Best Practices: Public Involvement Evaluation

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Best PracticesPublic Involvement Evaluation

• October 4 5, 2004
• Peer Exchange
• Tucson, AZ

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Brevard MPO

• Brevard County -- Titusville to Melbournearea
  around the Kennedy Space Center
• 72 miles long, 20 miles wide
• 500,000 Population (8th largest in Florida)
• Independent office under the Brevard County
  Commissioners
• Staff of seven, 19 member Board

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Organization Chart
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Why Evaluate Public Involvement?

• Keep your program fresh
• Identify successes and failures
• Build on your experiences

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History of Evaluation in Brevard

• A bad experience led to the development of a
  good process
• Consultant study ended without an MPO decision
• MPO staff conducted 10 additional public meetings
• Staff was frustrated with final decisions and
  cost/labor involved
• Curious if the public, other staff and the MPO
  thought our efforts were worth it
• The steps we took to find out led to the
  development of an evaluation process

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Public Involvement Evaluation Handbook

• The process was documented
• Adopted as part of the Public Involvement Plan

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Identify Tools

• Compile a descriptive list of public involvement
  tools
• Current
• Desired
• Gather examples to use as a guide
• Good (to copy)
• Bad (to avoid)
• Dont forget the basics!

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Establish Performance Measures

• Qualitative
• Staff opinion
• User opinion
• Quantitative
• Set a threshold
• Should be achievable
• Set the standard high
• Set for each PI tool

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Performance Measures
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Evaluate Performance

• Qualitative What do you THINK?
• Interview staff, committee members
• Document comments from public/users
• Quantitative What do the numbers say?
• Count attendees, responses, returned mail
• Compile Statistics

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Qualitative Analysis
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Evaluate Performance

• Qualitative What do you THINK?
• Interview staff, committee members
• Document comments from public/users
• Quantitative What do the numbers say?
• Count attendees, responses, returned mail
• Compile Statistics

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Quantitative Analysis
Brevard MPO Public Involvement Evaluation Analysi
s of Display Ads November 2003 MPO staff has
reviewed sign-in sheets from various public
meetings to determine the effectiveness of
placing display ads in the newspaper prior to
meetings. The PIP establishes a goal of 15 of
meeting attendees indicating that they heard
about a meeting via an e-mail announcement. Annua
l Public Meetings, July 2003 Display Ad
description Image of announcement post card
published the Sunday prior to the meetings. Total
Meeting Attendees 73 Total that indicated they
found out about meetings from display ad 1
(2) Babcock Street Public Hearing, November 7,
2001 Display Ad description Announcement and
study area map. Total Meeting Attendees
116 Total that indicated they found out about
meetings from display ad 3 (3.4) Greenways
Trails Master Plan Open House, February 15,
2001 Total Meeting Attendees 71 Total
Responses 45 Total that indicated they found
out about meetings from display ad 9 (16.7)
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Obtaining Evaluation Information

• Surveys
• Written
• Telephone
• Online
• Interviews
• Individual or small group
• Can be written/on-line by asking open-ended
  questions

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Obtaining Evaluation Information

• Take advantage of a captive audience
• Include questions on sign-in sheets or comment
  forms

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Your Evaluation Audience

• The Public
• Staff
• Decision Makers

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Identify Improvement Strategies

• Note the things that worked continue to use
• Note the things that did not improve or abandon
• Track the changes made
• Just because it worked once it might not work
  again RE-EVALUATE

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Improvement Strategies Form

• Identify
• Track implementation

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The Big Picture

• Dont forget how the tools fit together
• Evaluate each public involvement process
• Long Range Plan
• Corridor/PDE Studies
• Use outside evaluations
• Consultants (part of project documentation)
• Board and Advisory Committees (TAC/CAC)

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Other Considerations

• Cost can be an evaluation factor, too
• Be willing to break the cycle rule changes
  might be needed
• Legal requirements cant be ignored even if not
  successful
• If not meeting goals be sure theyre realistic

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Document Your Process

• Keep copies of your tools and examples of others
• Save your evaluations
• Track the implementation of improvement
  strategies
• Continuously update

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Questions?

• Kama Dobbs, Transportation Planner
• Brevard MPO
• 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way
• Viera, FL 32940
• 321-690-6890
• kdobbs_at_brevardmpo.com
• www.brevardmpo.com