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How to Improve Public Involvement in your Next Public Hearing

By Terry Amsler and JoAnne Speers, Institute for Local Government

Public hearings typically provide the public an opportunity to offer their thoughts on a policy matter or a specific proposal that is before a public agency for decision. The role of governing body members is to hear and consider those views when making a decision. A typical hearing will involve:

• A report to a council, commission or board given by a staff member
• Questions of the staff from the decision-making body
• The opening of the public hearing
• A statement by the project/policy proponent or applicant
• Statements in support and opposition
• Rebuttals and closing statements
• An immediate or later decision by the decision-making body

Inclusive Public Hearings

Striving for more inclusive participation at public hearings will lead to better decisions and more support for the decisions or policies that are ultimately adopted. The following ideas can help to achieve attendance goals and ensure the fullest expression by hearing participants:

Maximizing Attendance

• Prepare informative materials ahead of time, in translation as appropriate, that explain the purposes and objectives of the hearing, the subjects to be covered, details of time and location, and guidelines for participation.
• Provide early notice to public interest groups, businesses, neighborhood groups and other stakeholders who are likely to be concerned about the hearing topic.
• Use local and ethnic media to publicize hearings.
• Offer notices on the agency website and other places easily available to Internet users.
• Be prepared for the needs of those with disabilities.
• Choose responsive times and places that are convenient for all those who you wish and expect will attend. Also, consider multiple meetings at different sites, perhaps co-sponsored by community groups, as a way to increase attendance.

Encouraging Fuller Expression

• Use respected community intermediaries to provide instruction on how to prepare and participate in the public hearing process.
• Consider a new room set-up—if consistent with any security concerns—to reduce feelings of distance between public officials and participants.
• Provide early access to audio-visual materials and/or staff reports that are to be part of agency presentations.
• Make translation services available.
• Provide food, paper, pencils, and name tags to emphasize the agency's respect for participants and interest in their views. A table at the hearing room can also provide meeting guidelines, background information and other relevant materials.
• Ensure all voices are heard by asking toward the end of the hearing if others are present who have not yet spoken but would like to do so.

Informed Public Hearings

Public hearings will be more effective and useful when participants are better informed on the issues at hand, and when reasoned and knowledgeable presentations and exchanges take place at the hearing.

Informing Participants

• Use local papers and other media, as well as government online resources, to provide information on the topic in advance of the hearing.
• Have relevant explanatory materials developed by respected and impartial sources on hand.
• As practical, make use of visual aids.
• Ensure that the staff person giving the initial presentation is well prepared to launch the meeting, with complex background information organized and presented clearly.
• Consider Preliminary Meetings. Prior to a formal public hearing, there are many forms of dialogue and deliberation that may be used to inform the public about the hearing issues. Agencies should approach public participation from a strategic standpoint rather than considering any one method.

Improving Communications at the Hearing

• Initial staff presentation(s) should clearly describe the agenda, frame the issue(s) and clarify the process and procedures for the meeting, including how citizen input will be managed and captured.
• To ensure good communication, the presiding official must manage the speaking time of hearing participants.
• Consider the use of a facilitator, who is not a member of the public body convening the hearing, to help design group process and manage the meeting.
• Consider holding question and answer sessions before or after the session (perhaps online) to answer questions raised by the public that are not addressed at the hearing.
• Thank participants after they finish their remarks, and perhaps summarize what has been heard from each speaker (this can be done verbally or on chart paper or a large screen). Officials can also ask clarifying or follow-up questions.
• While it is typical and wise to have common time limits for speakers, consider asking participants to stick with one theme or thread of the discussion at a time to enhance information sharing and reduce duplication of points made.
• Encourage participants to identify and express the values that drive their feelings and opinions on an issue. This inclusion of "values talk" can help clarify speakers' intents and interests.
• For very contentious issues, it may be helpful to design a broader and more interactive public process that precedes the public hearing. Hearings that occur late in the decision-making process can create the impression that local officials do not want meaningful public input. Possible approaches for public engagement include community dialogues, consensus building sessions, charrettes and other collaborative planning processes, visioning workshops, and more. The best specific approach depends on the issue in contention, desired goal(s) of the process, community context, and available resources. See "Encouraging Early Public Participation: A California Agency's Success Story" for a case study illustrating one group's success with bringing the public aboard early.

Influential Public Hearings

Public hearings that confront choices and trade-offs on issues and values that community members care deeply about will better inform final decision-making. An ideal result of any public hearing is that participants believe decision-makers have respectfully heard and carefully considered their perspectives, whatever the final decision. This approach will lead to better decisions and more support for the decisions or policies that are ultimately adopted.

Confronting Hard Choices

• The presiding official should clearly explain from the beginning the purpose of the hearing, and emphasize the key questions, choices and/or values that underlie the proposed action or policy.
• Guidance for participant testimony should encourage remarks that are specific in nature, tied closely to the topic, and address hard choices and trade-offs.
• Ensure that officials have the time to ask follow up and clarifying questions to encourage speakers to clarify comments.
• A facilitator can also be used to listen to each speaker and ask follow-up questions that "drill down" to more specifics or the consideration of hard choices.
• Demonstrate value of comments by using flip charts or other recording mechanisms to summarize points as they are made.
• In addition to improving communication generally, a discussion of the respective and (at times) competing values associated with different public actions or policy directions can help clarify and validate the real trade-offs that may be at issue.
• Consider breaking the hearing up into two parts. In the first, take comments as usual. Then, following a break (perhaps with food and social interaction), present a visual and oral summary of points made so far (perhaps organized around implied or explicit values) and ask for clarifying or rebuttal points in specified areas. (Of course the hearing process will typically require that all comments be taken—consult your local agency attorney to look at how a two-part hearing might be done.)

Developing Public Trust in the Decision-Making Process

• The presiding official's introductory remarks should describe how local officials will use the information and ideas offered at the hearing.
• Each public official present should have a common understanding of the purpose of the public hearing, the timing of decision-making, and how the decision will be communicated.
• As appropriate, make available to all participants a record of the hearing and follow-up information. In some cases an audio or video recording of the hearing may be made available online.
• Send letters of appreciation to all participants with information on any official decisions made subsequent to testimony, stating the importance of their hearing participation.
• Strive for decisions that are clear, consistent with applicable legal standards, and broadly disseminated. Where appropriate, help explain a decision in light of the value or values tension that the decision represents as a way to further illuminate the reasons for its adoption.
• Consider open follow-up meetings to discuss hearing findings and conclusions. Post-hearing feedback can help build critical citizen trust and foster ongoing public participation.
• Prepare and use a good communication strategy to transmit the process and results of the hearing to the community as a whole. This can include city-authored and independently written newspaper articles, direct mail, e-communication, etc.

This is an excerpt of a report published by the Institute for Local Government called "Getting the Most out of Public Hearings: Ideas to Improve Public Involvement." The complete text of this pamphlet can be accessed here.

For more information or to purchase copies of the ILG report, contact Jeffrey Porcar at ILG. He can be reached by email or at (916) 658-8231.

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