Streamline Blog

We’ve been working to help so many public agencies figure out how to hold remote public meetings using Zoom Webinar that we decided we’d write our own guide! Note that we aren’t affiliated with Zoom in any way - not even as a reseller or referral partner. Just trying to help! We are focusing on the Zoom Webinar product (even though it’s a bit more expensive than just using Zoom Meetings) because it gives you much more control over public participation.

We've fielded some questions around how to handle the pledge of allegiance, if you are used to starting your meetings by reciting it but are now required to meet remotely. Having multiple people on speaker trying to recite the same thing aloud from different locations can be a bit disorganized.

We’ve received many requests to help our special districts communicate the need to host public meetings remotely for the foreseeable future. We hear you, and are developing content that should help you in various situations. Read on to learn more about how to help your community adjust to the new normal. We will continue to update our blog with additional communication ideas over the coming weeks.

If your organization is moving to remote collaboration for the first time, these tips will help!

Updated April 22, 2020 We have received many requests for help communicating our special district’s need to host public meetings remotely. We will continue to update this FAQ page with additional information over the coming weeks.

On Thursday, May 12, 2020, Governor Newsom issued an executive order giving our special districts greater flexibility to hold remote meetings during the current crisis. See item 11 of the executive order for details on temporary changes to the Brown Act. For special districts who have not hosted online meetings in the past, it may feel overwhelming to consider meeting remotely. Streamline does not provide that sort of technology, but we do use it on a regular basis and would be happy to help in any way we can. If you need to talk through options, feel free to reach out and we'll get back to you as quickly as we can. We're also hosting a conversation about this on Wednesday March 18th - it's part of a 6 week series on marketing for special districts, but you're welcome to sign up and just attend a single episode. The California Special Districts Association has developed a resources page that can provide more information, and includes links to pertinent state and federal resources where members can receive the most current information.

California legislators are pushing for additional transparency requirements for local government agencies. Their latest bid, Senate Bill 931, will require our districts to provide a copy of the full agenda packet via mail or email to anyone who requests it. Sounds like a great idea on the surface, doesn’t it? Of course, we agree that the public has the right to know what their elected officials are doing when it comes to official district business, but there are numerous problems with this proposed bill.

The Special District Leadership Foundation announced that it will be increasing the amount of their joint SDLF / Streamline scholarship pool for 2020. In the past, districts with annual operating revenues below $500,000 were able to utilize a scholarship to receive 15 months free services on the Streamline Web platform - as long as the district didn't already have a website. This year, the scholarship is also available to districts who have a website that isn't compliant with all of the California posting and formatting requirements (including being accessible to visitors with disabilities).

I know, I know … the majority of special districts aren’t spending money on billboard advertising. So why am I writing about billboards? Our online attention span is now hovering around 6 to 8 seconds, and that just happens to be the amount of time a driver has to process the information on a billboard while driving down the freeway. People have been studying the effectiveness of billboard advertising for much longer than the internet has been around - so if you’re trying to get the attention your district deserves, these takeaways can be really helpful.

[This is the first of a series of posts on the subject.] We often speak with folks at special districts who feel that “promoting” the district (whether via a website, social media, or other means) is unnecessary because - and this is a direct quote: “We aren’t competing with anyone.” Nothing could be further from the truth! Educating the public about the important work your district does is vital for a number of reasons.