After a 3 month pilot of “Open City Hall“, the city has decided to extend its contract with “Peak Democracy” for at least another year.  Here’s the city’s press release from Linda Harris.

The City of Decatur announces its commitment to being one of the first cities in the world to add an on-line option to its public comment process.

‘We know a lot of residents are interested in alternatives for participating in the public process,” says Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd, ‘and we wanted to provide another option for civic engagement.’ After a 3 month pilot, they’ve decided to continue their ‘Open City Hall’ project for at least another year.

Release is continued after the jump…

“We piloted Open City Hall to facilitate discussion of our annexation plans, and we’re really pleased with the results”, City Manager Peggy Merriss said. “We were able to easily read and analyze statements from more than 170 residents during the pilot. Those insights, along with input from other channels for participation, played a part in the City Commission’s decision making process. ”

Open City Hall is a forum service by Peak Democracy, a non-partisan California start-up whose mission is to broaden civic engagement and build public trust in government. “Putting the public comment process on-line for governments is much harder than just starting a blog,” according to Peak Democracy CEO Robert Vogel. “Government forums must protect free speech while promoting civility – and those two goals often conflict. We developed Open City Hall technology specifically for governments to enable on-line civil forums without any censorship.”

Decatur has already launched two more Open City Hall forums – one on its Smart Growth strategy and another on its ‘Complete Streets’ transportation plan. You can visit them at www.peakdemocracy.com/224 and www.peakdemocracy.com/221 respectively – and sign up for Twitter or Email announcements of more topics to come.