COUNCIL WORK SESSION

CALLED BY FINANCE COMMITTEE

6:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr. Smith opened the Council Work Session at 6:00 P.M., with the following council members present: Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Smith, Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor Shaver. Mr. Fix arrived at 6:20 P.M. Others present were: Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, David Owen, and Sean Casey.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Discussion regarding Public Information Officer position, duties, and responsibilities. Mr. Smith stated this issue came out of an agenda item for the Council retreat and there were two issues to talk about this evening that both lead into the same thing. He stated he hoped the result would be some definite direction that the City Manager could take and use as she builds her personnel budget and expense budget for next year. He stated the intent of this work session is not to do anything that will have an impact before the first of the year. Mr. Smith further stated he did not feel they wanted a specific result such as to say the City Manager was to hire a person at a specific wage at a specific time, but that the City Manager could bring something back to Council in the budgeting process if this does turn into a person. Mr. Smith stated Council had received a packet to consider with random thoughts regarding the public information officer.

Ms Gilleland stated in talking with various members of Council she has received several thoughts on how they feel we should communicate with residents, what is appropriate, etc. She questioned if we want to think about a City Newsletter because some people liked the articles we were doing before. She also questioned if we want to do more work on our web site or if we think the information going out in the utility bills is effective. She stated we also have the recreation brochure that is mailed to everyone in the school district and that is a vehicle we can add to if we so desire. She stated there are several options if Council wants to increase communication with the residents. Ms Gilleland further stated the local papers do a great job, but there are other things the City can be doing as well. She stated it is a matter of what Council wants and then she can make it happen.

Mr. Sabatino stated he felt there would be situations where we would want to drive the content of what is going out rather than rely on the way a reporter might interpret something. He stated he felt the public information position was not to be used as a political vehicle. Mr. Smith stated he agreed with Mr. Sabatino on that and if you look at a generic person and a skill set of what communications related duties this generic person would do there is a spectrum. He stated one would be a writer and the other is a communicator and they should meet in the middle. He stated he didn’t know if we wanted to go more toward public relations, more toward journalism, or if we want to meet in the middle. Mrs. Riggs stated we are large enough that we really need someone who can be proactive and thinking ahead as things are discussed so they can head things off. Mr. Smith stated he agreed the right person could get the message out in advance, before the reporters hear it when it is discussed in a public forum, so the public is aware. Mr. Sabatino stated this could also help Council to manage the message they want to deliver and it would be hard to find one individual that would be an expert in all the fields. Mr. Hackworth stated we are not a corporation and we cannot create positive public relations stories, but we could report on positive things that are happening. Mrs. Hammond stated we could report on other things in a manner that would not cause people to get up in arms. Mr. Smith stated there is so much business as usual that does not get discussed at Council that is probably newsworthy and important to the residents. Mr. Wisniewski stated money was a driving factor and he was not looking for another full time person for this position. Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed with Mr. Wisniewski that it did come down to a dollars and cents thing, and there are a lot of things we already do on a contract basis that should be done by an employee, such as in the building department, and he would find it hard to support a full time public information person right now. He stated we need to get our message out, but he did not feel we needed to go to the expense and overhead of a full time position. Ms Gilleland stated it has never been her intention to hire a full time person. She stated what she would like to know from Council is what they would like to do, how they want to interact with the residents.

B. Discussion regarding Citizen Communications. Mr. Hackworth stated we have the ability to put items in the utility bills, and Mrs. Hammond stated perhaps a monthly news bulletin could be included. Mr. Hackworth stated if we did a one page bulletin with short statements and included the website so if anyone wanted further information on a topic they could go to the website for more details that would be appropriate. He stated when he opens his bills, a lot of the inserts go right in the trash, but if there were something that catches your eye, that won’t take long to read, then he would look at it. He stated he felt that was one of the problems because you have stories that go on and on about the feel good stuff, the fluffy stuff, and it loses a lot. Mrs. Hammond stated we could use this as a way of letting people know, for example, that Diley Road will be closed on such and such dates. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed small bullet points, such as announcing the change in the Drug Mart access, that type of information would be valuable. He agreed that more detailed information could be placed on the web site and the web site address referenced so people would know where to get that information. Mr. Hackworth stated he was not talking about putting a large article in with utility bills, but more like announcements such as what would be happening on Diley Road. Mr. Wisniewski stated we would never be able to cover things people wanted to know about in-depth on a bulletin, but they are interested in knowing what restaurants are coming, and things of that nature. Mr. Wisniewski stated he definitely felt we needed more informational items versus educational articles. Mr. Sabatino stated this is something that can easily be accomplished with our monthly billing. Ms Gilleland stated it sounded like Council would like a monthly news bulletin with brief bullet points and directing residents to our web site.

