Aldermen to get some public relations help
Some Calgary aldermen are soft-spoken and seldom heard. Others are verbose. Some are web savvy and others Twitter-phobic (for better or worse).
The 14 of them are getting a new communications assistant to share, and to help them hone their website, newsletter and news release skills.
After a debate in private Monday, council approved the new, full-time job, dedicating money saved from an unfilled aldermanic reception post, within the auditor’s office and the city’s corporate communications branch.
A first at Calgary city hall, the aldermen’s new, professional communicator won’t become the spokesperson for the 14 often disparate voices, or handle media relations.
The employee will help councillors keep up with issues, lay out web pages, trim back overly long newsletter entries or fill them with fresh and accurate details.
“Some will use this person a lot and some won’t. I probably won’t,” said Ald. Ray Jones, who chairs the aldermanic office co-ordinating committee.
At present, aldermen rely on their assistants — each has two — to do this communications work.
Some do more than others: only Shane Keating issues news statements or photo op advisories regularly, while Gian-Carlo Carra has his aides help him create regular video updates.
The new person, to be hired this fall, will also help the ward reps get better information from city hall departments, Ald. Druh Farrell said.
“Council members often get their information from reading the paper,” she said. “We don’t get briefing notes in a timely manner about emerging issues.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi has his own full-time communications aide, something his predecessor Dave Bronconnier also had during his first term.
Aldermen’s public relations aide will be seconded from the city’s existing corps of more than 60 communications employees, said council office co-ordinator Mike Hinds.
It’s a post that council will try until next December, on a trial basis.
However, he or she will be barred from helping individual aldermen in the run-up to next October’s civic election.