Waikato District Council is asking its community to tell them how they want to be involved in Council decision-making, as feedback opens the Council’s Significance and Engagement Policy.
“When you hear the word policy, I understand that your mind may wander,” says Melissa Russo, Council’s Corporate Planning Team Leader. “Developing policy might not be the most exciting work that we do, but it’s actually really important. The Significance and Engagement Policy, for instance, sets out when, how and what stuff, we will engage with you on,” she says.
“Knowing how and when communities want to be engaged is vitally important, as if we get it wrong, our community is pretty quick to let us know.”
“We want to do better at this, we want to hear your voice and make sure we’re talking to you and passing information to you in ways that actually suit YOU. Through this consultation we want to know how you like to keep up to date with what’s going on at Council and what you think of the policy and the changes we’re proposing.”
“Getting this nailed is particularly important right now as we move towards consulting on our Long Term Plan for the next decade. Council is always consulting on something - we know this can be tiring, but we always want to know what you think about what we propose. It’s your community and your future after all,” Ms Russo says.
You can check out the Significance and Engagement Policy at our new consultation website, Shape Waikato. You’ll be able to see what we're proposing to change and why, and tell us your thoughts. We’re also running a poll so you can tell us how you'd like us to engage and communicate with you.
Through Shape Waikato you can sign up to receive notifications based on the topics you’re interested in or by location. We’ll then let you know when consultation related to these topics is coming up or opens so you can get involved and participate in Council decision-making.
Consultation is open on the Significance and Engagement Policy from today until 5pm, 26 September 2020.
For more information and to view the policy visit www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/sayit.
ENDS
For more information please contact:Teresa Hancock
Senior Communications & Engagement Advisor
Waikato District Council
027 706 5776
communications@waidc.govt.nz
