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Charter review board plans public education campaign using SpotlightFTL, surveys and civic partners
Summary
City communications director outlined a multi-pronged outreach plan for the Charter Review Board that centers on a dedicated SpotlightFTL page, neighborhood outreach, civic partners, water-bill inserts and school-based civics engagement.
The Fort Lauderdale Charter Review Board heard a presentation on public outreach planning at its meeting, with Ashley Dussard, the city’s director for strategic communications, describing a program that centers on a dedicated SpotlightFTL webpage and a short public survey to guide the board’s work.
Dussard said the communications plan will explain “what the charter is, why they should be interested in what is in it, and, how it impacts them.” She told the board the plan would include a dedicated web page (similar to the city’s SpotlightFTL project pages), a survey, flyers posted at city facilities with QR codes, social and media outreach, email distribution through city and partner lists, and inserts on the back of water bills.
Nut Graf: The board signaled a priority on educating residents about how Fort Lauderdale’s charter and form of government work before asking voters to act. Members emphasized clear, plain-language explanations (for example, contrasting the current city manager form of government with a strong-mayor option), and using existing civic channels — neighborhood associations, the Chamber of Commerce, the Riverwalk and the Downtown Development Authority — to reach a broad audience.
Board members asked staff to keep the outreach materials simple and focused. Chair Stern and members said the communications should state clearly whether the board is only collecting opinions or proposing specific charter changes for a future ballot. Mary Palagun and other members urged using existing neighborhood newsletters (including Imperial Point News) and civic association networks to distribute content. Dussard said staff can provide graphics and content for partner outlets and will track engagement metrics — email opens, social reach and survey responses — to report back to the board.
The board discussed outreach to schools and the education advisory board as a way to increase civic awareness among younger residents. Members suggested coordinating with the city’s education advisory board, which has liaisons to the school district, to explore civics lessons or materials that could be distributed in high schools that offer pre-law or civics coursework.
Ending: Dussard said she will draft plain-language messaging for the board to review and email the draft to members in advance of the next meeting. The board agreed to put the outreach plan on the next agenda for formal review and to keep the SpotlightFTL page as the central, dynamic repository for materials and metrics.
