Hamiltonians who want to speak to and hear from their Council representatives about plans for the next 10 years can do so from the comfort of their own home, their local café, or anywhere they please.
Hamilton City Council is hosting a series of digital question and answer (Q&A) sessions with Elected Members as part of its community engagement on the 2021-31 draft Long-Term Plan.
The ‘virtual town hall’ meetings were introduced by Council last year as part of its consultation on the 2020/21 Annual Plan.
Communication and Engagement Unit Manager Natalie Palmer said the uncertainty around COVID-19 means Council staff and Elected Members need to be agile with where, when and how they talk, and listen, to residents.
“Having genuine face-to-face conversations with Hamiltonians is crucial in order to connect Council with the community,” she said. “We are lucky to be at COVID-19 Alert Level 1 right now so those conversations can go ahead at our events. Our digital Q&As provide us with another way to hear about the issues that are important to residents, their whaanau, and their neighbourhood.”
Council has planned around 38 opportunities for people to meet with Council staff and/or Elected Members in person, with two digital Q&As complementing those.
The first digital Q&A will be hosted on Council’s Facebook and YouTube channels from 6pm to 7pm on Thursday 11 March.
Deputy Mayor Geoff Taylor and Community Committee Chair Councillor Mark Bunting will be on hand to answer questions from attendees, alongside Infrastructure Operations General Manager Eeva-Liisa Wright and Executive Director Special Projects Blair Bowcott.
Viewers can ask questions by commenting on the Facebook post or YouTube stream.
For those who’d prefer to have a chat offline, staff and/or Elected Members will be at these locations over the next week:
Thursday 11 March
11am to 1pm
Hillcrest Library, 58 Masters Ave, Hillcrest
Te Awa @ The Base
Friday 12 March
9am to 9pm
Main entrance, Te Awa, The Base Shopping Centre
Gourmet at the Gardens
Sunday 14 March
4pm to 8pm
Rhododendron Lawn, Hamilton Gardens
Balloons Over Waikato
Tuesday 16 March
7am to 9am
Innes Common, Hamilton Lake
Pukete Neighbourhood House
Wednesday 17 March
11am to 12pm
Pukete Neighbourhood House, 43 Church Road
The second digital Q&A will take place on Council’s Facebook and YouTube channels from 2pm to 3pm on Wednesday 17 March.
For a full list of events of where you can chat about the 2021-31 Long-Term Plan, visit futurehamilton.co.nz/events.
Click here to have your say on the 2021-31 Long-Term Plan
While you’re there…
At the same time we also want your feedback on the following policies:
Click here to have your say on our Growth Funding Policy
Click here to have your say on our Development Contributions Policy
Click here to have your say on our Revenue and Financing Policy