What’s good for the goose is good for the gander; they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and McNab-Braeside Mayor Lori Hoddinott likes how Mississippi Mills involves it citizenry in the annual municipal budget process.
Hoddinott shared the plagiarism with her peers at McNab-Braeside Council April 1st.
The Mayor shared a series of powerpoint slides purloined from the nearby neighbour.
The timelines between the two municipalities are different, but that doesn’t mean that McNab-Braeside couldn’t advance the citizen-input portion to parallel Mississippi Mills November start-date.
The McNab-Braeside Mayor is attracted to the possibility of getting resident feedback right out of the hopper.
Graphics and visuals help maintain resident interest.
She says the key to keeping resident interest is not to overload them with too much information at once.
Hoddinott isn’t trying to square the circle, but the lines of dialogue do form a triangle.
Once the annual budget process is complete, it doesn’t stop there- a series of quarterly reports is published to keep citizens up-to-date on how closely the projections conform to fiscal reality.
By Rick Stow