Your say, Your Way
During the Your Say, Your Way initiative in Summer 2018, residents identified a need to learn more about Saanich’s strategic and financial planning processes. Dialogue Partners conducted the public engagement and provided us with seven key recommendations:
- Start by developing concise, compelling and creative informative materials.
- Raise awareness of opportunities to participate.
- Integrate online engagement options into existing processes.
- Develop opportunities to engage earlier in financial planning process.
- Incorporate an interactive discussion opportunity during financial planning.
- Establish an “open to all” meeting opportunity in strategic planning.
- Communicate the changes in an effort for continuous improvement and evolution of the process.
Shaping Saanich
We launched Shaping Saanich in early 2019 to implement the recommendations based on continuous improvement. Shaping Saanich is a public education campaign to ensure our residents understand the elements of municipal decision-making. We are committed to providing accessible learning and input opportunities into our strategic and financial planning processes.
Here’s what we accomplished so far (2018 through 2020):
- Incorporated additional educational materials, including multiple fact sheets and a video, into the strategic and financial planning processes.
- Developed and implemented an enhanced communication program for the strategic and financial planning processes and promoted existing participation opportunities.
- Developed new educational materials to inform the public about the Strategic and Financial Plans and how they relate to other key documents in Saanich.
- Council deliberated on the 2019 - 2023 Strategic Plan in an open meeting.
Here's what you can expect to see next:
- Conduct the first annual online citizen survey (Spring 2020).
- Host public check in meetings on Council’s Strategic Planning process. The check in meetings will be held on April 27, September 28 and December 7, 2020.
- Implement an open house educational and engagement opportunity for the 2021 budget.