Communications committee debates proactive voice in draft guidance

At a May 19 meeting of the Communications Committee of the Columbia River Gorge Commission, commissioners debated whether the committee’s draft "communications best practices" guidance should emphasize reactive responses to media or include an affirmative, proactive outreach strategy. Commissioner Alex Johnson, who assembled the draft guidance, offered to draft additional language on proactively sharing the commission’s work; Chair Amy Weisfeld said she preferred the commission speak more often and proactively to explain its mission.

The committee discussion centered on two approaches: a narrowly reactive framework that guides when and how staff or commissioners respond to negative or inaccurate press, and a broader strategic communications role that uses press releases, newsletters and social media to tell the commission’s story. Johnson said the draft largely pulled best practices from similar agencies and was meant to clarify responses to press events rather than to create binding rules. Chair Amy Weisfeld said the current draft felt "reactionary" and argued for adding an explicit test separating routine proactive communications from reactive rebuttals: "When we don't respond, we're leaving the story up for other people to tell for us," she said.

Members acknowledged practical limits, including staff capacity and public‑records implications for email and newsletters. Several commissioners and staff suggested scenario‑based examples (real‑world cases) to make guidance more concrete. Committee members also flagged state rules about serial meetings and explained why some drafting steps were handled by email rather than live edits in the shared Google Doc.

Rather than taking an immediate vote, the committee agreed on a process: Alex Johnson will draft a new section that outlines proactive communications tactics (press releases, website updates, social media cadence and when staff should lead), and Johnson and Chair Weisfeld will trade suggested edits before the committee reconsiders the revised document. No formal policy was adopted at this meeting. The committee approved a separate procedural item earlier in the session — the April 9 meeting summary — with Johnson moving to approve and Chair Weisfeld abstaining.

The committee expects to continue refining the guidance and to bring a fuller, more developed proposal to the full Columbia River Gorge Commission after the communications committee finishes drafting and staff has had a chance to vet public‑records and capacity implications.