City Councillor partners with Rossland consultation company Thoughtexchange for ground-breaking governance engagement
By Contributor
Rossland City Councillor Kathy Moore has partnered with Rossland’s online stakeholder engagement company, Thoughtexchange, to undertake something never before attempted prior to a municipal election. Moore – using Thoughtexchange’s unique approach to engagement – is making a bold move to host an online consultation process that will be open to anyone interested in having a say on the future of Rossland, with the results to be openly shared with all community members and candidates, before the electoral campaigns begin.
“At our upcoming local election in November I want to give as many Rosslanders as possible a chance to express their concerns, appreciation and hopes about our town so we can all learn from each other,” said Moore. “It’s important to me people with diverse perspectives have an opportunity to share their thoughts about our community to ensure governance decisions meet the needs of our community. I’ve witnessed local government as the place where citizens can have the most impact, if they choose to get involved. I hope as many people as possible participate whether they have lived here a few days, a decade or their whole life. The more diverse the ideas, the better!”
Jim Firstbrook, Thoughtexchange’s CEO, is excited to be working on this project. “As a fast growing start-up company we work with organizations across Canada and the USA to engage their stakeholders and inform critical decisions,” said Firstbrook. “I am thrilled to be able to help our local community members share thoughts and learn from each other and think this effort by Kathy Moore could really change the way people think about elections. It’s really key to me we have the opportunity to learn from each other and express what’s important before the campaigns have even begun.”
This simple online process has three steps, all of which are accessible through email, without the need for logins or passwords. Community members will be notified by email and through posters of their opportunity to participate, by responding to three open-ended questions about Rossland. Then, a few weeks after that everyone will have a chance to view the thoughts of others and assign stars to the ones they like the best. In the final step, everyone, including all candidates, will be able to see the ideas that rise to the top.
“I feel it’s important to allow anyone running for Mayor or Council see what Rosslanders value most, so the results will be made completely public,” said Moore. “Whether I become our next Mayor or not, I am hoping this process will set the tone for Rossland to adopt more transparent and accountable communication following the election results.”
Participate now: http://sr.thotex.com/kmoore/vXm.
About Kathy Moore: Kathy Moore has been a Rossland Councillor for the past 6 years and has been a Rossland property owner since 1997. She has a background in management and law. Through her work in Rossland with various strategic sustainable development initiatives and volunteer organizations, Moore continues to look for new ways to learn from her community and bring this knowledge forward to her work in municipal government.
About Thoughtexchange: Thoughtexchange (formerly Thoughtstream) is an online consultation company headquartered in Rossland with staff across BC and in Washington State and Oregon. Thoughtexchange has a patent pending “group insight platform” and consulting services to support large scale online consultations in school districts, health organizations and businesses. They are the only technology company with an online process that allows participants to share answers to open ended questions, learn from one another and discover what matters most to the group as a whole.
