December 2020 Community Conversations

By Mercury Payton

Community Conversations

Mercury Payton, Town Manager, Vienna

Vienna scores solid community engagement ‘hit’ with ‘On Deck with Mercury’ program

The Town of Vienna has developed a community engagement program that has served us well through the past nine months as COVID cases in the region have waxed and waned – and waxed again. The idea for the program, though, pre-dates the pandemic.

Early in 2020, in response to community feedback on a couple of hot-button topics – residents felt that either they were not made aware of the Town’s intentions or that they hadn’t had sufficient opportunity to address the topics – I developed, along with my leadership team, a concept for a casual monthly conversation at which Town accomplishments and plans could be shared and residents could be heard. We call the community engagement program On Deck with Mercury (in part because I’m a huge baseball fan).

Of course, the Town of Vienna provides opportunities for residents to publicly address Town Council in public hearings and during regular meetings, when residents may address topics that are not on the agenda – one speaker at a time for up to three minutes. I wanted to provide Vienna residents with more, with an opportunity to have a casual, two-way dialogue with me and other Town staff representatives so that they could be better informed and have an opportunity to have their questions addressed.  So far, it has worked well.

The concept calls for a two-hour event, with a hard stop at the two-hour mark. The first hour normally addresses a set topic (on rare occasions, two topics), about which I interview an “expert,” either a staff member or a professional outside of the Town. The last hour or so is dedicated to responding to questions from the audience – on the topic of the evening or on any matter they wish to address.

Originally, the idea was to hold the event outside of Town Hall in order to bring the conversation to residents. Our first On Deck with Mercury was scheduled to take place in March at a local coffee shop; we were to discuss local impacts of the I-66 construction project, which we anticipated would disrupt traffic patterns all over Town. Well, we all know what happened in March.

In response to the pandemic, it turned out my first guest was the top epidemiologist with the Fairfax County Health Department. And, instead of having a live audience, we recorded the interview at Town Hall and broadcast it on the Town’s cable access network as well as its YouTube channel.  Although the original intent was for these events to be casual, off site, and in person with no recording, in response to the pandemic, we’ve recorded and/or provided Zoom access to all of the On Deck programs all of which so far have been hosted in Town facilities.

We’ve also opened the program to socially distanced in-person attendance. When our new police station contract was coming up for vote just as protests against the deaths of Black individuals due do actions of law enforcement officials were boiling over this summer, On Deck with Mercury proved an effective tool for allowing the Town to share information about the Black experience in Vienna, Vienna’s policing philosophy, and why a new police facility is needed; the format also allowed residents to ask questions and express concerns. Anticipating a great deal of community interest, the Town required advance registration for a couple of police-related On Deck events, to ensure compliance with social-distancing guidelines, and utilized live-streaming for the On Deck conversations about “Being Black in Vienna” and policing.

Other topics we’ve addressed include voting during the pandemic, both in our May Town election and the November presidential election, a local sidewalk initiative, and a conversation about covid expectations as we enter 2021 with the Fairfax County Health Department director. And yes, we also did get in that conversation about I-66 construction and its impacts.

I understand that there is some risk in taking topics to residents, even with an expert panel, and then opening up the meeting for questions from residents on any topic. I think it is worth that risk, though, to bring conversations to our residents so that they can hear what we are doing and why, which helps dispel myths and allows residents to receive direct, in-the-moment responses to their questions.

Even though the program is called “On Deck with Mercury,” it really is focused on residents. I always try to remember that as Town Manager I am here to serve all residents. It is important that I hear what they have to say.

To discuss this concept further or ask questions, contact Mercury Payton (Manager@viennava.gov )

Have a topic for a future Community Conversations article to suggest?; please contact Cindy Mester (cmester@fallschurchva.gov )