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County communications seeks three-quarter-time specialist; commission debates TV broadcast model
Summary
Communications staff requested a 0.75 FTE communications specialist to handle rising design, video and web requests; commissioners discussed the cost-effectiveness of over-the-air KPTS broadcasts versus digital platforms and proposed a joint government channel as an alternative.
Nicole Gibbs of Sedgwick County strategic communications asked the commission to approve a decision package for a three-quarter-time communications specialist to support project management, website content and a website redesign. Gibbs described 2024 workload totals: 444 design requests, 69 video projects, 15 broadcasted meetings, 27 events covered, 47 communication campaigns and 681 media inquiries. She said the current five-person communications team operates short-staffed compared with comparable counties and that the new position would reduce turnaround time and allow proactive support for department communications.
Gibbs said the requested position would not change the staffing table but would be funded with benefits and provide a broader applicant pool; she said without the position the office would need to prioritize or decline requests.
The commission also discussed a reduction package that would cut live over-the-air broadcasts and closed captioning at KPTS, citing a high per-viewer cost for over-the-air broadcast viewers compared with the county’s social-media platforms. Gibbs provided figures showing the county’s Facebook and YouTube streams have much lower per-viewer costs (reported as fractions of a cent per viewer) compared with KPTS broadcast-viewer costs in the dollar range. Commissioners discussed shared-service proposals, including issuing an RFP for a single government channel that could be broadcast and streamed and that multiple jurisdictions could fund cooperatively to preserve over-the-air access while reducing county cost.
Gibbs said staff would finish briefing all commissioners on the KPTS reduction proposal and would continue discussions with city communications staff about studio and broadcast options.
No formal vote occurred during the hearing.
