Banff’s municipal online action request forms will see a small change in the new year with the ability for the public to provide general feedback.
Currently, forms available at Banff.ca function as an immediate method for citizens to inform their municipal government of an operational issue – for example, a burnt out street light or a pothole.
But with a direction from Banff council at its final meeting of the year, the form will soon include the ability of residents to provide general comments, although they shouldn’t expect immediate action on them.
While regular action requests are responded to by staff in two business days, general feedback will be provided to council and summarized at service review.
Mayor Karen Sorensen made the motion to direct administration to change the form, saying she would like to give citizens an easy method of providing general feedback.
“I don’t see the harm of having the general feedback section here,” she said. “To me it would make sense.
“As much as I understand a feedback section on here would create work, I don’t know why we wouldn’t have a place where the public would use this to provide feedback. We use Facebook and Twitter, people are already giving us feedback in different ways now.”
Councillor Stavros Karlos said the action request forms are not an effective way to gauge broad input and that type of feedback does not result in an actual response. He said changes might dilute a system that works well to get actions accomplished.
“I don’t expect anybody to be able to respond through actions,” Sorensen responded. “It needs to be clear this is general feedback and I appreciate it will be accumulated and council will receive it.”
Coun. Ted Christiansen suggested it be made clear to those using the forms for general concerns that their input and names are considered public information as it is submitted to council.
“I think it would perhaps make people consider the tone or the clarity of their feedback,” he said.
Senior communications specialist Larissa Barlow briefed council on the action request system’s use by the community.
“The system continues in its popularity for residents to quickly report an issue to the Town,” Barlow said. “Staff also use the system to issue reports to other departments.”
According to the briefing report, staff use the system primarily to request services from building maintenance or operations, response is immediate from an automatically generated email, and staff respond to requests within two business days.
Barlow said as of the end of November, 922 requests have been submitted this year compared to 850 in 2014 and 786 in 2013.
Sorensen praised the online request form, saying in her personal experience many people who stop her on the street or give her a call are raising concerns that can be addressed through that system and she directs them towards it.
“I think there has been a real improvement in the consistency of how these are handled, which is what we are after,” she added.
While some residents continue to come into Town Hall instead of using the request form, Town Manager Robert Earl said the online request forms are a great method for tracking areas of concern.
“We want all citizens to use the action request form,” Earl said. “It allows us to capture the volume of feedback in many different areas. It works best when individuals directly connect with it.”
But in an effort to get the complete picture of citizen requests to administration, council directed staff to come back with a report outlining a summary of all action requests – including in person and over the phone.
