Four Focus Areas For La Plata Resident Engagement
Four Focus Areas For La Plata Resident Engagement
I believe it’s important for elected leaders to have plentiful input from residents and for more of La Plata’s residents to have the opportunity to get involved in local planning and government. That’s why, as a town councilman, I’ll focus on improvements in four main areas of resident engagement:
Helping People Understand La Plata Better
Encouraging More People to Vote Local and Share Their Ideas
Using Local Experts
Helping Future Leaders
Please read on to learn more about these 4 focus areas for resident engagement.
1. Helping People Understand La Plata Better
The Challenge:
The Town of La Plata puts town meeting records online, and they can be hundreds of pages long each. These documents are an important part of compliance with the Maryland Open Meetings Act, however the formal language, high page count and format can make them hard to read and understand without a significant time investment.
What Paul Will Do as Town Councilman:
Paul will advocate for implementation of simple tools to create additional easy-to-read summaries of:
Meetings
Town Council Priorities
Important Issues
Opportunities for La Plata
These new summaries would be focused to help residents quickly absorb the topics. They would not change the already excellent documents the town produces based on the Maryland Open Meetings Act. We can be more creative with these new summaries and adapt to what works in achieving improvements in resident engagement.
Benefits of Paul’s Approach:
With better and timely access to summary information, more residents can become aware of what’s happening and when their input is most influential in shaping council decisions. This will create better ways for residents and the town council to work together.
2. Getting More People to Vote Local and Share Their Ideas
The Challenge:
In La Plata town elections, not many people vote. Even nationally less than 15% of registered local voters show up. This means a small group determines important things like:
How fast our town grows
property tax changes
Priorities for local legislation and town ordinances
Community policing practices
What Paul Will Do as Town Councilman:
Paul will:
Work for changes to our towns voting ordinance to create expanded times for voting before the next town election following 2025.
Advocate for improved ways for residents to give constructive feedback
Benefits of Paul’s Approach:
When residents vote in larger numbers it increases the emphasis for elected town leaders to engage and respond to concerns expressed by the public. When more people participate by sharing their ideas, the town council has better information from residents and can take actions more in line with what the community wants. Together we can make La Plata better
3. Using Local Experts
The Challenge:
La Plata has commissions and boards that give advice to the town council and mayor, but it’s hard to find enough volunteers for these groups. Many residents have long commutes to work or have busy schedules, making it difficult for them to volunteer.
What Paul Will Do as Town Councilman:
Paul will:
Find ways to make volunteering more appealing
Create short-term volunteer projects that don’t take too much time
Clearly explain how volunteers help our town
Build stronger partnerships with local organizations and businesses
Benefits of Paul’s Approach:
When we make better use of our residents’ knowledge and skills, we can create a better La Plata together.
4. Helping Future Leaders
The Challenge:
Too many elections in La Plata have only one candidate. This means:
We miss out on new ideas
We don’t get fresh energy on the Town Council
We can’t pick the best person for the job, just the only person for the job
La Plata has an untapped abundance of talented people who could help run our town.
What Paul Will Do as Town Councilman:
Paul will:
Meet with residents who are thinking about running for office
Help by answering questions to increase understanding of what serving on the town council involves
Ask other experienced residents with election experience to mentor new candidates too
Support programs like Citizens Academy
Benefits of Paul’s Approach:
When more people run for office, La Plata gets improved choices and voices to lead us into the future.