Tararua District Council chief executive Bryan Nicholson is keen to look into different ways council can meet with the community. Photo / Leanne Warr
Tararua District Council chief executive Bryan Nicholson is keen to look into different ways council can meet with the community. Photo / Leanne Warr
While it was a bit of a learning curve, Tararua District Council has been pleased with feedback from the Facebook Live event held last week.
Mayor Tracey Collis said in the beginning it was a bit difficult as the panel were looking at a blank screen, so they weren't reallysure about it.
Group manager of infrastructure Chris Chapman, who was part of the panel, said it was a positive experience.
Chris Chapman: "It's been really positive." Photo / Leanne Warr
"Based on the number of people that were on there live, the number that have watched it since, the number of questions that we got at the time and the amount of feedback we've had since, I think it's been really positive."
Collis said it was something that hadn't been in the pipeline, but the council had decided to hold the event in response to feedback on its Super Consulation expos. Many residents had said they were unable to get to the expos as they were held during the day.
She said there had been other barriers, such as Covid settings, "which have been quite challenging in itself."
The video following the event was able to be accessed from the council's social media page so that people could still view it and listen to the question-and-answer session.
Chapman said there were at least 1900 views in total recorded earlier this week.
Mayor Tracey Collis was encouraged by the feedback from the Facebook Live event. Photo / NZME
Collis said she was quite encouraged by how many people had watched it live.
"It does show you on the screen how many people are viewing. There were good questions coming through, so we were pleased with that."
She said since then she had quite a bit of feedback from people.
"People enjoyed just hearing about it. People enjoyed getting to see the faces."
Based on the feedback, another event was something the council would consider in the future.
"I think we will make something more regular," Collis said.
"Whether it's after submissions close, whether it's talking about the hearings, whether it's after a council meeting or key decisions that are being made and use it as a form of engagement."
Chief executive Bryan Nicholson said while the concept was not new, it was something he'd be keen for council to look at doing more of in the future.
"People seem to be more comfortable maybe asking the question in those forums than what they might be if we went to a hall where people might be a little bit more nervous about putting their hands up."
He said the event had created a lot of discussion, especially for important issues.
"We've been really clear that we want to be up front with these. We don't want to be hiding behind our computers. We certainly want to be leading the public and addressing some of the concerns that they might have."
Some of the questions in the forum were thoughtful and relevant.
"Which is exactly what we wanted," Nicholson said.
He was keen to look at doing a range of things which would allow the council to communicate and connect with the community.
"It's looking outside the square. It could be going to a market on the weekend, Facebook live, meeting in a hall, so we can get a wider range of audiences."
He said one idea could be having a Q&A every couple of months so that people could ask questions and find out what was going on in council.
