-by Anne Finlay-Stewart

The City of Owen Sound learned first-hand the challenges of public consultation last night. Fewer than thirty people attended the public forum held at the Bayshore to give rate-payers their first look at the sixty-three recommendations that have come out of the city's Service Review process. Some people said they had come for answers about specific issues such as park closures and the future of the airport; others had broader concerns about the health and sustainabilty of the community.  One senior couple expressed fear over their tax increases and anger that the city appeared to them "overstaffed".

City Manager Wayne Ritchie introduced the evening with a brief timeline of the Review, which will take five months in all, ending in a September 7 public meeting to "discuss the final decisions" which will have been made by council at a two-day meeting in August.

Preaching somewhat to the choir, Ritchie encouraged attendees to take the twelve question on-line survey or answer the same questions on the comment cards available in publicly-owned buildings around the city. He said that approximately 500 responses had been received so far over the past month from both residents and non-residents of Owen Sound, but he would be happy to see "upwards of 22,000".

The format was not a public give-and-take; attendees were invited to speak directly with more than a dozen senior city staff who were standing beside large-print lists of the recommendations for their departments. Community Services and Public Works received the most attention, with more than two-thirds of the recommendations between them.

"The elephant in the room is ...well, not in the room," said a local accountant, speaking of Police Services which together with the Fire department represent approximately half of the city's expenses. The Fire Chief was present to answer questions about the two recommendations for his department, but acknowledged that personnel represent the largest portion of the cost of providing that service.

Several attendees commented about the absence of many issues they had expected in the recommendations – economic development, Georgian College expansion, transit, city hall renovations- were all mentioned. Over-sized sticky-notes were available for attendees to add their own suggestions to the wall, but there was no opportunity to discuss the merits or costs of any of those ideas among the public, nor is that planned as part of the process.

All of the city councillors have been highly critical recently of the public school board's lack of what they perceive as "meaningful consultation" in decisions that impact the community. In the words of Councillor Richard Thomas, "if you don't include the opportunity for public input, and I mean meaningful public input, the public will have its say one way or another."

After a public meeting far smaller than any held by the Bluewater Board over its review process, one can see the challenge in satisfying that demand for input.