Arlington County Collects City-Wide Feedback on Current Initiatives

Civic engagement is at the heart of Arlington. Through its Engage Arlington initiative and public engagement plan, the county is fostering active citizen participation across all current projects and initiatives.

Problem

Arlington County needed a solution to facilitate online plan reviews for ongoing projects across the city. These efforts include a Master Plan Preliminary Draft on Public Spaces, the Arlington Childcare Initiative, and the Draft Four Mile Run Valley Policy Framework.  

Solution

Konveio provides Arlington with an easy-to-use and widely accessible digital tool for the collection of public comments on a wide range of impactful topics related to projects.

• Arlington County uses Konveio to create a landing page where interested participants can find current project plans and other relevant documents.
• The app makes it easy for the public to review and comment on current drafts, providing in-depth feedback. Users leave their comments directly on top of the text it relates to, cutting down on the time it takes to track and process comments.
• Participants can label comments themselves as a suggestion, a question or an answer, which makes it easier for the County staff to address each comment.
• Registering a user account is voluntary on Arlington’s Konveio site, removing barriers and fostering wider participation among the general public.
• Using up- and down-voting icons, participants can show their support for other comments without having to draft a response themselves, simplifying participation while significantly reducing the number of duplicate comments.

Impact

Now in its third year, Konveio has recorded thousands of comments, demonstrating the public’s strong engagement and interest in being part of the consultation process. With its high volume of comments, Konveio provides Arlington County with a much-needed tool to streamline their analysis, response and integration. The app’s main features – exporting, sorting and comment reporting – ensure that the teams responsible for the projects save valuable time and are able to evaluate each comment provided by the public. “It is easy-to-use, widely accessible and great for collecting detailed comments and ideas,” summarizes Jerry S., the Communications and Public Engagement Manager at the County Manager’s Office.

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