North Bay City Councillor Marcus Tignanelli is not one to mince words and following a sparsely attended online town hall hosted by the City of North Bay last week, that trend continues.
"The first virtual town hall was quite frankly a letdown," says the first-term councillor, especially after he extended an invitation to citizens to come forward with a three-minute virtual presentation or email outlining ideas, viewpoint, and grievances with the operating procedures of the City.
See original story: Tignanelli encourages shift from 'constant negativity' online
Tignanelli says the role of elected officials is to represent the people and this is more easily accomplished by getting a glimpse from the viewpoint of the constituents.
"Council is elected to represent the citizens in directing the corporation of the municipality. I ran for Council because I wear North Bay on my sleeve and want to see our City reach it’s fullest potential," he says. "Your ideas and my ideas may differ vastly on how we achieve this but if we don’t hear from you through the democratic system it’s impossible to see through your perspective."
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch believes a great deal of good can come from the virtual town hall meetings, but maybe not exclusively from that format.
"I find people are more engaged when you see them out and about, which was less possible during the pandemic," she says. "I think we are hoping to find different avenues," for people to get engaged, whether it's a general topic such as traffic or something more particular, such as the budget process.
Tignanelli has high praise for the town hall's two public presenters, who "were both very professional and conveyed messages of bettering our community without pessimism."
The online presentations provided insight into a grassroots group formed at an anti-racism book club seeking to combat discrimination and promote equality; and, a citizen's suggestions on how to ameliorate City-owned parks and public spaces when it comes to recreation during the winter months — especially when it comes to ice skating ovals and rinks.
"It takes a little bit for people to get used to it," when presenting via a new medium, Vrebosch offers, adding, "you can't write something off just because few have gravitated to it."
She says she's seen low engagement at different information sessions with department heads available to answer questions at City Hall or at budget input meetings — but that doesn't mean municipal politicians will cease offering opportunities for feedback.
Besides the two presenters, Tignanelli says, "We also received three written letters which will be added to the budget discussions later in the fall. We also appreciate all the comments on social media both negative and positive."
There were plenty of negative comments associated with a BayToday article featuring Tignanelli and previewing the town hall meeting.
A small sampling of comments posted below the September 9 article promoting community engagement:
"If Tignanelli would listen to the negative comments (which are actually truths) then he could make the changes that would result in positive actions. A negative becomes a positive when it affects change for the better."
And:
"We don’t show up because city hall does nothing but sweep dirty items they don’t want to deal with under the rug (Memorial Gardens), obfuscate and only take the input they want to hear.
Start by making some right decisions instead first to re-establish trust with your constituents! Maybe people might start to get re-involved?
We have some very significant reasons to be negative!!!"
Tignanelli responds to the overall lack of engagement with, "It’s amazing how many people are pessimistic to the democratic system that we all have a constitutional right to participate in. It’s as if they have been wronged by our local government and are out on a vengeance to take back power via disrespectful and false comments while hiding comfortably from behind their device."
He refers to the recent Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma." Tignanelli hopes it brings a "heightened awareness of the negative effects of social media. Misinformation, manipulation, virality, addiction, filter bubbling and FOMO have led to a decline in society's public participation in democracy."
Vrebosch says she is at a loss as to what the answer is.
"Doing a virtual town hall, you can do it from home, you can call in," she says. "We're still not getting many. But, again, it's the first one and people just have to get used to it."
At the same time, Vrebosch wonders whether presenting to council — in any format — is a comfortable endeavour for many. She says there are likely instances where publicity is unwelcome for citizens.
"I think some people prefer the anonymity of an email," Vrebosch says.
According to Mayor Al McDonald, there will be a second virtual town hall before the end of the calendar year. Tignanelli says he is grateful to all of the citizens who reach out with ideas, concerns, and feedback.
"We are a better city because of all of our combined efforts," he says. "Thank you."
