Information is key for all decisions says Edmond mayor

BY EDMOND MAYOR PATRICE DOUGLAS Comments 1
Published: November 4, 2009

Editor’s note: Edmond Mayor Patrice Douglas will write an occasional guest column for The Oklahoman’s Edmond/State section.

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Communication is the key. It is my firm belief that we all want the necessary information to make informed choices. Your decision may be as small as the quickest route to your favorite Edmond restaurant, or as big as how to fund our emergency communication system. Regardless of the decision, informed choices are made when you have access to the necessary facts.

Edmond citizens are an educated population who participate in community discussion. City leaders are looking for new ways to get pertinent information. I want you to know what is going on in our city. The city council wants you to know the decisions facing us. City staff wants to help you address your local concerns.

Your need for information is why I do the weekly "Mayor’s Message.”

It is the reason for the news releases to our local newspapers.

It is the reason for the Edmond Web site, for notices in your utility bills, for the public access television channel and for Twitter and Facebook pages. This is why our city council agenda has a separate item at every meeting for "public comments.” This is why we hold workshops on topics of Edmond concern. These different communication channels give you every opportunity to gain the needed facts to give reasoned input.

Ten years ago, we never would have thought of communicating through Twitter — it didn’t exist. Twenty years ago, only a select few had cell phones. You don’t get information in the same ways your parents did, or in the same way your children do. As a city, we will take advantage of these new channels, and we will continually look for opportunities to get you the information you need to make informed opinions, and educated decisions about issues facing Edmond.

Another way for us to communicate is through e-mail. If you would like to receive these weekly messages via e-mail, please send us your e-mail address. You can do this by going to www.edmondok.com/service/email and signing up for the weekly messages. The planned topics include an update on our police and fire departments, the next road projects scheduled, how we use our sales tax dollars, important issues facing our neighbor cities and much more. As our communication channels change and improve, we hope to send information about road construction and planned road closings, to make your travel simpler and quicker.

If you have ideas of how to expand our communication, let me know. You can e-mail me at Patrice.Douglas@edmondok.com. Let’s work to keep Edmond moving forward.