Mayor’s Office seeks deputy chief of staff, full-time PIO and new engagement tools in FY27 budget

Neely Garrity, chief of staff to the mayor, told the Finance Standing Committee on April 22 that the Mayor’s Office is asking for two personnel enhancements and several non-personnel tools to support its newly expanded community engagement work.

Garrity said the office’s top three accomplishments since the mayor took office include expanded community engagement (town halls, ward walks and office hours reaching more than 500 residents), a strengthened communications program and direct service work by outreach teams. "We’ve done events such as town halls, ward walks, and office hours reaching over 500 residents," she said. She also credited outreach teams for delivering neighborhood programming and casework: a Black History Month series reached about 8,000 online and 300 in person, an MLK parade drew more than 4,000 attendees, and the city’s overdoses are “down 55%,” which she attributed in part to the outreach effort.

On staffing, Garrity described a requested Deputy Chief of Staff to oversee policy portfolios such as housing and to serve as a point person for City Council and intergovernmental relations. The office also wants to convert a contract assistant public information officer to a full-time exempt position to provide dependable PIO backup during emergencies; Garrity said the conversion’s additional total compensation is about $10,200 and pledged to provide a salary-and-benefits breakdown.

Garrity asked for three consultant roles (strategic planning, communications strategy and philanthropic fundraising) and for several software subscriptions intended to modernize public outreach: Constant Contact (email/newsletters), Indigov (inbound case tracking), Slack (internal coordination) and an EngageHQ Granicus add-on for geolocated project engagement. She said the software package would cost “less than $60,000.”

Budget analyst Capri Turner told the committee an administrative position was omitted from the budget during the city’s HR system transition and that staff will bring an amendment to include the community engagement administrative role. Turner also confirmed the PEG fund has a fund balance and that the FY27 requests for PEG can be met from reserves; further FY28 support may require general fund assistance.

Council members pressed for clearer line-item comparisons. Alderwoman O’Neal asked why the PIO conversion slide showed “zero benefits”; Garrity acknowledged the slide did not display benefits clearly and promised follow-up documentation. Members also asked for a comparison of what the city currently spends on Granicus and related services versus the proposed additions; Mitchell Stevenson, the city’s public information officer, said the Granicus EngageHQ add-on is a GIS-centered public engagement tool that can show residents project locations, costs and meeting dates and cited an Arlington, Va., model as a close example.

Why it matters: the mayor’s office is building direct resident contact and a centralized ombudsman function; council members signaled they want better budget transparency on benefit costs and clearer comparisons showing what would be new spending versus centrally reallocated costs. Garrity said staff will supply additional breakdowns and follow-up materials to the committee.