Lake County commissioners review 2025 communications plan and set new agenda timeline

Lake County Board of County Commissioners work session — Feb. 13, 2025 — Lake County Courthouse

At a Feb. 13 work session, Lake County communications staff presented a draft 2025 communications plan and walked the board through changes to how the county will handle media engagement, social media, emergency alerts and public outreach. Staff said departments will be asked to submit agenda items two weeks before the March 18 regular meeting so a department memo can be published to the public a week before the meeting.

The communications presentation framed media training as a tool to help elected officials and staff present a unified message. “When we think about media training, what we're really hoping to do is give you all some tools to think about when you engage,” said Liz, a member of county communications staff. The training section emphasized consistency, deference when staff do not have immediate answers and separating personal social-media use from official county communications.

Why it matters: Staff told the board the changes are intended to increase transparency, reduce misinformation and make county information easier to find. Presenters said clearer, earlier publication of agenda materials will give the public and commissioners more time to review proposals ahead of decision meetings.

Major elements of the plan

- Agenda timing and public posting: Staff said the county will request that departments submit agenda language, the supporting memo and packet materials two weeks before the March 18 regular meeting. Liz summarized the schedule in detail: materials will be due March 3, the board will review them the week of March 4, the package will be finalized March 5, and the memo will be posted for public consumption on March 11. “Going forward for our March 18 regular meeting, we are going to ask anybody submitting an agenda item that they're doing it two weeks ahead of time,” Liz said. Staff characterized that as an organizational change intended to reduce last-minute packet postings.

- Media and social media guidance: Presenters urged a consistent county voice and recommended that official responses to rumors appear on county channels rather than on third-party community pages. “We respond on the county's channels at the source of truth,” Liz said, explaining that staff will publish factual information and links on county accounts and rely on supporters to share those posts rather than engaging directly in adversarial threads on independent community pages.

- Emergency communications: Staff described preparedness steps including templates for likely scenarios and the use of Everbridge, the county's emergency alert system. Liz said the county will test systems and maintain templates in English and Spanish so notices can go out quickly when severe weather or other emergencies occur. “Everbridge is our emergency alert system,” Liz said during the presentation.

- Website, subscriptions and digital access: Communications staff outlined limits of the county's current website platform (a CivicPlus theme) and noted the site contains roughly 600 pages; changing core features would require additional vendor costs. Staff said the county maintains numerous “notify me” subscription lists (about 30) and that the largest board subscription list includes roughly 260 people. They proposed curating and consolidating lists to improve reach and reliability.

- Video and accessibility: Staff described recent investments in Adobe Premiere to speed subtitle production for meeting recordings and produce chapter markers for long videos. They said automated subtitles are not perfect for idioms but will improve Spanish-language access. The plan also calls for plain-language content aimed at broader accessibility and multiple channels (print, radio, social media and in-person events).

- Outreach and place-based engagement: The plan includes town halls, collaboration with community partners (library events, senior-center programming), and county presence at community events such as airport fly‑ins. Staff and commissioners discussed using postcards/mailers for targeted outreach and continuing multilingual outreach.

- Commissioner communications: Commissioners discussed a proposed “commissioner corner” column and individual op‑eds. The board agreed in principle to begin county-facing columns in March; staff asked that first drafts be delivered on roughly a March 10 timeline so staff can coordinate publication and proofreading.

Funding, staffing and constraints

Presenters said communications capacity is limited (the team described itself as roughly one full‑time PIO and a part‑time/remote colleague) and that some website changes would require $3,000–$5,000 vendor work. Staff noted they are prioritizing low-cost improvements (better use of subscription lists, captions, and templates) while planning longer-term investments in branding and place-making. The presentation repeatedly framed the work as incremental change: “This is a living document,” Liz said, and staff asked for the board's feedback to finalize priorities and cadence.

What the board directed or agreed

- Staff asked departments to meet the new agenda timeline for the March 18 meeting; the board signaled support for that change and staff warned of a likely adjustment period of a month or two. - Commissioners discussed and generally supported a recurring commissioner column or “corner,” with a March target and a March 10 submission timeline for initial pieces.

Next steps and follow-up

Staff said they will refine the plan with the board's feedback, begin curating subscription lists, finalize emergency templates in English and Spanish, and return with a revised plan and a proposed cadence for commissioner communications in March. Communications staff also indicated they will work with department directors to routinize earlier packet submissions.

Ending

The work session concluded with staff and commissioners scheduling follow-up coordination and a goal to implement the agenda-timeline pilot for the March 18 meeting; no formal vote was recorded.