2nd Round of Place Brand Consultation "Off the Rails"?

Over this past long weekend - I received a complaint from a member of the public who informed me that they were blocked from providing input on the Place Brand website as they already provided input which included the infamous catch slogan 'Republic of Life' from last July.  You can visit that Place Brand website here.  A copy of the email was also forwarded to Councillor Rathor and Mayor Cook who has since forwarded of a copy of her email to the rest of Council, save Councillor Rathor

It should be noted that the questions asked on the Place Brand website from last July have since changed to include a head scratching question like "What 3 inspirational words would you use to describe living in Williams Lake?" Not sure what that has to do with getting people to move to Williams Lake?

Meanwhile - the City of Williams Lake announced yesterday, via Twitter, that a 'Public Information Meeting' has been scheduled as follows:

Date - Wednesday, May 29th
Time - 6:00pm
Location - Williams Lake Council Chambers

Steve's Observations:

1) If one had already given input previously on the Place Brand which included the tag line of 'Republic of Life' and this had been rejected by WL Council (tag line, not Place Brand), then from my perspective, the process to engage the public begins anew.  Even if you disagree with this, if we don't limit public input at a formal Public Hearing to 'once' only, then we shouldn't do so in this case.  More public input is better than less (providing that one member of the public is not 'totally dominating' the discussion which rarely if ever occurs in any event)

2) Scheduling a meeting at dinner time (6pm) , rather than 7pm or 7:30pm, does not serve the public interest in the case of the Place Brand file and may further alienate the public on this topic.  Further, there is a big difference between a 'public information meeting' vs a 'public consultation meeting' and the City has yet to clarify the structure of the May 29th meeting.  The difference essentially is between one way communication (public being informed with no chance for public to provide input) vs two way communication (presentation with opportunity for the public to ask questions).  Case in point - we saw the public get frustrated at the Apr 22nd Open House for the WL Community Forest issue over the process to engaging the public and the fact one side had their own version of 'public engagement' and the general public had another

3) Place Branding is nothing more than general marketing which I believe the community doesn't need at this time.  As the old saying goes 'Clean up your home before you attempt to sell it'.  Ex: let's make sure we have the services/infrastructure that people moving here want before we attempt to 'sell ourselves to the world'.  In fact, this point was driven home yesterday to me in receiving comments on Place Branding:

a) The Mayor, Council and Staff should start managing the City's tax dollars more effectively, they should enforce bylaws, they should encourage good citizenship, they should ensure that the facilities are up to standards and we have not only sports facilities but Arts venues that can support Theatre, music and dancing concerts. It is not the City's job to do the PR job to attract employees for the Mining companies or even the Health Athority..it is the City's job to govern and manage the tax dollars wisely so there is money to pave the roads, and ensure that the quality of life is high for all its present citizens!

b) Until Mayor, Coucil and RCMP take crime in Williams Lake seriously we need to stop spending any money on this so called branding.
We have a brand. It needs to be tweeked, massaged and implemented. BUT
We cannot sell Williams Lake until we take care of the crime.