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Council approves communications strategic plan to centralize official town messaging
Summary
The town’s newly hired communications and public affairs director presented a strategic plan to centralize and professionalize town communications; council approved the plan unanimously and staff will begin implementation, including a quarterly newsletter and improved crisis protocols.
The Cave Creek Town Council on Dec. 16 approved a communications strategic plan intended to make the town the primary source for official information, the communications director said.
Beau, the communications and public affairs director, presented goals to increase timely, accurate town information for residents, employees and the media; to improve crisis communications; and to expand social and digital outreach. “I wanna make sure that we had a plan that is customizable, but something that I'm committed to and the town is committed to to make sure that we're informing, all of the residents, the elected officials, our customers, employees, and news media,” he said.
Elements highlighted by the director include a quarterly mailed newsletter to every household, a monthly employee digital newsletter, targeted social media growth (the director said the town Facebook page has about 5,000 followers and the goal is to grow that), media relations and proactive outreach to nonprofits and businesses, and a 24-hour response aim for media inquiries. Council members praised the plan and urged the director to coordinate with incident-command agencies during emergencies to close communication gaps between residents and responding agencies.
Council voted by voice to approve the strategic plan, 7–0. Staff said the communications team is small and that implementation will rely on coordination with other departments; the director said an initial employee newsletter is expected early in the new year.
