At council’s ordinary meeting last week, it was resolved to engage Bang the Table, an engagement forum that provides a valuable means of generating dialogue with the local community about specific projects.

A report to council stated that communication and engagement with the local community were identified in both the 2006 Operational Examination Report and the 2006 IRIS Community Survey as areas council performance could improve.

The report also said that while there had been recent examples of good consultative practice, often council relied on relatively conservative methods such as evening meetings and written submissions.

These methods tended to attract relatively small numbers and missed many groups within the community such as young people, parents with children, families and many people working full time.

Bang the Table is a company that provides a web-based, independently moderated forum on which individuals can post comments, idea and questions relating to a specific project, development or issue.

Input can be provided in a matter of minutes rather than longer periods for letter writing or attending meetings.

With Bang the Table a client – in this case council - purchases a number of “project quarters” that can be used over a 12-month period.

Each period of engagement on a specific topic can run for up to three months.

Each topic is hosted on the Bang the Table website with the content of all postings moderated by them.

Council can then promote a link to the topic inviting comments and where necessary posting responses and engaging with the forum members.

Multiple projects can be hosted at one time.

Importantly, anonymous posting are not possible and there is a level of independence from council.

Another positive of the service, the report said, was that it is fully maintained and does not require costly IT development, maintenance and support from council.

While not a total consultation solution, the service does provide a very useful and cost effective method to consult and engage with the community.

It provides an opportunity to tap into a far greater section of the community than is reached by usual techniques and is an opportunity to augment such process as public meetings and seeking written submissions.

Projects immediately identified as being suitable for this engagement mechanism included the Comprehensive LEP, review of the 20 Year Plan, development of the next four-year Management Plan and 2009/10 Operational Plan.

Included in the cost is training for identified staff to maximise the use and effectiveness of the engagement tool.

Co-ordination of the Bang the Table agreement will be undertaken by staff from the Customer Service and Community Development Department.

Cr Bill Taylor moved that council enter into an agreement to access 10 project quarters in 2008/09 for the cost of $12,000.

The motion, seconded by Cr John Aveyard, was carried.