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City staff outline expanded public communications: social media, recap videos, press releases and legal notices
Summary
At the April 8 work session the city’s public information officer and city clerk briefed council on current outreach (social media, recap videos, Notify Me), new efforts and legal-publication obligations; councilors offered ideas for employee spotlights and mayor/vice-mayor participation in short recap segments.
Owen, the city’s management analyst and public information officer, presented an overview of current public communications and options for expanding outreach at the council’s April 8 work session. He summarized recent performance metrics, new production work and partner relationships and asked council where staff should focus next.
Owen said the city’s social channels and recap videos have seen audience growth and that four council recap videos have been produced so far. He described the recap workflow: staff distill meetings into a short script, produce a 3–5 minute recap video and post it to the city YouTube channel; the recaps average about 50 views each so far, he said. He also said the city began posting press releases directly on the city website in January and described other toolsets the city uses for engagement: Notify Me (a subscription notification service tied to a CivicEngage vendor account), an e-newsletter (Gem City Spark), and analytics from a vendor used to aggregate trends and sentiment.
City Clerk (identified by title in the transcript) outlined legal publication responsibilities, noting state statute sets notice requirements for items such as ordinances, property annexations, budget publications and meeting notices, and that the Laramie Boomerang is the council’s selected local newspaper for legal publications. The clerk said the city published 277 legal notices and 38 paid advertisements in 2024 and that staff circulate meeting dates, board openings and other materials via NewsFlash and other channels.
Council members offered several ideas for expanding reach and improving transparency: do employee spotlights or “meet the staff” pieces, produce short mayor/vice mayor segments or “bumpers” at the front of recaps to introduce council perspectives, and promote recap videos consistently to drive YouTube subscriptions rather than relying solely on social reposts. Councilors discussed creating a simple shared sign-up (a spreadsheet or calendar) so council members can volunteer for short recorded segments; city staff agreed to circulate a scheduling tool.
Owen provided operational details: Notify Me currently has 1,000 subscription slots on the CivicEngage contract; the system is about 79% full after a recent purge; the city’s paid radio advertising with a local station (Hits 106) reports about 868,000 annual impressions from purchased spots; and the city has worked with Loom Studio (a contracted communications firm) on social strategy and graphics.
Why it matters: The city’s outreach tools are used to notify residents about meetings, legal notices, emergencies and events. Councilors emphasized that accessible, short-format recaps and staff spotlights can increase civic awareness and reduce confusion about legal notices and project timelines.
Ending: Staff said they will circulate a calendar or sign-up for council participation in recap segments and that they will continue posting press releases to the city website. No formal policy or budget change was proposed or adopted in the April 8 session.