Mr. Smith questioned if we want a person who can market the City and Mrs. Hammond inquired if he meant someone who could take information from the Director of Development and create some type of brochure about the City. Mr. Smith stated he was just questioning if we wanted an individual with the skills to do this type of thing. Mr. Hackworth stated he felt a one-time type of brochure was something we might want to have done by a contract with someone.

Mrs. Hammond stated perhaps Council should pick two or three things they feel are vitally important right now, hire a consultant to work on those things, and as we go along see what we need in the various areas. Mr. Sabatino stated one of the most important things we need is someone who has the ability to communicate with all levels of the media. Mr. Wisniewski stated he didn’t know if that is something we need right now, and Mayor Shaver stated he agreed because we are still a small community. Mr. Hackworth stated he still felt the least expensive way to communicate was with the utility bills. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed and the bulletin can have headings such as “Traffic Watch” or “Coming Soon” and just a couple of statements under each heading.

Ms Gilleland stated we have other things such as the Annual Report, and did we want to have that prepared by a professional. Mr. Smith stated he agreed and the Police Annual Report could be done that way, as well as, brochures for economic development or whatever. Mayor Shaver stated he felt we should strive for consistency in all of our presentations. Mayor Shaver inquired if the City Manager had spoken to other organizations or communities that use a media person to see how they use that individual. Ms Gilleland stated she is familiar with many other cities and their public information needs. She stated it would depend on if we wanted the individual to be more towards PR, volunteer coordinating, working with citizens groups, etc. She stated there are a lot of different things out there and we just need to decide what we want.

Mr. Smith stated he would also like to discuss a community survey and if it is something we would like to work into the budget next year, and, if so, the scope of it. Mr. Sabatino stated a survey could be done to get whatever results you want to get, and his question would be what we would be attempting to accomplish. Mr. Wisniewski stated we just had the parks and recreation survey go out so we wouldn’t need to address growth in the parks. Mrs. Riggs stated we could measure our performance in that area though. Mrs. Hammond stated we would need a much smaller scope than the sample survey that was provided to Council. Mrs. Riggs stated we would need to be prepared to analyze the results and provide that information back to the citizens. Mr. Smith clarified that putting together a survey would probably require working with a consultant. Ms Gilleland stated a survey that is most useful is done over a number of years. She stated the first year would be a benchmark, and following years would show improvement or whatever. Mr. Smith stated we know what we do, but we need to know what the public wants that we aren’t doing, and should be or could be doing. Ms Gilleland stated this might be something we want to think about in a couple of years. Mr. Smith stated he agreed with Mr. Sabatino that we would want to look at areas that we really want feedback on; we know we have traffic issues so we wouldn’t need to ask questions about that, etc. Mr. Sabatino stated we don’t have a lot of funds to work with and residents do let Council know what they are concerned about. Mr. Hackworth clarified that a survey could cost anywhere between $8,500 to $10,000. Mr. Sabatino stated he thought putting something in the utility bill would be a good place to start. Mr. Wisniewski stated the number one thing that he gets calls on deals with what is coming to the City. Mr. Hackworth stated if we put several topics on the web site and had a counter on them, we could get a sense of what people were interested in by which topics were looked at the most. Mr. Wisniewski stated we would still have to put enough information in the bulletin so the residents would be informed, and those that wanted details could be directed to the web site.

Ms Gilleland stated she felt this was a good starting point for her to get a feel of what Council wanted.

3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the Council Work Session closed at 7:00 P.M., June 5, 2007.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

ATTEST:

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David Shaver, Mayor