City presents updated public engagement guide; staff to seek department and council feedback

City staff presented an updated public engagement guide intended as a "one-stop resource" for staff, including a participation spectrum, a flowchart to determine appropriate engagement levels, templates, and an appendix sample timeline. Planning and community development intern Alicia McPhee said the draft was started in 2025 and reworked during her internship to a completed draft for commission feedback.

"And so one of the main goals of the public engagement guide is to provide staff with a 1 stop resource to use for public engagement," McPhee said during the presentation. Staff emphasized the guide is designed to reduce both over-engagement and underengagement by matching outreach techniques to project needs and to be maintained as a living document that can be updated with new technology and communication practices.