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Chicopee council approves $30,000 for outside crisis communications support after sharp debate
Summary
The Chicopee City Council voted 11-1 on Feb. 18 to appropriate $30,000 for outside crisis communications services to support city departments during emergencies after an extended debate over redundancy, vendor transparency and timing.
The Chicopee City Council on Feb. 18 approved a $30,000 appropriation for outside crisis-communications support to be paid from the stabilization fund, after councilors debated whether the city should hire an outside firm to supplement existing public information staff.
The mayor introduced the measure as an appropriation to the police expense account “for special services” and said the funding would pay a consultant or firm to provide crisis messaging in emergencies. “In a case of an emergency, messaging becomes very important,” the mayor said, noting the city had discussed the plan with the police and school departments and others.
Why it matters: Councilors said professional messaging could help the city respond faster in high-profile incidents and to counter misinformation. Supporters cited recent local crises and difficulty for a single public information officer to manage both street-level duties and citywide communications.
Police Chief Patrick Maier told the council the city’s public information officer is often “on the street, providing police services during the incident,” and that a crisis communications team would help “get the message of the city across to everybody in a very timely fashion.”
But several councilors pushed back. Councilor Wagner said the city already pays communications staff and criticized delayed messaging in recent municipal operations: “It strikes me as a little bit odd that we're trying to focus on messaging rather than getting a message out at all sometimes,” he said, and called the appropriation “completely and entirely redundant.”
Councilor Brooks and others said they supported the appropriation on the merits. Brooks described being at a school active-shooter response and said rapid, accurate on-site messaging mattered: “I'd rather have somebody on-site addressing an issue than sitting behind a desk typing up an email or a Facebook post,” Brooks said.
Councilor Wagner proposed an amendment to send the item to the finance subcommittee so members could review the selected firm; that amendment failed on a roll call. Councilors then voted to pass the appropriation on its merits. The roll call recorded 11 yes and 1 no; the motion passed.
Council procedure notes: The mayor said an RFP had produced three proposals and that the administration had selected a consultant but would disclose the firm once negotiations concluded and funding was in place.
Looking ahead: The mayor said the contract and vendor identity would be provided to the council once the appropriation and procurement steps were complete.
