2021.05.25 WS Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rn•INEW 1U BRIGHTON building tomorrow today Council Worksession May 25, 2021 5:00 pm Present: Mayor Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas Councilmember Abdullahi Abdulle Councilmember Graeme Allen Councilmember Pam Axberg Councilmember Emily Dunsworth Absent: Staff in Attendance: Devin Massopust, Terri Spangrud, Sandra Daniloff, Jennifer Fink Guests in Attendance: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this meeting was held both virtually and in person. Communications Plan Presentation Massopust stated City of New Brighton's official communications used to be managed by a Communications Committee whose members were from all city service areas. It was headed by the Assistant City Manager and managed communications as directed by the City Manager. When the City website was upgraded at the end of 2016, the Communications Committee became the Website Committee and other official communications became the duty of the Deputy Clerk due to her background in journalism. Spangrud reported in 2018, Deputy Clerk Daniloff's title changed from Deputy Clerk to Deputy Clerk / Communications Coordinator. Since then, she has spent half her time on Clerking duties and the other half of her time serving as the editor for the city newsletter, TeamTalk, the Weekly Memo, the City's Facebook page and completing special communications projects. Public Safety staff continued to managed a Facebook page for their service area and Parks and Recreation staff continued to manage Facebook pages for the NBCC, the Eagles Nest and the golf course. They also continued to publish their own brochures and Programming newsletter. Spangrud explained during the pandemic, it became clear that reaching general populations using standard communications tools may not be enough. Staff performed a cursory assessment of the City's communications and started using non-traditional methods of communication such as asking the Code Enforcement Officer to share communications with multifamily housing managers and asking the Community Engagement Officer to share communications with populations within the City who do not normally interact with Government. At the same time, we began working on a Communications Plan. Staff reviewed the draft Communications Plan and noted this document is something that is intended to guide our day to day work. We expect that it will change and evolve as we receive updated demographics information from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources. We expect it will also change and evolve as more research is released about how the pandemic has affected how people look for information and as we receive and incorporate feedback from residents and other staff Spangrud commented further on the purpose of the Communications Plan which was to be committed to being connected and engaged with the community, to have effective and transparent communication, must be