NORTH ADAMS — How can city government improve communication with residents? City leaders are looking forward to addressing that question in the new year.

"This is a fresh opportunity for us to sit as a community, to have listened to those voices and decide to do something about it," City Councilor Andrew Fitch said at at the council's Nov. 12 meeting. "What can we do better as a council, as an administration? A lot of what I heard was about communication and transparency throughout this election cycle."

Members plan to continue the discussion at the council's Feb. 10 General Government Committee meeting. Here's some of what they have in mind:

Responding to confusion over where residents can find infrastructure updates, construction schedules and grant information, multiple councilors said the city needs a clearer, centralized online hub.

“What's the status of this construction project or this school project or the schedule of our street sweeping or pothole-filling?” Fitch said during discussion at the Nov. 12 meeting. “It would be really nice to get that information out there fully, so we can say 'this is the central source of information, you can count on this source."

Councilor Pete Breen compared North Adams’ website to Northampton's. That city received the same recent vacant storefront grant that North Adams did, which gives tax credits for opening small businesses.

“It talks about how to apply, the funding details, the deadlines," he said of Northampton's website. Providing similar information locally could prevent confusion among residents and business owners, he added.

“If we can get those pieces out, it will take away the fog, if you will, and the complaining,” Breen said. “Because these are great things that are coming our way ... and people are busy.”

Councilor Lisa Blackmer envisioned a website that alerted residents to updates such as “Brown Street Bridge is open” or “Work started on Walnut Street wall,” while noting the need to be realistic about costs and upkeep.

“If we could add that without little cost or hassle, it would be really helpful for all of us,” she said.

Fitch suggested creating a city newsletter to explain recent and upcoming City Council actions.

Blackmer liked the concept but questioned who would manage it.

"I am not sure who has the wherewithal and the tech skills to create a newsletter,” she said. “If somebody was in charge of it and we are all sending in one piece, that might be good, but it is not my skillset."

City Councilor Keith Bona said the idea was worth exploring but raised concerns about long-term sustainability.

"The issue is you do a newsletter or something like that and two years later, you might not be here,” he said.

Planning Board member Virginia Riehl, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council this year, was surprised after speaking with residents who said they never saw information about the candidates running.

"We need to do an audit of where people get their information," she said. "We are assuming people watch on YouTube or visit the city website or read our wonderful media. They're doing none of that."

Councilor-elect Alexa MacDonald suggested meeting residents where they already are — on social media.

“But a lot of misinformation is also coming from social media,” she said. "It could be beneficial to look at social media as being a large platform ... It seems like a lot of people are just scrolling and getting information that way.”

Councilor Ashley Shade said making all public meetings available in a hybrid format would be “huge” for accessibility.

She also supported keeping city forms and applications easy to find and printable online.

"It's simple things, like if you wanted a business application, having the license and all the paperwork online, ready in one spot, so you can see everything you need to do.”

Multiple councilors agreed that less jargon and clearer explanations during meetings would help residents stay engaged.

Fitch suggested explaining agenda items more clearly upfront or having ordinance sponsors explain what they are proposing and why.

Councilor-elect Lillian Zavatsky said plain explanations of what happens in meetings were important to ensuring public participation.

"I think about how this might be someone's first meeting,” said Zavatsky. “If it's very obscure and they don't know what is going on, it might be the last meeting they tune into and that is a loss for the city. But to Councilor Bona's point, we need to find something that works and is sustainable.”

Mayor Jennifer Macksey called transparency the “buzzword” of the recent election and said her administration has been discussing ways to better communicate the work already being done.

She said she plans to do more radio appearances, potentially launch a short podcast such as "Minute with the Mayor" and use public access television more. She acknowledged that the city website could be more robust.

Fitch said that he thinks people see communication pitfalls as a lack of transparency in local government.

"I don't perceive there are hidden agendas in our city, however, there is certainly the perception of that at times because of less than standard or ideal communications," he said.

Fitch noted Macksey's recent effort to bring a rotation of department presentations to council, such as the Water Department and Public Services. He said keeping up these public presentations would be “great.”

Council President Bryan Sapienza reminded residents that councilors’ contact information is available online and that all meetings are open to the public.

“If you can, please attend.”