Regular readers now know the Christiansburg Town Council is awaiting the hire of a new Public Information Officer (PIO). This is a new position which was not included in the 2009-2010 budget. So does this show some fat in the budget or a critical need? If a critical need, what has made it so?
This new hire will be responsible for being the Voice of Christiansburg, aligning marketing efforts of numerous departments and helping with public relations. For many groups, this person will also be the face of the town and our elected officials.
The new hire is supposed to walk in and immediately master getting events, special and routine notices out to the community via the town's website and regular media sources. Regular media sources may include the area's two newspapers, various specialty magazines, television, radio and a host of internet websites. But what has constrained the town from doing this before?
This new hire is also expected to provide audio/video recordings of all public meetings by the end of this calendar year, but the means of broadcasting these is a bit fuzzy. How this gets done (and when it really gets established so a majority of citizens know where to look for information about office hours, recycling locations, special events and progress made on any of the town's numerous goals) will be contingent upon Council funding. It will also be contingent upon existing technology platforms and possible limitations and this individual's experience, expertise and people skills (see job description here).
Regular readers know high expectations for the town's revamped website were missed. Early reports indicate a separate website will serve the new aquatic center. Council has regularly used the town's water/sewer/garbage bills as one means of sending messages, too. But since this is outsourced to save money and only occurs every other month, it does have limitations.
But pull this current bill out and read it. The invoices due January 25th include a message "Christiansburg Bus Service Free Fare extended through January 31, 2010". A great opportunity to list the applicable website to get more information about routes, future rates and service hours was missed. Looking more closely at this invoice, one sees an "Annual Water Consumption Comparison" with several lines to list last year/this year numbers. But no data. Why not? Compared to that physical address, your account, or other localities around the state?
Or how about what it would really cost if Council didn't subsidize these services with money from general funds (taxes)? Users don't actually pay the full amount for water and sewer or garbage services even though these utilities are each a town "enterprize" and supposed to cover costs (as the new aquatic or Harkrader Sports Complex were intended to do).
This then appears as if there are other tools not fully utilized. Why? Perhaps the new PIO will become a teacher for residents of Christiansburg and explain it.