the broken typewriter

Putting the Peace River Regional District’s public notices solely on the internet – on Facebook and the Regional District website – is a plan that Area B Director Jordan Kealy believes is not going to go over well with residents.

“Currently for Area B, communication is a major difficulty, even before we lost the newspaper,” said Kealy at Friday’s Regional District Board meeting in Fort St. John. Relying only on communication through the internet, which many in Area B don’t have access to, or when they do, the service is spotty, will have an adverse affect on the Regional District’s relationship with its residents.

With the recent closure of the Alaska Highway News and the Dawson Creek Mirror, the PRRD has been forced to look for alternate means of publishing statutory public notices. After weeks of research, Regional District staff came up with what they thought was the best option to meet the legislated requirements. That took the form of a new bylaw, Public Notice Bylaw No. 2539, 2023 which contains only electronic means of communicating with the public.

When Kealy asked if a mailout to residents would be a viable option, Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Dahlen replied that it costs the Regional District approximately $6,000 for each mailout. The options outlined in the bylaw, posting Public Notices on the PRRD’s website and Facebook page, are free.

Area E Director Dan Rose agreed with Kealy but noted that there’s no guarantee people read the mailouts.

“But I know for a fact that a lot of people aren’t on Facebook or work off of our webpage, so I think that kind of leaves them out of it,” Rose said.

Rose said he would support the bylaw as a short-term measure, to keep the business of the Regional District flowing. For the long-term, other ways of communicating with the public need to be looked at.

Dahlen feels that using the means outlined in the bylaw could be successful, citing the thousand plus residents who showed up at the June 8 PRRD meeting, and the hundreds of people who tuned in on Facebook as evidence that electronic notifications could work.

“I’m sure if it’s not a successful application, the public will be sure to let us know in a quick hurry,” said Dahlen. “At which point I’m sure we can start to look at other options.”

Rose suggested that they be proactive and start looking at other options now, and “not wait for people to get fired up and angry over it.”

Kealy felt that electronic communication should be considered a secondary, and that something better be found to replace it, particularly at the PRRD currently doesn’t have a communications manager. Kealy said that he’s constantly running into people asking where they can find information.

“Community meetings [are] probably my best way of interacting with constituents, and that is what they would love me to be able to do, but I just can’t bounce around that many times,” said Kealy. “The main thing that I’m hearing right now is that there is no communication and that it needs to improve. Unfortunately, the area I represent doesn’t have internet or it’s very spotty.”

Area D Director Leonard Hiebert says he goes through the same thing. In the past when he’s needed to communicate with his residents, he put up a poster in the post office.

“I find that everyone has to pick up their mail, and a lot of times it’s simple and easy,” said Hiebert.

Brad Sperling, Area C Director, and board chair noted that that only works if people collect their mail from a post office.

Whatever option the PRRD chooses to get Public Notice information out to residents, it must be financially viable, said Dahlen. They can look at options he said, but whether it’s $6,000 per mailout or for staff to drive to Pink Mountain and put a poster on the side of a garbage can, “they come with extreme operational costs.”

Rose proposed an additional recommendation to staff:

“THAT the Regional Board give staff direction to look further into other options for communication in support of the Public Notice Bylaw including signs strategically placed in public areas.”

That recommendation was passed, as were the recommendations to give first three readings to and adopt Public Notice Bylaw No. 2539, 2023.