MEADOW LAKE –The City of Meadow Lake has launched a new online platform to expand opportunities for public communications and engagement.
The Your Meadow Lake (YourML) website at yourmeadowlake.ca provides an interactive online space for community members to learn about city projects and community-building initiatives, share feedback and contribute ideas on matters important to them.
“We have a community full of people who want to know more about what the city is doing and the status of a lot of our projects. But they also want to be involved and have a say more often,” says Meadow Lake mayor Merlin Seymour.
“Your Meadow Lake will allow us to have conversations with the community in a meaningful way which will ultimately drive better decisions at every level of our organization.”
The City’s engagement projects vary in scope and impact, with different levels and types of public engagement offered. New information and engagement tools (including asking questions, participating in quick polls and surveys, sharing ideas and stories, and participating in online forums) will be added to each project as they progress, with more projects added over time. People are encouraged to register as site participants to fully engage on topics that matter to them and to receive updates on new projects when they are added to the site. Anonymous users can access the site, but participating in the engagement features will be limited to those who have registered.
Some of the first initiatives highlighted on Your Meadow Lake include a page to stay up-to-date on the new Meadow Lake Recreation and Civic Centre project, snow removal surveys, and a space to provide input and engage with the city on the building of our new Official Community Plan (OCP).
Though the City is seeking out engagement on projects and all levels of decision-making, YourML is not all dry surveys and heavy mental lifting. There are plenty of entertaining ways to engage with your community as well. These include dropping pins on interactive maps to share your ideas, participating in contests and activities, and, this year, a space to share your memories of the Meadow Lake Stampede in honour of its 100th anniversary. The City encourages people to visit YourML frequently as the featured content will continually change.
This new YourML platform will be the City’s headquarters for community engagement moving forward. “We wanted to find an easier and more consistent way for people to engage with us,” says Councillor and current Deputy Mayor Conrad Read. “Not everyone has the time or wants to attend formal Council meetings. With this new platform, we can remove some barriers to participation. People can look at what’s there and decide to engage when and where it is convenient for them. Our council has been working with administration to prioritize communication and engagement and we look forward to hearing more feedback from our community.”
