A Burnaby councillor wants to make city operations more transparent to residents, but other councillors say the work is already being done.
In a motion to council on May 8, Green Party Coun. Joe Keithley resolved to “greatly improve” public communication and community engagement for residents about key city projects.
It comes after vehement public opposition to council’s failed attempt to build a green waste processing facility on parkland, in which public outcry about the process forced the project to a halt while staff look for a new location.
“Burnaby staff does engage in a lot of communication with our residents,” Keithley said at council, “but it doesn’t always work out so that people feel they have enough information.”
“So sometimes people feel that the city’s efforts in this area could be a lot stronger. This was really evident with the recent GRO facility proposal, and even more so with the AAP. Personally, I feel this could have been presented in a more transparent way and with more public input before that process started.”
Keithley’s motion asked for staff to research how to improve communication from the city and to create more community interaction and opportunities for public discussion and feedback.
But some councillors, while officially supporting the motion, questioned whether it was necessary.
“Staff is already doing all these things,” Burnaby Citizens Association Coun. Pietro Calendino said, adding, “It’s just being repetitive on what staff already does.”
“Staff has in the process about 10 consultation processes, which include all these items which are being presented before us in this motion. So basically, I find it redundant, but I will support it simply because staff are already doing it anyway.”
BCA Coun. Sav Dhaliwal echoed Calendino’s statements.
“I’m supportive of it, I guess, who wouldn’t be? Because this is talking about communication (improvement).”
“But I don’t want people to get an idea that our communication channels are broken. They’re not. A thousand contacts were made by public communications last year, by the public directly.”
Dhaliwal said the public also needs to engage and take the time to provide the city their contacts so the city can engage with them.
He also noted much of the city’s advertising goes to English print media, and not media in other languages.
Some members of the public have asked for more “meaningful opportunities” for public engagement on Burnaby’s review of its Official Community Plan, a 25-year guiding document for the city.
BCA Coun. Alison Gu amended the motion to include that staff begin working on “a robust and equitable translation policy,” in consultation with language groups and community members.
“Translation is about the right to be understood and to understand, and this is incredibly important for a city to engage in when we’re talking about really, really important projects that affect people from all walks of life,” Gu said, adding the City of Vancouver has a specific translation policy for important information notices.
The amendment was passed unanimously.
