Just like the weather, local families, businesses, and governments change and grow with the seasons. The City of Lacey (City) and Lacey City Council (Council) are no exception – 2024 began with some improvements to enhance the community’s ability to be a part of their local government – and to watch “Your Government, On Demand.”
City Officials and Lacey City Council Are Excited with the Changes
In case you haven’t heard, Council meetings are now held on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays and Council committee meetings have been eliminated altogether. Removing committee meetings will save valuable time and resources across the organization, provide consistent information distribution with the Council and community, reduce barriers to participation, and increase accessibility and transparency.
Prior to coming to Lacey, Assistant City Manager, Shannon Kelley-Fong, worked for the City of Lakewood and was drawn to Lacey because of the “opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact on the organization and the greater Lacey community.” This work has included enhancing external communications. “Over the last few years, we’ve made great strides at improving community access to City information, programs, and policies in alignment with our adopted Communications Plan.” And, the recent changes to Council meetings aim to do just that.
The City recently launched LaceyTV77, a new cable and streaming channel featuring live coverage of Lacey public meetings and other City programming. Community members can access Lacey TV 77 on Xfinity Cable, on the City’s website, and soon through ROKU and Firestick apps. This new channel gives the City more programming flexibility and replaces cable channel 3. As the tagline suggests, LaceyTV77 will provide “Your government, on demand.”
As in the past, community members can still watch public meeting via Facebook (Council meeting only) YouTube, and the Public Meetings Portal.
Other service accessibility enhancements at the City in the past few years include:
- Updating the City website, the new site includes a robust search function, and translation services and accessibility features.
- Updating the Municipal Code portal to include all resolution and proclamations.
- Creating a one-stop location for email notifications, including the LaceyLife newsletter, information on capital projects, and News Alerts.
- Launching a new Utility Billing payment portal.
- Lunching a new Online Permit portal that allows applicants to submit materials online.
- Transitioning many documents and forms online.
Be a Part of Citywide Government Decisions
Some folks think it’s enough to simply fill in ballots and vote for changes, updates, and government programming. But, actions of the City Council could impact you so it’s important to be involved. The City Council’s primary duties are to make laws, adopt regulations and budgets, levy taxes, authorize public improvements, provide for public safety and health, approve board and commission appointments, and oversee a wide-ranging agenda for the whole community.
For example, over the next two years, the City will be updating their Comprehensive Plan, a long-term vision for the community. Kelley-Fong encourages community members to stay tuned “as there will be many ways for the public to be involved along the way.”
The City regularly holds public meetings and information about them is viewable before and after the meeting via the new Public Meetings portal. Kelley-Fong says that community members can choose a specific meeting to view live or on-demand, review agenda items as well as any materials and files used in that session.
The public can participate in public meetings remotely via Zoom or in person at Lacey City Hall. But why not attend in-person and experience the wheels of government first-hand? Kelley-Fong explains that all public meetings are open to everyone and there are designated public comment opportunities built into the regular Council meeting agendas.
New Community Request System Coming Soon
The City also plans to roll out a new, more robust, customer request system – complete with a downloadable app – to replace the existing Lacey311. Once launched, it will be a hub for community member to send the City questions, comments, concerns, compliments, and more. It also includes two-way communication so City staff can let submitters know when they have addressed or answered their specific request.
Like our state’s legislature, city government welcomes the unique perspectives and input of its community members. Whether you call Lacey home or it’s the site of your business, favorite restaurant, or activity, participation is an important right and responsibility.
Sponsored
