Civic Engagement On Agenda For Roseville Human Rights Commission Meeting Wednesday

The Roseville Human Rights Commission is scheduled to meet today (Wednesday) to hear a status report on its civic engagemen project.

The civic engagement project is being speaheaded by a special task force whose key goal is to come up with recommndations for improving communication between Citiy Hall and the community's residents. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Roseville City Hall, 2660 Civic Center Drive.

"Our premise is that democracy doesn't stop when you leave the voting booth," Gary Grefenberg, a Human Rights commissioner and co-chairman of the Civic Engagement Task Force, recently told Roseville Patch.

Grefenberg noted that for citizens to become more involved in their city government they need to be able to communicate their concerns back to City Hall. For example, one preliminary recommendation being considered is to improve the city's notice process so that renters are also informed in a timely manner about specific property issues coming before the city, he said. 

Along those lines, the task force is also considering recommending that the city work with apartment complexe to gather electronic and postal addresses of renters for public notifidation purposes.

Other ideas being considered for improving citizen involvement include:

• Make it a practice for the city to develop and use strategies to engage citizens liviing in non-single family homes such as condos, town homes, co-ops and assisted living facilities. 
• Develop  "How To" print and video tutorials on communicating effectively with city council members and commissioners.
• Have the city news letter include information related specifically to neighborhood activities.
• Have the city offer quick links to specific recorded or televised city meetingts on the same page as the meeting minutes and or agenda. Currently, it takes at least eight clicks through two different websites to access a specific recordings, according to Grefenberg.

The Commission will also discuss its 2011 strategic plan and consider recommendations from its chaimran for 2012.

For a complete list of the Wednesday click on here.