Pinellas County Redundant Force Main Project Virtual Meeting
How do you manage citizen engagement when opportunities for public gatherings are shut down for a pandemic? That’s the situation Dialogue Public Relations faced amid the Safer at Home order Pinellas County put into place in March 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Dialogue was all set to hold a public meeting to inform Seminole and Pinellas Park residents about a new force main Pinellas County Utilities planned to install to replace an aging wastewater force main and ensure reliable wastewater service. In fact, postcards announcing the meeting were already mailed to more than 900 residents along the route.
Through closely monitoring national news and experience from a separate project, Dialogue knew holding a public meeting amid growing concern for the novel coronavirus could endanger residents and staff. Just 10 days before Pinellas County issued its Safer at Home order and 11 days before the scheduled public meeting, Dialogue acted quickly to recommend the County pivot to a different meeting venue. The public needed to be informed because work was about to begin, but it was no longer safe to gather. What’s more, residents needed to be able to ask questions in the meeting in an orderly way.
Dialogue engaged Telephone Town Hall Meeting, a company specializing in holding telephone meetings where participants need only to answer the phone when it rings at the meeting time. Dialogue worked with Pinellas County to inform residents of the venue change and the option to opt in for the phone call, in addition to prepping County and project officials to hold the meeting in the new format. Telephone Town Hall Meeting helped Dialogue target homes in specific ZIP codes, so those along the route were called.
The March 26 telephone town hall call was a success. More than 150 residents stayed on the call through the project explanation and part of the question and answers. More than 50 attendees remained on the line for the duration of the call. Despite the Safer at Home order, residents were able to learn about the project and have their questions answered in real time, and the County could continue their work knowing residents were engaged and informed. Construction began April 13, 2020.