City Council Agenda and Packet 2018 08 14 SP

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SUBJECT: DISCUSSION/DIRECTION — COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY DATE: AUGUST 14, 2018 PAGE 4 OF 7 • City Manager's Update — The weekly update is emailed to City Council and staff and posted on the City's website. It includes information on news items, events and programs. COMMUNITY FEEDBACK: In 2014, Council established the Public Outreach Task Force to identify new tools and outlets for public outreach, develop coordinated branding techniques and an implementation strategy, evaluate internal and external communications and identify funding and staffing resources needed. The Task Force recommended completing a Communications Audit, hiring a Communications and Social Media Specialist, adding a fourth Community Update Newsletter and including additional funds for advertising and marketing. Starting in 2015, the City added a fourth newsletter and funds for advertising and marketing. In 2016, residents were asked several questions about the City's communications and engagement efforts in the Citizen Survey. 84% of residents rated opportunities to participate in community matters as excellent or good; 80% rated information about City Council, Planning Commission and other official City meetings as excellent or good; 78% rated the City's website as excellent or good; and 75% rated information about City plans and programs as excellent or good. In regards to the most frequently used source of City information, 89% of residents identified the Community Update. 87% rated the quality and reliability of the information from that source as excellent or good. For other sources of information beyond the Community Update, enotifications, City website, utility bill inserts, Channel 8, Daily Camera/Hometown Weekly and word of mouth, 34% identified Facebook as the source they would use for City information. When asked how likely they were to look for City information on social media if the City increased its presence or activity, 43% said very unlikely. In 2018, staff asked for capital and operational requests from the City's boards and commissions for 2019/2020. The Business Retention and Development Committee (BRaD) submitted a request for funding to increase the City's social media and marketing efforts on behalf of the City's local business community. The City currently does not provide such support for local businesses. Any marketing is completed by the businesses, Chamber of Commerce or Downtown Business Association. Staff also recently asked residents for feedback on communications on Engage Louisville. There were 38 visitors to the project page and 5 who submitted responses. Participants identified enotifications and the Community Update Newsletter as the source most likely to be used to obtain City information. Participants also listed City Council meetings and submitting a comment by email or letter as the engagement channel most likely to be used to participate in a City -related issue. CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION 6