Known as a progressive community, the city of Arcata, California (pop. 17,231), has an ordinance prohibiting the work, storage, and transportation of nuclear weapons. It may also be one of the few cities in the country to have an ordinance that “finds that the propagation, cultivation, raising, and growing of genetically engineered crops in the City of Arcata constitutes a public nuisance.” These ordinances point to an involved community that cares about issues affecting them.

One of the ways that Arcata facilitates and encourages citizen participation is through an online program that allows citizens to provide comments on council agenda items prior to council meetings. As the city website describes it, “The Public e-Comments system helps new voices to be heard in the democratic process.” The system is provided by ICMA Strategic Partner Granicus, and it provides an online form that citizens can use to comment on each agenda item. The citizen comments are treated as testimony and become part of the public record. The public online comment period begins when the agenda is posted and ends nine hours before the meeting so that staff have time to compile the public testimony and provide it to council members.

The city website describes the process and the benefits.

Public e-Comments System Benefits

• Helps focus citizen comments to items currently on the agenda.
• Provides a convenient means for citizen input for those who find it difficult to attend meetings.
• Encourages more informed comments by providing a one-stop shop for viewing background information on agenda items such as staff reports and maps or photographs.
• Is a convenient online system for citizens to reach all five council members simultaneously.
• Provides a method for increased civic engagement in the democratic process through electronic media.
• Allows electronic citizen comments to be part of the public record in accordance with California open government laws.
• Enables the city clerk's office to track, maintain, and archive electronic comments.
• Provides the city council with an easy-to-read, organized report of public e-comments prior to each meeting to inform their final deliberations and vote.

How It Works

When the web agenda is posted (at least 72 hours prior to the meeting) a Public e-Comments link is placed in the agenda under the staff report for a specific item. Before the council meeting, citizens not only have the opportunity to read the staff reports and supporting materials, they can click on the Online Public e-Comments Link, complete the convenient form online, and formally weigh-in on the item.

Like Verbal Public Testimony, Public e-Comments Are:

• Limited to a set number of characters in the text box, much as in-person testimony is limited to three minutes.
• Directed to the council-body, as all five council nembers receive the same information in the public e-comment report.
• Considered to be testimony and become part of the public record subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act and Public Records Act disclosure.

The e-comment period runs from the time the agenda is posted and made available to the city council at noon on Friday until 9:00 a.m. the day of the meeting, at which time the e-comment link is removed from the agenda. By closing the comment period nine hours before the meeting begins, staff have adequate time to compile the data and distribute the comments to the council and staff for review prior to the meeting.  Council staff also makes copies available to the public as per SB 343 (effective July 1, 2008) amending California Government Code Section 54957.5.

The data from the form are imported into a database that can be sorted and compiled into an easy-to-read final report or analyzed in a graph format.

As a result of e-participation, the city of Arcata reports that the quantity and quality of information available to local officials for decision making has increased, and the quality and quantity of citizen participation has increased. The city also reports better decision making by local officials as a result.