City employees’ actions can speak for themselves

The elected officials of the City of Spokane Valley have approved the hiring of a public information officer.

What can a PIO do for our city that its current managers, employees and city council aren’t already doing?

Is the council looking to turn its community involvement activities over to a paid specialist who will be tasked to put a positive spin on all the city government activities?

I do not think we need a spin control expert on the city payroll. Let the actions of the City Council and the people employed by the city speak for themselves.

I do not understand why City Council members feel the need to pay someone about $65,000 a year with benefits to do what each of them are capable of doing, and are expected to do, as a part of their existing jobs.Spokane Valley has six department heads and close to 50 employees. Although Spokane Valley department managers wear several hats and sometimes work extra hours, they can still be, and always are, ambassadors for the city. The managers are constantly in the community informing and updating citizens on the activities of its local government.

In fairness to the City Council let’s explore what a public information officer does. A PIO performs some or all of the following activities: press relations, promotion, public affairs, publicity and advertising. Let’s take a look at some of these activities to determine if our city really needs someone who specializes in these areas.

According to a book on public relations written by Doug Newsom and Alan Scott, Edward L. Bernays devoted his career to the study of the human mind. His specialty was mass psychology – how the opinions of many people could be influenced effectively and honorably. In the early 1900s Bernays helped the Beech-Nut Packing Co. sell bacon, not by promoting bacon itself, but by promoting what all America could respond to: a nutritious breakfast. Does Spokane Valley need a mass psychology specialist?

Press agentry involves planning activities or staging events that will attract attention to a person, institution, idea or product. The most famous and successful of the nineteenth-century press agents was P.T. Barnum, of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame. He created, promoted and exploited the careers of many celebrities, including Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. Barnum also coined the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Does the city of Spokane Valley need a press agent?

Public relations practitioners have always known the value of capturing the public’s attention. Public events are often used to draw a crowd, to win support or to prove a point. Lady Godiva rode a horse naked through a marketplace to make a point. She sympathized with the overtaxed citizens of Coventry. She made the ride to convince her husband, the earl, of her sincerity toward the citizen’s plight. It worked; the earl removed all tolls from the town (except for people on horseback). Will a PIO be able to prevent another such ride should the council recommend a utility tax in the future?

Promotion attempts to get support and endorsement for a person, product, institution or idea. Is there anyone more qualified to get our support than those we hired to run our city?

Public affairs are a highly specialized kind of public relations that means community relations and governmental relations, or dealing with officials and working with legislative groups and with various pressure groups such as consumers within the community. Do we need a gatekeeper between us and those whom we elected?

Publicity means placing information in a news medium such as radio, television or print. Which scenario is more likely to prevail in a news medium, a story presented by a PIO or a story researched, prepared and presented by a professional employee of the news medium?

In my more than 2,000-page dictionary, the definition of public relations is, “the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc, in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.” Does Spokane Valley need to create a completely new employment position in order to spread goodwill?

Does it need a PIO more than it needs additional code compliance officers or other personnel?

In my opinion, I don’t think so!