Know your context
A waterfront City of 30,000 in Solano County, CA, Benicia is known for its small-town charm, history, and high quality of life. However, the idyllic image and commitment to public health is juxtaposed with the presence of a major oil refinery, established in 1968. While the refinery provides jobs and significant tax revenue to the community, it also brings tension.
Past controversies, particularly a contentious crude-by-rail project, had eroded trust between the community and the government. Della Olm: “Even though it never got approved, residents felt their best interest was not really being considered during the project and the government's handling of it left a bitter taste.”
The formation of various community groups, each with distinct perspectives from advocating for public health and safety to focusing on economic interests, would make any further engagement on this topic challenging. The entrenched positions of some groups, combined with varying levels of understanding, could hinder productive dialogue.
The city set out to develop this industrial safety ordinance or ISO, a city law regulating industrial facilities that fall within certain categories to ensure that they're safe, more transparent, and that the community gets more notifications about what's going on. But they also recognized the challenges ahead. It was clear that a carefully crafted engagement strategy would be essential.
Della: “Our goal was not just to check a box but to genuinely engage the community and use their input to inform the ISO. By building public trust and incorporating their insights, we aimed to create an effective and authentic policy that reflects the community’s needs.”
“When developing an engagement strategy, it’s crucial to understand your community's unique context. Consider the decades or even centuries of history that have shaped it, its demographics, and the outcomes of past engagement efforts. This understanding will provide valuable insights.”
Sophie Zinn - Government Success Manager, North America
Inclusive and transparent dialogue, made possible by a powerful engagement platform
The city focused on creating a meaningful and inclusive experience for all stakeholders, and Go Vocal's engagement platform played a crucial role in this. With the Engage Benicia platform, the city provided a user-friendly and accessible online space for residents to engage with the project and one another.
Della: “We know that some loud voices dominate public meetings. We see this, especially, with polarizing topics - the engaged people have often been involved for a long time. We wanted to include the average resident, the parent who can't attend every 7 PM city council meeting because it's right between dinner and bedtime, and college students who don't have time between classes and their part-time jobs.”
To ensure a diverse range of perspectives, Benicia encouraged residents to participate through various methods. They could fill out a survey, leave their ideas on an online idea wall, and provide direct feedback on the draft ordinance using our document annotation method.
In addition to online engagement, the city organized in-person meetings to provide opportunities for face-to-face interaction and dialogue. Della: “To invite people who have a harder time engaging online, like seniors or those with different abilities, I ensured that in every single message that went out, I included my direct phone number. Seniors are comfortable speaking on the phone, which is an important engagement tool. Inviting them to a physical place to meet and speak with you was huge.”
Removing barriers for participation
The City of Benicia was acutely aware of the potential barriers to participation in the process. They used the Go Vocal platform to their advantage, enabling inclusive and accessible engagement.
- They made the issue relatable and understandable. Obviously, this is a really complicated issue. People may not understand what an ISO is, and it makes them want to stand back and not jump in to engage. Della: “But if you show them that actually, this does directly affect their health, the health of their children or aging parents, you’ll also hear from them.”
Della: “To give an example, we would start conversations like: “Remember, a few months ago we had that hydrogen sulfide leak, and it smelled like rotten eggs in our community for three days? That's what we're talking about.”
The Go Vocal platform also gives you the possibility to share the information a community member needs in various formats to guarantee informed participation. This approach helped to bridge the gap between abstract policy discussions and the concrete realities of community life.
- They eliminated the need to register. Della: “From previous initiatives we learned that folks get really overwhelmed once they have to make a password and they have to do all these different things, like Google Authenticator or whatever. That was really forming a barrier, and we had gotten feedback like ‘Well, you don't want my input on this because you would make it easier if you actually did.’
- They made it possible to participate anonymously. Anonymous participation can be the key to unlocking engagement on topics that your community is divided on. Della: “We wanted people to feel like they could engage without having to put their name to it if they really didn't want to. They just had to verify their email because at the same time, we didn't want our regulated facilities to spam the comment section with 'We don't want an ISO', or vice versa.”
Analyzing data and closing the loop
A crucial step when concluding engagement projects, regardless of the topic's contentiousness, is to analyze the input, use the findings to inform decision-making, and close the feedback loop to foster transparency and build trust. So that’s exactly what the City of Benicia did.
Della: “To support decision-making, we collected both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data included survey results and engagement metrics. Qualitative data focused on contextual feedback and open-ended questions to understand participants’ motivations and concerns.” The survey results provided strong evidence for advocating for an industrial safety ordinance. By demonstrating widespread support among the general population, including those without prior experience in industrial safety, the city strengthened its case for implementing the ordinance.
Della: “We used in-platform analytics to report back to the council on survey participation, specific survey questions like whether the public agreed there’s a need for an ISO or the existing oversight framework is working, website interactions, and community meeting attendance. We also communicated the survey results to the participants and through the feedback tool in the document annotation method, we could answer questions and comments from the community on the draft ordinance.”
Della's evaluation of the participation process? “It’s a success”
The public engagement process for the ISO was a resounding success. By prioritizing inclusivity, transparency, and open dialogue, the city was able to rebuild trust within the community, particularly among those who had been deeply disillusioned by past experiences.
Key achievements:
By prioritizing good governance, transparency, and the public interest, the City of Benicia was able to successfully navigate a challenging issue and create a policy that benefits the entire community.
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A final take-away from Della
“When engaging on polarizing issues, it is essential to avoid the temptation to seek a middle ground between opposing viewpoints. Instead, the focus should be on identifying the underlying needs and priorities of the community and developing policies that effectively address those needs.”
