AUBURN — Partnerships and shared information were the topics of an Auburn Hall forum Monday night.

City Manager Glenn Aho and police Chief Phil Crowell answered questions about city government, policies, paving and security cameras via telephone and Internet at the first City Hall Live forum.

Co-sponsored by the Sun Journal and Great Falls TV, the forum was broadcast live via the Twin Cities’ local cable access channel and covered in a live blog on the Sun Journal’s Web site.

“I think it was success,” Aho said. “We had a few rough spots, but I think it went very well for a first effort.”

The city’s call-in phone line initially went to an empty extension in Auburn Hall, stranding the first few callers. That was ironed out quickly, and the forum continued. A total of 36 people logged on to the Sun Journal’s Web site to take part and another five people called into submit questions.

One viewer, North Auburn’s Dan Bilodeau, said he had logged on to the discussion via  a computer from Hong Kong. Bilodeau was waiting to catch a flight home this morning.

The medium really was the message Monday night. The forum itself was part of the city’s effort to be more responsive to citizens, to be more transparent and more efficient.

Most of the discussion between Crowell and Aho circled around that point. They included efforts to stop robberies —  Crowell said they stemmed from drug and alcohol problems, and police are working with neighbors to deal with those issues — and what to do with security cameras and where to place them. One caller suggested putting them around city walking trails.

Aho also talked about changes the city has made streamlining the planning and permitting department. His goal has been to make the department more responsive to problems from developers.

“We’ve talked with contractors to develop a relationship, and now they know they can talk to us,” Aho said. “We’ve built a good relationship, and it makes the work they do better and the work we do better.”

Volunteerism is another key. Crowell said volunteers do serious work at the Police Department — taking phone calls, logging  pawn shop sales in a database and other clerical tasks.

“It’s work that we don’t have to rely on paid staff to do, and it saves the city money,” Crowell said.

Aho said he’d like to do another live forum. A live blog transcript of the forum is available on the Sun Journal’s Web site.

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