City Adds Communications Chief To Staff Woman Hired For $45,622 Post Held Similar Job In California

Aiming to improve the information flow from Spokane City Hall to residents, the city has hired a communications director.

“The city does not communicate well with its public, its customers,” said acting city manager Bill Pupo. “The public has a right to know what we’re doing.”

Laurie DeVarney of Agoura Hills, Calif., will begin the $45,622-a-year job on Feb. 17.

DeVarney’s duties include writing newsletters, fact sheets and informational brochures about city activities and services, such as snow plow and street sweeping schedules, Pupo said.

DeVarney, 41, said Friday that keeping information flowing between residents and city officials often can prevent controversy and hard feelings.

“Sometimes issues become big issues because of a lack of communication,” she said.

Besides providing the public with information, DeVarney also will keep city employees informed about projects like downtown redevelopment or the Lincoln Street bridge construction, Pupo said. Residents frequently ask city employees questions about projects they know little about.

“We have employees from all walks of life trying to answer questions,” Pupo said, adding DeVarney will be charged with keeping them informed.

The City Council created the communications job nearly two years ago, planning to fill it in 1996. But a woman tentatively hired to serve as director last year changed her mind days before she was supposed to start.

Pupo had to start the hiring process again.

The city has had a severance plan in place the past two years aimed at reducing the number of employees. But the council considered filling this job a necessity, Pupo said.

Mayor Jack Geraghty said the council heard repeatedly during neighborhood meetings that residents didn’t know how to find out what was going on in City Hall.

“We have 187,000 citizens that we have to be in a position to communicate with,” Geraghty said. “We’re looking for ways to strengthen the neighborhood voice.”

DeVarney’s resume states she graduated from Western Michigan University in 1977 with degrees in communications and English. It also states she received a teaching certificate from the university in 1979.

DeVarney served as communications coordinator for the city of Santa Monica from August 1995 through October of last year when the position was cut due to budget problems. Prior to that, she worked for a public relations consulting firm in Agoura Hills.

Pupo said DeVarney’s job will not be as “a buffer for the city.”

“She’s not the city’s spokesperson, not the public information officer, but a developer of information,” he said.

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