Throughout last year’s Redmond mayoral race, residents on Education Hill discussed the candidates and other local issues a fair amount on their neighborhood’s Facebook group page.

As with many political debates and discussions, things became heated as people tried to get their points and opinions across to the larger group.

After seeing how fired up some people became, a few members of the group decided to start a second Facebook group focused specifically on civic issues.

This new group is called the Education Hill Neighborhood Association (EdHNA) and was created in late November 2015 following the election — although founders decided to wait until after the holiday season to really start things.

Paige Norman, Janet Richards and James McDaniel are among the group that started EdHNA. They said the plan is for the new Facebook group to act as a bridge between residents and the City of Redmond.

McDaniel, who has lived on Education Hill since 1990, said the information passing across that bridge will flow both ways. This means EdHNA will work to provide group members information on the latest issues affecting the city and their neighborhood specifically, as well as provide city officials and staff with feedback on the issues so they have a better idea of what residents are thinking.

The three said EdNHA will act as a single voice, representing the neighborhood and sharing residents’ opinions with the city.

Richards, who has lived on the hill since 1999, said as a group representing a neighborhood, their voice holds more weight than an individual resident just representing his or her self.

McDaniel added that in sharing the group consensus with the city, they will also share if the group is split in its opinions.

“(City officials) might not know that the neighborhood is split (on an issue),” he said.

Norman acknowledged that not everyone will feel the same on any given issue and they hope with EdHNA, neighbors will be able to disagree on things and do it with civility. She added that it is important for people to hear and learn from others who disagree with them and to learn why they feel the way they do.

McDaniel said the group is also a way for people who want to engage and get more involved in the community — but don’t want to run for office — to help out and initiate change.

He, Norman and Richards also said the group can be helpful for those who just want to be more informed, those who may not have the time to attend city council meetings, public hearings and the like or anyone in between.

People can participate and get involved to the level they are comfortable with.

Richards added that the group is also an opportunity for people to get involved and engage on certain issues — such as construction and development projects — earlier in the process so things don’t boil over and become heated toward the end of a project.

Because EdHNA is only a few months old, Norman said they are still working on building their membership. As of Thursday afternoon, the Facebook group’s membership was at 176. Norman said anyone is welcome to join the Facebook group, even if they do not live on Education Hill. Although, she did note that the group is a “closed” group on Facebook, which just means a person cannot see anything posted until they join.

Norman, who moved to the neighborhood in 1987, said with EdHNA, they want to create a friendly and welcoming environment in which people are comfortable with each other.

“We all want that,” McDaniel said, adding that they want to find a balance between being formal enough to get things done and informal enough that people — especially new residents — are not too intimidated to join.

In addition to the Facebook group, EdHNA will also hold in-person meetings, the first of which was just a few weeks ago.

McDaniel said these meetings will help with their goal of keeping things civil as people will be able to talk face-to-face with people, even those who disagree with them, and realize it’s not just someone on the other side of a computer screen.

“It’s a neighbor,” he said.

As of right now, EdHNA meetings will be at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month. Meetings will be held at First Baptist Church of Redmond at 16700 N.E. 95th St.

Norman said they had about two dozen people attend that first meeting, including elected officials and staff from the city — some of whom have since gathered information requested by EdHNA members and gotten back to the group with that information.

Richards said things went well at the meeting, even though not everyone held the same opinions and perspectives.

“It was a very civil exchange of ideas,” she said.

For more information on EdHNA, email edhillna@outlook.com or visit tinyurl.com/zzaqhj9.