TO:
Honorable Mayor Powell and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Bruce Moe, Finance Director
Leilani Flores Emnace, Information Systems Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Update on On-Line Civic Engagement Tools and Social Media (Continued from the November 19, 2013 and February 18, 2014 City Council Meetings) (Finance Director Moe).
RECEIVE REPORT
Line
_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council 1) Receive an update on the City's current on-line Civic Engagement Efforts, 2) Receive and File the City's current Social Media Policy.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council has been engaged in efforts to enhance the use of technology to stay connected to City residents and other stakeholders, and subsequently requested that staff present this information to the Council. This has been reflected in a number of Strategic Plan objectives. Staff has been making continuous progress toward the full implementation of the civic engagement objectives. This report will provide an update in the City's on-line civic engagement tools. Also included is the City's Social Media Policy prepared in consultation with the City Attorney's Office. The Social Media Policy was approved administratively in the form of Policy #: A-33 of the Administrative Instruction Manuel dated September 17, 2013 (copy attached).
DISCUSSION:
The City Council's approval of the City's new website included a variety of new functions to enhance on-line civic engagement. In addition, one of the top priorities of our new City Manager is the use of more technology and online tools to supplement the City's civic engagement efforts. To this end, the City will be hiring a new Civic Engagement/Communications Manager to assist with enhancing the efforts noted below as well as implementing new methods to engage with our residents, including two-way communication on our social media sites.
More and more cities are moving towards the use of on-line tools to engage with constituents. The City of Manhattan Beach has already begun some of these efforts. Noted below are the City's current on-line civic engagement tools:
eNews Sign-Up: Since 2007, the City of Manhattan Beach has provided e-mail updates in an effort to improve the timeliness and ease of access to information on the City's web site. Subscribers may sign up for one or all website updates in the areas of the City calendar, City news, job posts and request for proposal (RFP) posts.
The top ten eNotification categories with the most subscribers are as follows:
eNotification Category Subscribers
1. General RFP Posts 930
2. Public Works Project RFP Posts 779
3. Breaking News 748
4. Events and Attractions Calendar 670
5. City Newsletter 650
6. Parks and Recreation News 498
7. Cultural Arts Calendar 452
8. Public Notices News 440
9. Neighborhood Watch News 421
10. Construction Updates News 386
There are 2,020 active subscribers in the eNews Sign-Up system.
Twitter: Twitter is an online social networking service founded in 2006 that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets." In anticipation for the launch of the City's twitter account, twitter.com/citymb was setup in 2009. Applying the distribution (one way communication) approach to social media, in October 2013 twitter.com/citymb went live. City staff has the opportunity to post content to Twitter the same time calendar and news content are posted to the City's website. There is no duplication of effort in posting to Twitter and no additional content review and approvals are needed. In the past year, the City has posted 353 tweets with 423 followers on twitter.
With assistance from the Information Systems Division, the Parks and Recreation Department is developing an engagement approach with the use of Twitter to interact with the parks and recreation community. Since its launch, Parks and Recreation has posted 46 tweets with 31 followers.
Facebook: Founded in 2004, Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them. While the City reserved facebook.com/citymb in 2009, the site went live in October 2013 applying the distribution (one way communication) approach to social media. City staff has the opportunity to post content to Facebook the same time calendar and news content are posted to the City's website. There is no duplication of effort in posting to Facebook and no additional content review and approvals are needed. Since its launch, the city has had 325 likes to its Facebook page.
Instagram: Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service created in 2010 that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on a variety of social networking platforms. In anticipation for the launch of the City's Instagram account, the City of Manhattan Beach has reserved Instagram.com/cityofmb (citymb was already taken).
With assistance from the Information Systems Division, the Parks and Recreation Department is developing its use of Instagram to engage the parks and recreation community. Since its launch, Parks and Recreation has had 41 posts with 109 followers.
Nixle: Nixle offers free and paid notification services for local police departments, county emergency management offices, municipal governments and their agencies. The Nixle service allows government agencies to send messages to local residents via phone, email and web. At present, the Police Department initiates all City Nixle notifications. Other city departments will be using the service in the future for notifications of road closures and employee notification of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) activation. Since the Police Department's launch of Nixle in October 2013, 119 Nixle alerts have been sent. There are 4,878 Nixle subscribers.
OpenGov: To further its goals of increased transparency and citizen engagement, at the November 5th City Council Meeting, the City of Manhattan Beach announced a new financial data platform powered by OpenGov.com. OpenGov provides residents and the public unprecedented access to the City's budget information. The powerful visualization software transforms volumes of raw data into actionable insight and information, enabling better analysis and understanding of the City's budget. The OpenGov platform displays up to five years of government spending and revenue detail in a user-friendly portal directly accessed through the City website or https://manhattanbeachca.opengov.com. The City's historical financial information from fiscal year 2010-2011 to the current year budget is displayed through interactive graphs that easily show revenue and expenses by fund, department, and type. The platform will enable residents to more clearly see how public dollars are collected and spent and bring a new level of transparency and understanding to the City's financials.
