Engaging citizens in their city government becomes strategic in a plan outlined before the Minot City Council Monday.

Public information officer Derek Hackett said the city’s community engagement committee investigated a dozen different strategies from all over the world and selected pieces of each to incorporate into a plan for Minot. The result is a 29-page report that lays out strategies for city staff in engaging the community at different levels based on the impact of the project or initiative.

The compilation of strategies is called “Listen, Speak, Act.” The title reflects the role of the community.

“We’re hoping that we give them the proper opportunities to listen to us, to speak to us and to act with us in a lot of these strategies and, as we go forward, in crafting a lot of plans for various initiatives or projects,” Hackett said.

The goal of the community engagement committee was to provide a framework for city departments and to standardize the practices already in place, Hackett said.

“We wanted to build confidence within the community in what we’re doing as an organization. We wanted them to know that we are trying to put things in front of them, making sure that they’re included in our process, and that we value all of the information and their opinions and perspectives on a lot of things that we do,” he said.

The goal also was to increase the council’s confidence in the process that goes into initiatives or projects and to establish a culture in which community engagement is standard, he said.

The developed plan considers the level of public interest and the impact of a project in determining which of the engagement steps to employ. Engagement begins with informing the public and moves to consulting with the public, involving the public through means such as focus groups, collaborating with the public and, finally, empowering the public by giving them some decision-making power, such as through an ad hoc committee.

The strategy document includes a toolkit for city staff that guides them in establishing a plan for community engagement for any particular project.

The council received the report as an informational item at Monday’s meeting.