In the short time I’ve worked for the city, I’ve had the opportunity to experience two initiative petition drives, a failed public vote to repeal the smoking ban, a bomb scare, several large fires, discussion on transgender issues and body suspension, and the appointment of a new mayor and two new City Council members. And I’m only five months in.
Maybe more interesting are the behind-the-scenes aspects of working as the city of Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement.
Communication infrastructureI’m constantly amazed by the speed and quality of work completed by city employees across multiple divisions.
The departments are vastly different but share a common goal of improving life for citizens. While we haven’t talked a lot yet about how and why we plan to increase civic engagement, I can tell you the focus on empowering and helping citizens isn’t just on the fourth floor of the Busch Municipal Building.
Departments from Public Works to Environmental Services to Springfield Police already were lined up when I joined the team in January to work with my department to improve communication and promote transparency.
Our collective goal? To build an infrastructure – there are a lot of engineers here, of course – to go beyond improving customer service to work directly with citizens in solving problems and planning for the future.
That requires collaboration and mutual respect. It also requires a sense of humility that, while the city employs experts – even the top experts in the nation as evidenced by recent accolades – there is a recognition that having these staff members is only part of the equation. We believe we must all listen, communicate and work together to help make the best decisions for the common good.
With a low voter turnout and with us struggling to even fill our boards and commissions, it may at first seem daunting to even think about launching programs like Neighbor for Neighbor.
The N4N program uses a process of deliberation, involvement and group decision-making that follows with positive action to improve quality of life. A group of partner organizations in the community have started with two underserved neighborhoods – Robberson and Weller.
Low levels of engagement and trust among some groups only fuel the enthusiasm of the people I call “spark plugs” in our community. Springfield is a city full of can-do people and organizations – those who just don’t back away from a challenge. It will be interesting to watch how this project evolves and to see what other ideas spring from it.
Innovative connectionsI feel very lucky. I’m lucky to live in a community whose leaders are forward thinking and open to new ideas. And I’m lucky to work for an organization that cheerleads for innovation.
Just one example of this is our current work to develop a smart phone application that will allow citizens to more easily file complaints and concerns, be our eyes and ears to help provide crime tips, or let us know of a new pot hole by taking a photo and uploading the automatically geo-tagged image. We’re also reinventing SpringfieldMo.gov to allow for interaction and opinion sharing online, and we’re working to transform all of the ways city governments usually communicate.
We will never stop talking directly to citizens, however, and continue to encourage people to call (417) 864-1010, attend a public meeting, or talk to one of our hundreds of ambassadors who are in your neighborhoods every day.
They are fixing your streets, inspecting your food, providing you a beautiful place for your children to play, and keeping you safe.
Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement, can be reached at cscott@springfieldmo.gov.
