it is important, and extend a personal invitation to participate.

3) Poll participants to select the meeting dates and times that are convenient for them for the first meeting (optional). Offer several dates and ask them to contact you back for which one’s work, or use a Doodle poll to select the date.

4) Sometimes it is going to be multiple meetings. Again let the participants select the date by return contact or Doodle poll (optional). 

1. Sometimes If it is not practical for the participants to select the date, include future meeting dates, time and location(s) in the invitation letter (optional). Remember to tell participants that they help make the decisions. Involve them as much as possible when deciding meeting logistics (important). Be aware of the subtle message being conveyed when one cannot let go of the decision to set the meeting dates.
2. Stick to the selected dates and times (important). Changing dates without consulting others conveys a subtle message that group decisions will not be honored.
3. Take into account what times people work in a community, when other major community events are occurring (important). If many work out-of-town, or many work second or third shift, then events may need to be held at differing times of the day.
4. Once a date is set even if done at a meeting of the group, send a “save the date” to all members (important). Do not assume those at the meeting wrote the date down. Also need to communicate the next meeting date to those that were absent.
5. Have regular recurring dates (like the third Tuesday of each month) so future meetings can be scheduled (optional). Be respectful that people have busy calendars and they need to know dates far ahead to hold them in their calendar (important).

5) Once the first meeting is established, communicate again to confirm attendance. Send out a reminder and répondez, s'il vous plaît (RSVP) before each meeting (important). Do not assume because they responded to pick a date means they already committed to attend. They did not. The question was “what date works best?” Now the question is “will you attend?” It is two separate communications. It is important to know how many handouts to provide, numbers of chairs, tables, refreshments, and overall meeting room setup. 

6) Send the agenda a week before each meeting with any reading or other work needed to be prepared for the meeting (important). This might be combined with the RSVP (optional). Consider how far ahead of the meeting this needs to be sent out. It may be that people need it before the weekend before the meeting, as weekends are the only time in one’s busy schedule one has to read material.

7) For the actual meeting:

1. Offer child care during the meeting time at the same location (optional). This is especially important if young families or those with fewer economic resources are a significant part of the population.
2. The meeting location should be barrier-free and meet ADA standards(important).
3. Are translators and/or sign language interpreters needed? Are these services advertised? This is important in areas where a population exists with a dominant second language.

8) Try to never cancel a meeting (important). If critical work has not happened, provide an update with revised timeline for completion. Carefully consider cancellation due to weather, and not based only on school closings. Canceling meetings when schools close due to weather is a poor idea. Schools often close because of higher safety concerns for children and because school buses. On those days adults still have to go to work (which includes your meeting). Weather-related closures might be declared when retail or governmental offices close.

9) Have a meeting sign-in sheet for attendance (important). After the first meeting, compare the attendance list with the geographic, racial, ethnic, economic, and representation of viewpoints (number one, above).  Work to supplement more participation where shortfalls occur (important).

10) Instead of large planning meetings, consider local or smaller group meetings with neighborhood groups, special interest groups, or citizen committees (optional). You may also use an “open house” format, where the public can drop by to give their input throughout a longer time period.

11) Provide timely, clear, and accurate information on the planning process and the meeting purpose. It is very important to be highly organized. This conveys a sense of “success” and people like to join and participate in successful projects (important).

12) Once the meeting has concluded, follow up with participants and let them know how their input is being used and thank them for their contribution (optional).