CASE STUDY: GLEN EIRA CITY COUNCIL ASSET PLAN
CITIZENS’ PANEL
APRIL 2022 – JUNE 2022
SNAPSHOT
Process: Citizens’ Panel (short form deliberative panel)
MosaicLab’s role: Design and facilitation
Client: Glen Eira City Council
Timeframe: April 2022 – June 2022, three panel sessions (total 14hrs face-to-face)
Participants: 25 participants were recruited, 19 panellists attended all three sessions, with three withdrawing due to illness.
REMIT (THE CHALLENGE)
We want to ensure we accurately represent community needs and opinions in the final Asset Plan and associated actions.
Has the Council got the balance right between the cost and quality of their assets with the changing needs of the community?
OVERVIEW
In 2022, Glen Eira City Council embarked on an engagement process to capture the community’s feedback on priorities for existing and future asset renewal, maintenance and development, as well as challenges or opportunities regarding council assets.
STAGE ONE of the engagement process included an online and paper survey targeting the council’s community panel ‘Community Voice’, groups and organisations utilising council assets (sporting grounds, community halls and council managed facilities) and the general public. The survey was open from March – April 2022 and results were captured in a wider engagement report which was a key input into the deliberative panel process of stage two.
STAGE TWO was a short-form deliberative citizens’ panel, formed through a random selection process. The panel was tasked with producing recommendations on the council’s (draft) Asset Plan 2022-2032, to address the remit question above. Their final report was presented to council representatives at the conclusion of the panel process.
This short-form deliberative process involved:
a cross-section of residents to broadly represent the Glen Eira community in terms of age, gender, location and tenure type (homeowner/renter).
access to a broad range of information, including the report on community views (Wider Engagement Report), the draft Asset Plan prepared by council and expert/guest speakers
time for dialogue and discussion amongst the panellists before making decisions
participants writing and developing their own final report
a super majority (80% or more panel ‘support’) for key recommendations.
The Glen Eira City Council Asset Plan Citizens’ Panel Report was finalised on 25 May 2022 and presented to Jess Wingad, Manager of Projects and Infrastructure at Glen Eira City Council.
The report contained four recommendations that received ‘super majority’ support from the panel (that is, 80% or more of panellists supported these recommendations being in their report).
the participants’ experiences
panel members’ experiences
“As a long time Glen Eira resident, I was really pleased to be given the opportunity to help council and councillors understand how the community feels about our assets and what we can contribute into the future.”
“I was surprised that we managed to gel together and put our thoughts together in a very short period of time. It was great to meet the council staff and I was pleasantly surprised by how council was able to explain the asset plan in about five minutes (in an engaging way!).”
“Panel members had the same value and concern about their community - gender, disability, inclusion.”
The facilitation team’s experience
This was one of the first citizens’ panels we hosted fully face-to-face post-pandemic. It was a great opportunity to gauge how community was feeling being ‘back in the room’ and provide an environment for full participation. Gratefully all three sessions were held in-person and the panel members enjoyed the conversations in real life.
As noted by panel members in the feedback, the short duration of the panel meant that at times, the sessions felt rushed. A total of 14 hours over three sessions is a short time for a deliberation process; yet the group was engaged, moved through the process with enthusiasm and had a strong sense of achievement with their final recommendations report.
Two panel members were invited to a council meeting to present their report and reflect on their experience, which enhanced their sense of feeling heard.
Finally, it’s always satisfying to see the surprise and delight of panellists with what they can achieve in a short space of time. Equally, council staff had deep appreciation for the panel’s report, acknowledging how their recommendations validated the final 2023-2032 Asset Plan that was subsequently adopted by council.
FAST FACTS
Total number of Panellists = 19
Total number of Panel hours in session = 260hrs
Number of Panel recommendations = 4
Number of Panel recommendations implemented by council = 4
Number of experts involved = 5
Total number of facilitation hours = 14hrs
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