SUNDRE – A resident has outlined several recommendations she feels would further enhance the municipality’s efforts to inform the community.
Recognizing existing methods used to communicate with the public, Kim Free, who owns a small business that specializes in social media communications and marketing, said “I just think there’s a disconnect between the way that you’re communicating and the way that most residents prefer to receive their information.”
Emphasizing the fact that she was “not here looking for work,” she told council on Dec. 16 during a regular meeting that her goal was to constructively and respectfully share insights and suggestions.
Free asserted that kind and clear communication can not only solve most problems but is also crucial to improve confidence in council’s decision-making process.
“From my perspective, Sundre is struggling to reach residents effectively both in the timing and with the methods used,” she said, adding the result is the erosion of trust and a subsequent build-up of frustration.
The key goals Free outlined in a detailed presentation she prepared on her time at her own expense were to: improve transparency, boost community engagement, enhance accessibility to information, and strengthen trust and collaboration by creating culture of open two-way communication.
Drawing from data and statistics obtained by a community study conducted in 2020 by the Sundre Greenwood Neighbourhood Place Society, she said the top three ways people get their information about local events and news is through word of mouth, social media – primarily Facebook – and the Sundre on the Go newsletter. Also outlined in her report were bulletin boards and posters around town, the town’s website, as well as the local newspaper.
Having conducted her own analysis of social media posts of several neighbouring and regional municipalities, Free said Didsbury, Olds and Mountain View County all post far more frequently than Sundre.
“The town of Sundre is not utilizing social media effectively,” she said. “By not using the communication methods that residents primarily use to receive their information, residents are left in the dark.”
That also by extension results in lower attendance at town open houses and council meetings as well as the cancellation of community events like what would have been the inaugural harvest street festival due to lack of registrations, she said.
Further hampering access to information is what Free called a difficult-to-navigate town website.
While the town’s full-page ad that runs weekly in the Albertan as well as the mayor’s letter that is included in utility bills are great, she said they are not repurposed for social media, which limits their potential reach.
Her analysis of neighbouring municipalities’ use of social media had Didsbury leading the pack with 382 posts in the period from Jan. 1 to Nov. 21. Olds, which was in second place with more than 200, takes announcements from their one-page ad and repurposes it for social media feeds to provide consistent communication across platforms. Sundre had throughout that period of 2024 a total of 82 posts, she said.
As well, she added Mountain View County, Didsbury and Olds all livestream council meetings, which makes proceedings more accessible to residents, especially those who are unable to personally attend. Sundre should also leverage technology to maximize public participation.
“Livestreaming and video content are powerful tools for engagement; Sundre already has video equipment in council chambers,” she said, pointing to the suite of three cameras that were installed a couple of years ago.
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Just a few minor tweaks could have profound positive impact, said Free, who also recommended hiring either a part-time or contract professional communicator.
“Again, not me,” she said.
Drawing from his own personal experience on council, Coun. Paul Isaac said he over the years has felt a level of frustration at efforts to communicate not always being effective, and added council should always endeavour to find ways to inform people.
“We always need to do better at communication,” he said.
Coun. Jaime Marr recognized the effort Free invested in preparing the proposal for “a communications strategy, which typically costs money for people that are interested in getting those.”
Marr added that when it comes to social media channels, individual councillors “are handcuffed” from personally posting information.
Council also cannot dictate how the communication work is done but can advocate to hire someone specifically for that position – a discussion that has been brought up and includes a cost factor, the councillor said.
Marr asked approximately how many hours would be required to fulfill Free’s recommendations, and was told the job would on average involve as many as a few hours a week for a trained individual.
Coun. Owen Petersen agreed the topic is important, although professional communications do not come without a cost.
“This is such a Cadillac of communication – I love it. But this comes with a real dollar amount,” said Petersen.
Even if only a few hours a week, he said communicators are professionals and should be compensated as such.
“A lot of the time we don’t consider communicators as professionals, but it is a profession. We take our engineers’ profession seriously; we take all of our professionals that work for the town very seriously and we pay them good wages for their profession,” he said. “This is a real budget line that trickles down into real increase in taxes.”
Recognizing the room for improvement, Petersen also expressed the opinion that administration has done the best it can within budget confines.
But the councillor also said he is reluctant to rely on social media.
“I am really nervous with those social media platforms … which are – in my opinion – manipulative corporations,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of relying on them to support our democracy.
“I get that most folks just want to pop open their Instagram and get all their news, which is a terrible idea in my opinion,” he said. “It makes me really nervous to put democracy in the hands of those corporations.”
Free acknowledged his concern and recognized that as private corporations, social media platforms “can shut their doors at any time,” but she still felt the town’s communications strategy needs a better balance that includes modern methods and suggested the use of an email listing.
Mayor Richard Warnock also pointed out that municipalities are regulated by provincial legislation as to where certain notices can be posted, such as the Alberta Gazette or the local newspaper.
The mayor also said that “council did make a decision that we were not going to participate in banter in social media pages; there’s no win for that for us, our residents, the public or anyone.”
As well, council will in 2025 be “taking a look at doing our meetings as recommended like other municipalities are doing,” said Warnock.
However, the mayor is skeptical that broadcasting or posting recorded meetings will suddenly yield a surge of people watching, as other municipalities that do so initially experienced higher engagement levels that later dropped down to just a handful of views.
“In our surveys of other municipalities in central Alberta, they’re livestreaming, they’re advertising … their numbers at council are the same,” he said.
And acknowledging the town website can be a bit cumbersome to navigate, he said information is nevertheless available.
“Our calendar of events for the entire year is up there.”
Council thanked Free for the presentation and carried a motion accepting the report for information.