GORequest: GORequest by Government Outreach is a hosted web-based Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) software system implemented in 2010. The GORequest solution lets residents submit questions or requests for service directly via the City's website or mobile devices and lets employees directly enter requests received by phone, email, or in-person. The GORequest solution internally referred to as Reach Manhattan Beach or GoReach gives residents 24/7 access to government services while providing staff the tools needed to manage the resolution process and provide automatic updates.
GORequest provides centralized processing of all service requests from citizens as well as employees and is used to process requests in every City Department. In the past year, 5,348 requests were processed through GORequest (Attachment #1). Most service requests, in the amount of 4,538 were for the Public Works Department. The top city requests were as follows:
Service Request Topic Department Requests
1. Parks Maintenance Public Works 1,779
2. Traffic Signs and Markings Public Works 966
3. Street Maintenance and Repair Public Works 709
4. Refuse and Waste Management Public Works 310
5. Traffic Control Measures Community Development 227
6. Job Interest Card Human Resources 173
7. Street Light Public Works 161
8. Graffiti and Vandalism Public Works 102
9. Sidewalk Maintenance Public Works 67
10. Tree and Shrub Maintenance Public Works 66
The mobile version of GORequest is feature reach; in addition to creating and tracking citizen requests, constituents also have access to:
- Register for Activities
- Pay Water Bill
- Pay Parking Ticket
- View the City Calendar
- View City News
- Find Parks (in a graphical interactive map)
- Find Parking (in a graphical interactive map)
- Review Lost Pets
- View the City Website
- View the City's FAQ Database
There are 6,661 constituent unique accounts registered in the GORequest system. There are also over 300 service requests initiated anonymously (not tied to an account).
MB Forum: MB Forum (also referred as SpeakupManhattanBeach) by Granicus is a hosted web-based solution. The solution provides the public the means to communicate feedback and receive information. SpeakupManhattanBeach is a way for constituents to find out about ongoing city projects, create/share/vote on citizen-generated ideas, and connect with others that share interests. MB Forum has several components which include:
- Forums: Forums are created and monitored by City of Manhattan Beach staff who are collecting ideas tailored around specific topics or initiatives.
- Ideas: Ideas can be posted and shared with the online community to help garner votes and attention.
- Meetings: Meetings contain agendas for City of Manhattan Beach's upcoming public meetings that are open for public comment (see eComment section below).
MB Forum, was activated in October 2013 with a soft roll-out featuring the ability for interested persons to provide general comments or ideas. In the future, rather than a general comment or idea solicitation, the City may consider a question of the week each week, or questions or topics for comments and discussion could be changed on a regular basis as needed or desired. For this to be an effective communications vehicle, City staff will need to respond to or acknowledge comments as they are posted.
eComment: eComment is the Meetings component of MB Forum whereby interested parties can click on the eComment link and comment on a City Council agenda item. When an agenda is posted (on the City's website) constituents have an opportunity for public comment on an agenda item without having to appear in person or send a separate email to the Mayor and Council Members. eComment closes 24 hours in advance of the start time of the City Council meeting. Any comments received are provided to the City Council electronically and in writing prior the meeting.
Civic Engagement Approach
With the launch of the updated website and other civic engagement tools discussed above, City staff will work on publicizing the availability of these methods to stay connected and provide input. Also, with City Council's approval of the Communication/Civic Engagement Manager position, the City will be in a better position to engage with its constituents. The Communication/Civic Engagement Manager will assist the City Manager and City Council with creating and integrating a comprehensive communication strategy program. This person will develop and manage a communication plan that collaboratively utilizes community engagement, intergovernmental partnerships, innovative marketing programs, and social media technology to support City initiatives and promote government transparency. With a plan and resources, Facebook and Twitter may shift from the distribution approach to social media to an engaged approach. Additionally, the tools that have not yet been widely publicized or promoted will have dedicated staff to engage and communicate with City constituents. It is expected that the use of Twitter, Facebook, MB Forum, and other social media tools and services will increase.
Social Media
The Social Media Policy (Attachment #2) provides guidance to staff regarding the use of social media. The use of social media and other technology such as MB Forum come with constraints specific to government including compliance with the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, and free speech requirements. It is expected that the Social Media Policy will have to be updated as the City makes more use of these vehicles and in order to keep current with legislative and court mandated changes.
CONCLUSION:
The implementation of new ways to stay connected with our residents and the business community through technology represents an exciting opportunity for Manhattan Beach. City staff is committed to enhance civic engagement. Staff welcomes City Council's input and direction in civic engagement and social media.
Attachment:
1. GORequest Citizen Service Requests 10/1/2013 to 11/1/2014
2. Social Media Policy