City of Brantford’s Public Consultation Task Force hosted a public meeting to discuss options for strengthening community engagement on Thursday, March 6, 2025.
The meeting was the last of three scheduled in-person events that were designed to get public feedback on how to enhance the City’s public consultation framework.
Maria Visocchi, Brantford’s Director of Communication, Community Engagement and Customer Service, and Councillor Dan McCreary, the task force Chair, started off the meeting by speaking about the current system as well as how the City communicates public consultation opportunities to residents.
Viscocchi explained that the current framework is around 15 years old, and given that the community has grown so much, the way people engage with the local decision making process has also changed.
“Not everybody wants to engage with the city the same way, some people really enjoy and appreciate in-person opportunities whereas others like the convenience of being able to complete a survey online,” she said. “Some people like to do both, and some people like to just read about what’s going on, but don’t necessarily want to participate, but want to be informed and so that too is a way of being engaged with the city.”
Visocchi said that while the City already has an online digital engagement platform called Let’s Talk Brantford, the task force is trying to offer more in-person opportunities, utilize technology, engage with under-represented groups and promote inclusivity.
“All of our research tells us that the most engaged communities in our city are people in the demographic that are 55-plus and every survey that we do, that is the demographic that participates the most,” she saidi. “The one that participates the least is the demographic between the ages of 18 and 30. We want to do a better job of getting them engaged at a younger age because the decisions that we’re making in the community that they choose to live in and work in and potentially raise a family in, are going to impact their lives.”
Currently, the City lets people know about various engagement opportunities via several platforms including: online surveys (Let’s Talk Brantford), social media platforms (Facebook having the highest level of engagement), newsletters, in-person townhalls, public information centres, local City-hosted events, utility bills, online, print and radio advertising, as well as outdoor advertising.
Visocchi also said that since the City started this particular public engagement series in December of 2024, staff have made an effort to speak to as many people face-to-face as possible.
Following the brief run down of the initiative, Visocchi then opened a facilitated discussion for those in attendance.
Many were in agreement that there needs to be a stronger push for engagement when it comes to big capital items and that more people have to have a say when Council makes its decisions, especially those who pay property taxes.
Others also noted that it isn’t just the communication in regards to big ticket items that needs to improve, but for the smaller day-to-day requests from citizens where it can be challenging to get timely responses from City staff.
“Little things matter too,” said one man. “I’ve been trying to do a little thing for five years.”
The man said he’s been attempting to have a tree removed from out front of his house as it causes damage to the sidewalk and is a hazard for those walking nearby.
He said he simply felt like their voices weren’t being heard, and that he didn’t know what decisions were being made at council or how to find them in the first place.
Visocchi and McCreary said that as far as keeping up with Council decisions, staff have started posting the agendas to social media when they’re uploaded so that people are aware of when they are available. The two also noted that keeping an eye out for notices of motions on those agendas are a great way to see what’s coming down the line.
Throughout the rest of the meeting, some guests expressed that while social media or other online surveys may be convenient for others, it wasn’t their preferred method of contact.
Various guests who were okay with online methods also gave different suggestions like switching up social media posts to catch the eye of residents, perhaps starting a podcast with more decision making details, and offering in-person speaking opportunities at more convenient times.
After the meeting wrapped up Visocchi told the Brant Beacon that while the four month campaign has officially wrapped, a report analyzing the findings will go to the Public Consultation Task Force on March 20 and then to Council in April.
She also added that overall, staff have received plenty of ideas to improve the framework and that they’ve gained a better understanding of what the public expects when it comes to engagement.
“What we were trying to figure out from this campaign is when to engage, how often to engage, and what elements to use depending on what we’re talking to people about,” she said. “We know if it’s a higher profile topic that is going to impact the community as a whole, then you have to offer as many engagement opportunities that are available. If it’s something that is very ward specific, then perhaps you have a town hall with just that ward because it’s not a city wide topic that’s going to impact everybody.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
