County Board Begins Testing Innovative Public Engagement Platform
Supervisors Seek Public Input on Budget and County Policy
MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors announced its launch of Polco today, an innovative civic engagement platform where residents can directly influence the County’s decision-making process.
“Supervisors want to hear from the public. This tool allows us to seek out citizen views on timely issues and collect responses in a way that is useful to us as policymakers,” said County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
Polco is a platform designed to increase civic engagement, improve government transparency, and inform governments of constituent input which, in turn, will help better guide public policy.
Using Polco’s civic analytics website and apps, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will post questions directly to residents and receive insightful, reliable data to drive local policy decisions. By increasing civic engagement through web-based polling, there is an opportunity to meet Milwaukee County residents where they are and collectively move policy forward.
“When all constituents feel a part of the decision process, communities inherently become more resilient to future challenges,” said Nick Mastronardi, Founder and CEO of Polco.
Polco is committed to a strict privacy policy where they only share aggregated de-identified results. Participant detailed data and votes are never shared.
Polco provides the tools for municipalities to collect residents’ views concerning proposed legislation, meeting agenda items, and broader issues.
Residents can become active users by visiting https://polco.us/milwaukeecounty and creating an account. Polco’s platform is available via web, mobile, email, and any place Polco e-ballots are found online. This service is free to all residents of Milwaukee County.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
I missed the part where Chairman Lipscomb was transparent about how much this new web service is costing the County. I noticed the duplicity of saying it’s “free to use,” but that’s not the same as “taxpayers aren’t paying for this.”
Unless the County Board has somehow recently lost the ability to email, use the telephone, hold a public meeting or stroll through their neighborhoods, a reasonable person could say this is duplicative and question the frivolous spending — especially during a time the Chairman is asking others to start penny pinching.
I can only assume this press release was sent prematurely. The Journal-Sentinel reports that Chairman Lipservice — pardon, me — Lipscomb is aiming to “trim the fat” and cut services and programs that County residents need and enjoy.
(http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2017/10/24/lipscomb-proposes-15-million-cuts-avoid-milwaukee-county-raising-wheel-tax-60/793888001/)
Surely he wouldn’t be wasting taxpayer money on something like this that is clearly nonessential — and excessive and duplicative (unless it has gone unreported that County Board members have lost their abilities to use email, telephone or free social media or hold a public meeting in their districts).
HOW MUCH IS POLCO COSTING COUNTY TAXPAYERS?