City Council and BEDP Joint Meeting Discuss Ways to Enhance Communication and Collaboration with Burien Business Community
The Burien City Council hosted a joint meeting with the Business and Economic Development Partnership (BEDP) met to discuss ways the BEDP and City Council could enhance communications between the two groups as well as to the business community.
At the conclusion of a previous joint City Council/BEDP meeting held on November 12, 2021, to discuss enhanced communications and collaboraions between Council and the business community, City Council motioned to ‘Direct the City Manager to bring recommendations and potential next steps for consideration to address the feedback shared by the meeting attendees at a future joint City Council and BEDP meeting.”
Staff worked with the BEDP during the month of April to prepare for this second joint City Council and BEDP meeting, including reviewing the comments and themes from the November meeting and exploring potential solutions to help address the challenges and opportunities discussed.
Members identified two major areas of focus from the November joint meeting where progress may be made: 1) enhancing collaboration and communication between City Council and the BEDP as an advisory board, and 2) enhancing collaboration and communication between City Council and the Burien business community at-large.
After these discussions, the BEDP made several recommendations to offer potential options for Council consideration, with the aim of having a productive discussion with Council at the May joint meeting.
These recommendations included:
Enhanced BEDP and City Council collaboration
- Clearly define the role of the BEDP in accordance with City Council expectations
- Formal process for City Council to respond to correspondence from advisory boards
- Councilmember representative selected to attend BEDP meetings
- One scheduled annual joint City Council and BEDP meeting
Enhanced Business Community & Council Collaboration
- Make City website easier to navigate
- Standardize business community engagement
- Clearly define the community feedback loop between City Council, BEDP, and business community
- Better communications from City Council on the rationale for policy decisions
After detailed discussion on the recommendations, including expressing a desire to consult with other advisory boards and commissions, the City Council postponed final discussion and decision to the next City Council meeting on Monday, June 6.