Minnesota has traditionally been a leader in civic engagement. Its statutes reflect that, with an extensive system of local government bodies and an equally extensive framework of “sunshine” laws designed to promote public access to the information those local governments use to make decisions.
However, political conflict is increasing at all levels. As it does, local governments face pressure to further engage both local officials and the public in constructive conversations. The goal of these conversations is to lead to a shared sense of ownership of public policies and confidence that those policies have been shaped by a robust dialogue involving the entire community. This article, which was inspired by the Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) Dispute Resolution Institute’s Symposium, An Intentional Conversation about Public Engagement and Decision-Making: Moving from Dysfunction and Polarization to Dialogue and Understanding, focuses on how that can take place within Minnesota cities. It provides a broad overview of municipal organization within the state and the applicable rules under which cities operate. Within that context, the article then considers one form of dialogue, direct public engagement, with the goal of gleaning what we can from the research about how to do it well, and making recommendations for the future.