Mission resident Aaron Deacon says he liked making choices that came with clear tradeoffs during the simulation, even if the mechanics of the decisions offered to participants didn’t always seem perfect. Although the scope of what was up for discussion represented only a portion of the county’s budget, he says he felt like the feedback being generated was being taken seriously.
They also fully staffed the county’s criminalistics laboratory, a reflection of the interest in public safety. They also did not propose providing additional funding to transit services, an area citizens seemed to favor reducing, to soften the impact of reduced federal and state funding coming down the pike. In the future, county officials may look for ways to have the simulator reach more people in the public, allow participants to weigh in on more areas of the county budget and ask bolder questions.
“I do feel that it probably made a difference to the people who were making the decisions and oversaw the information,” Deacon says. “I think local politicians do pay attention when constituents express their opinions about things.”
“I think we’ve got to get better at designing a tool that really is honest and one that is basically more transparent in what we’re trying to achieve,” Zacharias says.
Megan Herbers, then a Shawnee Mission West senior, says the forum involving her government class actually gave her the confidence to vote and be more civically involved. She says it also changed her thinking about whether Johnson County would be a place she wanted to return to after attending Kansas State University. “I didn’t realize how much they offer and how much they really take care of us,” Herbers says of the county. “It’s amazing and there’s no place like it.”
Making ‘Wise Choices’
Providing for better citizen engagement in Johnson County, as it might anywhere, is emerging to be a learning process for county staff and elected officials, as well citizens themselves. Eilert says he would tell participants in this year’s simulator and focus groups that by giving their time, they are helping develop “this avenue of communication and feedback and that hopefully we can enhance the experience in a meaningful way not only for the participants but for those who are interested in the results.” As far as how commissioners use the information, Eilert says he considers it to be “another tool,” along with such resources as a community survey, “that the decision makers use in coming to their decision points.”
THE THEMES EMERG ING FROM THE C ITIZEN ENGAG EMENT EFFORTS S EEMED TO PRODUCE “VERY FEW REV ELAT IONS ” ON WHAT CITIZEN ’S PRIORIT IES WERE, ZAC HARIAS SAYS .
Ashcraft says that he hopes that data from the simulator and engagement process will become more useful as it’s developed to a greater level of sophistication.
“I think what it did was confirm to the commission and to all of us that we’re providing pretty good services and that people are pretty happy with the services we have,” Zacharias says. Still, some of the preferences that emerged in the forum did end up being reflected in the budget approved by commissioners in August. Lenz says officials did not propose the elimination of positions in health and human services that would have significantly impacted service levels.
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Yet knowing the views and values of the public you serve is a challenge that defies an easy solution, Zacharias says. This past year’s efforts create “a much more rich environment to make wise choices,” he says. “The lesson that I think we’re learning here is that it takes many ways to engage the public,” Zacharias says. “It’s not one shot and you’re done. Nor is it one methodology and you’re complete.”