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Commission asks chiefs to study PIO options, considers city-level post
Summary
Commissioners asked fire and police chiefs to prepare a conceptual outline on whether to establish a public information officer role, with options including a shared city-level PIO, department-level PIOs, or contracted services.
The Marshfield Public Safety Commission asked the police and fire chiefs to develop a conceptual outline on public information officer (PIO) options and bring it back for discussion in August.
The study is intended to assess whether a PIO position should be created, how it would fit into the incident command system (ICS), how responsibilities would be shared across departments, and the potential budget and staffing impacts.
"The public information officer is a permanent part of the incident command system," the presenter identified as Mr. Picker said, reading from prepared notes and referencing ICS and the National Incident Management System. He asked whether the city needed one PIO, two, or a distributed responsibility across staff.
Commissioners and chiefs discussed options and trade-offs. Some members suggested the assistant chief or chief typically serve as the primary spokesperson in smaller departments, while others said a professionally trained PIO can improve media relations and build a social-media following to reach residents before and during major incidents. Tom Laux, identified in the meeting as the city's communications director, urged attention to whether there is enough ongoing work to justify a full-time, 2,080-hour-per-year position and described the value of building a sustained audience through routine positive news coverage.
Participants noted several practical steps before hiring: developing a job description through human resources, writing communication policies, and defining responsibilities during crises. Commissioners discussed the possibility of a city-level PIO position that could serve multiple departments as more palatable to taxpayers than individual departmental hires. The commission agreed to ask both chiefs to produce a conceptual framework for consideration at the August meeting; if the study indicates the need, commissioners said they could refer the idea to the city council for broader review and funding decisions.
