FAQs

Community visioning is a process of engaging community members to find out what they value most about Wetaskiwin and to share concerns, ideas, and aspirations for its future. Through this discovery, citizens are given a platform to discuss what they would like Wetaskiwin to look and feel like in 50 years and come to a mutually agreed upon vision.

50 years may seem like a long time to many of us, but the future always arrives faster than most people expect. Conducting a 50-year vision allows the entire community room to be creative and innovative in envisioning Wetaskiwin in 2070, whether for their future selves, their children, or their children's children. This community vision will help guide every level of decision making within the City--and would be a huge help to every other agency and organization within Wetaskiwin. If we know where we want to be, then we can all work together in making that future a reality.

The Vision is a commitment from City administrators to ensure decisions are based on the collective will of Wetaskiwinites. It was given a 50-year designation to outspan sitting Councils, and to give some of the broader-scope community-driven initiatives the time they need to take root.

Everything is up for discussion at [what if wetaskiwin]. But not all ideas are created equal. Some may be simple and easy to accomplish. Some will be more nuanced, complex or dependent upon other variables. Some will be non-starters. By having a centralized dialogue with all Wetaskiwinites invited to the table, right here is where we can examine these ideas, weigh their merits, and determine how they may be undertaken.

You're participating right now, by exploring this site and seeing — in real time — the aggregation of community input into different challenges and opportunities we face as a city. There are also more active ways to participate, including sharing a story of your own, commenting on a project, taking part in a poll, or even signing up to be a moderator on this portal. In the end, this is your site. As a Wetaskiwinite, you are the community; by and large you get to decide the path these conversations will take.

Our region has a lot going for it. As Wetaskiwinites we know this. But we also know we can do better in areas like safety, community, business growth and public perception. So we have two choices. We can do nothing and continue to allow our story to be told for us, or we can shake off the status quo and take control of our own narrative.

In the months leading up to the launch of the 50-Year Vision, costs were budgeted for gathering community input, fleshing out the [what if wetaskiwin] engagement portal, and generating public awareness about the initiative. The starting point was a comprehensive community engagement phase that took place between September 2020 and February 2021. This work was put out to RFP, and was awarded to Stormy Lake Consulting for $40,000.This portion was budgeted and accounted for in the 2020 year. The creative work behind the engagement portal and awareness campaign totals roughly $40k as well.  

When weighed against the 50-Year Vision's potential to overcome legacy community challenges and leverage new opportunities for sustainability, the investment to date has been modest. It's worth noting that the challenges we Wetaskiwinites face have real costs themselves — both in actual dollars as well as the social costs of stagnant growth and skewed public perceptions. The City carefully scrutinizes every dollar it spends. Throughout the process of building the Vision, however, one question resonated with the team: what is the cost of doing nothing?

The [what if wetaskiwin] engagement platform is hosted and moderated by Bang the Table (an industry-leading provider of tools to facilitate engagement between communities and local government) at a cost of about $7,000 per year. However, this is not a new investment; [what if wetaskiwin] is essentially a new and improved version of the "Have Your Say Wetaskiwin" platform that many community members have used in the past. Same platform; same spend.

[what if wetaskiwin] is an online forum for community engagement. It's one of the outcomes of the City of Wetaskiwin's 50-Year Community Vision, and it makes good on the City's commitment to engaging the City's communities and neighbours in more meaningful, actionable ways.

There are a few social media channels where people can (and do) weigh in on the City of Wetaskiwin; but the signal-to-noise ratio varies wildly on these channels, and the City can't be everywhere at once. By comparison, [what if wetaskiwin] is a central, purpose-built portal designed to foster purposeful, respectful conversations that community members themselves can moderate; that are free from the distractions of social media; and that actually have the potential to result in transformative change in the community.

That depends. If you're happy with the status quo, then it's simply a place to explore what other Wetaskiwinites are talking about. But if you think the City is capable of more, then this is the place where sharing your questions, concerns and audacious goals will be respected and rewarded.

Rewarded with a better understanding of how your insights and priorities align with those of your fellow Wetaskiwinites. Rewarded with direct dialogue with City leaders. Rewarded, where possible, with real-world changes and improvements.

This idea comes from Wetaskiwinites themselves. [what if wetaskiwin] is rooted in a collective public desire of Wetaskiwinites to be heard by the City, to bring the community closer together, and to influence action on priorities. In February 2021, the City heard this loud and clear from 1 in 10 Wetaskiwinites during its pre-vision engagement process.

The City's mission is to empower the people of — and around — Wetaskiwin to engage in open, honest (and sometimes messy) conversations about our present state and possible futures. The City created [what if wetaskiwin], and will continue to maintain and develop the platform. However, the long-term goal is for Wetaskiwinites to become co-moderators of the portal.

In its simplest sense, [what if wetaskiwin] is a barometer of public sentiment. This sentiment then guides the City on how resources are allocated, or how projects are prioritized, or how issues can be better communicated. If ideas are simple, the resultant actions will likely be swift. More complex ideas and challenges will obviously take more time and effort to resolve. But right here is where we will figure it out.

Absolutely. The Vision is of great importance to the Mayor, City Manager, Councillors and other City administrators.

It's not practical for the Mayor or City Manager to moderate each and every project on [what if wetaskiwin]. However, if there is enough community consensus or concern around a particular issue, a city leader will weigh in to provide context and clarity.