Public Involvement Phobia

摘要

For many water utilities professionals, the mention of public involvement creates an almost involuntary shudder. They fear their project schedule will be blown, the project budget will skyrocket, and – maybe worse – they will have to talk to, interact with, or accommodate a lot of community residents with irrational demands. That’s not a pretty picture to anyone in the water industry. Since support from managers and engineers is one key to a successful public involvement program, is there any way to raise the comfort level of the “public involvement phobic?” This paper will discuss what public involvement brings to a utility project and shows how a multi-disciplinary project team can get pipes, pump stations and reservoirs in the ground – and do it with public support! Public involvement is no longer optional once a project has come to the attention of community residents, elected officials, regulators and the media. There are several situations that can raise the attention level of these audiences. The paper will highlight the “hot buttons” that can create those situations and describe some techniques that can help avoid them and put the utility “ahead of the curve.” There are a number of excellent tools that describe public involvement techniques and discuss how to use them, as well as some research based recommendations relating to public involvement timing. Providing this type of information to managers and engineers helps demonstrate the track record for public involvement programs and lets them know that there is some research basis for public involvement concepts. Resources such as the toolbox recently developed by AWWA, the public involvement matrix developed by the International Association of Public Participation, and various AwwaRF reports are readily available to utilities. In addition, a customized public involvement approach can be designed for a utility by a consultant working closely with the utility staff. The paper will describe how to determine the best approach for a particular situation. Finally, managers and engineers who have included public involvement professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary team effort have found their projects have more community support, fewer legal challenges and are constructed on time. Case study examples will show the reluctant manager or engineer how working with the community can benefit their utility. Utility staff at all levels will take away some valuable lessons learned from the case study examples that they can apply in their own community – and managers who fear public involvement will be able to move another step closer to requesting a communication plan and program for their future projects.