City considers addition to staff

Jenifer Ragland

NEWPORT BEACH -- The city is considering hiring a new public information

officer, hoping to improve its communication skills with residents and

businesses.

The council on Tuesday will consider City Manager Homer Bludau’s proposal

to spend $55,000 for the part-time position. Duties would include “press

coordination” and distributing “quality” information to the city’s

residents, businesses and visitors, according to a staff report.

One of the first priorities, Bludau said, would be the creation of a

regular, bimonthly city newsletter -- a project that has been long in the

works but never fully realized.

And Bludau said although the person would distribute press releases on

programs or events to the media, he or she would not act as a buffer

between the press and city officials. Police and fire department press

releases would continue to be distributed by those departments, he added.

“We’re not looking at polishing up our image, but really just looking at

better communication,” Bludau said. “By making known what things we are

doing, we can get more feedback from residents.”

In addition to press coordination and the newsletter project, the

position would also handle some of the complaints or issues brought up by

residents, Bludau said.The new position would report to the city

manager’s office and directly to Deputy City Manager Dave Kiff.

Staff is asking for a $20,000 budget amendment, as $36,000 is already

earmarked in this year’s budget for improved city publications.

Kiff said he would like to see the information officer develop an e-mail

communication system, where residents who wanted to be on the network

could submit their addresses and receive monthly updates on city issues.

“It would be really cheap but still provide good information,” he said.

Mayor John Noyes said he is supportive of the concept, but has not yet

made up his mind on the proposal.

“It’s got to be at a reasonable cost,” he said.