Our guest Speaker, Judy Hoad, was introduced by Chris Davis. She is considered to be an expert in the area of Public Engagement. Currently she is a Consultant at JHoad Consulting, and Chair at INHOUSE Attainable Housing Society (Bridge Attainable Housing Society).

Her past includes Senior Consultant in Public Affairs and Public Relations for Enmax, Manager at the City of Calgary. Her experiences include work with the Taxi Commission, Metropolitan planning, Transportation development, Calgary Police Commission, to name a few. She holds degrees from the University of Calgary, and the University of Toronto.

Judy introduced the topic of how in today's world the public engages with government or private agencies. She described the art of public engagement between government, industry and the community as being an art, as well as being a science.

Over time she has developed much understanding and insight to Public Consultation and Engagement. She suggests that organizations don't particularly like public consultation as it is time consuming, and known as a political football. There are many examples of years being taken to "complete" projects. Attitudes of not in my back yard or not in my term of office are examples that delay "progress".

Judy expressed the opinion that a "government" should not start out by asking the public if they want something. An example was the Anderson Road Overpass. City didn't ask if citizens wanted it, but rather the consultation process stressed making it the best for all affected.

She also cites a recent City of Calgary survey where the public was asked what kind of budget information people wanted. Cost was $900,000 and no useful information resulted. The wrong questions were asked. If the public is not engaged properly we have protests: power lines, Bragg Creek tree cutting, SW Ring road, pipelines, Brentwood development, are some current examples. Costs are unpredictably expensive to resolve these situations.

Some developers want to avoid any community consultation. A meeting held in front of hundreds of people is not consultation. Judy outlined processes that must be understood by those wishing change, and talked about Democratic Governance. Bylaw development, budget expenditures, transportation corridors, long term planning are examples where the city of Calgary attempts to have public sector understanding.

The reason being better solutions, shared information, expertise diversity, mitigation of action impact and effective cost of any action. If a government or private sector organization has no social license, there will not be any development. Development requires that stakeholders must be determined and there must be a spectrum of engagement including:

• information (websites, newsletters),
• listening (open houses),
• consulting (face to face),
• collaboration (fewer people involved, community associations),
• empowering (making decisions).

Several good questions were asked by members following the presentation, and our speaker's insights should make an excellent lead into next week's topic and speaker.

Murray Hunter thanked Judy on behalf of the club and she seemed pleased to receive her Boltman.

reported by Jim Barnes