FAQs

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. WHAT IS ENGAGE WILLIAMSTOWN?

Engage Williamstown is an online engagement platform that allows our community members to learn about Township projects, connect with staff, ask questions, and stay informed. Through this interactive platform, you will have access to a wide variety of tools, encouraging participation in community conversations.

2. WHY IS WILLIAMSTOWN TOWNSHIP ENGAGING ONLINE?

Traditional public engagement or community involvement usually involves attending a public meeting or providing written submissions to a township board, and this can often be time consuming, inconvenient, and sometimes intimidating. However, Engage Williamstown gives you the opportunity to have your say on issues that are important to you, at a time and place of your choice. 

3. WHY JOIN ENGAGE WILLIAMSTOWN?

Township residents, visitors, business, or property owners are the best people to help us shape our local government. Sharing your thoughts, ideas and experiences will enable us to improve Township services and guide our community. We respect the perspective and needs of the community and look forward to your participation.

4. HOW DO I USE ENGAGE WILLIAMSTOWN?

You can use the site to learn about projects in the township and contribute to projects that impact you. There is no need to sign up to access basic information, however, signing up is often required to contribute to projects. This encourages thoughtful responses, eliminates multiple responses from the same participant, and allows us to keep participants updated about the projects.

5. HOW DO I SUBMIT MY FEEDBACK?

Each project on Engage Williamstown is a little unique depending upon the engagement level required for that project. Visit the project page that you are interested in and submit your feedback via the online discussion forums, quick polls, forms, or surveys for each of the projects currently open for discussion.

To participate for the first time, simply:

  • Sign up for Engage Williamstown by clicking on the “Sign up” button in the middle of any page.
  • Choose a username and password.
  • Complete a few quick questions about yourself.
  • You will receive an email to validate your email address.
  • Return to the website and click the “Log in” Button

6. WHAT HAPPENS TO MY FEEDBACK?

Your feedback, ideas and suggestions are collated and used by the relevant project teams to inform the development of strategies, programs and activities, or to gain an insight into community views and opinions. Feedback provided online may be presented at Township meetings. When each project closes, all contributions are compiled into a report, which may be presented to a Township board, commission, or committee when considering the specific matter, or in some cases used to include in grant opportunities. All feedback provided during consultation will be considered however, this does not mean that every suggestion will affect the project or be adopted as proposed. Note: All comments you make through this website will become public records for anyone to read.

7. WHY DO I NEED TO SIGN UP ON THIS SITE TO MAKE A COMMENT?

While signing up is not required to access Engage Williamstown, it is necessary for many of the more interactive engagement opportunities. We ask you to sign up to the website for a few reasons:

  • It helps ensure that a broader set of perspectives have an opportunity to be represented by attributing feedback and frequency of feedback to individuals.
  • It promotes accountability and encourages people to provide more thoughtful responses because feedback can be attributed to them
  • It also means that we can let you know any news if something major changes about a topic.

 8. CAN I USE THIS SITE ANONYMOUSLY?

Yes, you can use this website anonymously. Even when you sign up and post comments, your anonymity is protected because you are identified by your chosen screen name.

9. HOW IS THE SITE MODERATED?

We want to keep it positive! While you may not agree with all comments, we ask that you be respectful of others' experiences, perspectives, and opinions. Comments will be removed for inappropriate language or if deemed significantly off-topic, offensive, or malicious. See more detail on our Moderation and Etiquette Policy (also linked in the footer of each page.)

10.WHO IS LISTENING TO MY FEEDBACK?

Bang the Table moderators and Williamstown Township moderators (the contact information is shown in the "Who's listening" section on each project page.)

11. IS MY PRIVACY PROTECTED?

Yes! Your privacy is absolutely protected, and the Township will only use your email to contact you with updates and to invite you to participate in consultations. Your email address will not be distributed to any third party or used for any other purpose. We do not ask for your personal details or require them at any time as part of your participation. For more information, see the Williamstown Township Privacy Policy (also linked in the footer of each page.)

12. WHO CAN I CONTACT ABOUT ENGAGE WILLIAMSTOWN?

Questions about Engage Williamstown may be sent to engage@williamstownmi.gov. If you have a question regarding a specific project currently open for discussion, please contact the relevant project administrator. Their contact details can be found in the “Who’s listening” section for each project.