A western North Dakota planning organization is offering a community engagement website in hopes of gaining feedback from people who live in counties where oil and gas production is rapidly increasing.
Vision West ND is comprised of 19 counties, Three Affiliated Tribes, regional councils, energy associations and education institutions. The organization’s goal is to build a community plan within the region.
Brady Pelton is Deputy Director for the North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties. Vision West ND has hosted community meetings.
“Typically people are fairly busy this time of year, especially in oil country, where leaders and communities are packed to the max,” Pelton said. “We have been referring to this as meeting fatigue.”
Pelton says the solution to the smaller turnout in meetings is the website ideas.visionwestnd.com. The website is powered by MindMixer.
“Basically what the MindMixer tool will enable us to do is gather community input from anyone in any segment of the community and compile it in a positive way,” Pelton said. “People are able to register and then provide their feedback on people’s ideas or on any aspect of our plan.”
Pelton claims the website is easy to use.