Kootenai County tries public relations firm

A public relations firm hired Tuesday by the Kootenai County Commission may help the county inform voters about the need to expand the jail. The commission unanimously voted to hire Taggart & Clarke Effective Communication on a three-month trial contract to help with projects aimed at presenting “positive” information about the county. The firm also will work with the commission on internal communications, such as a quarterly newsletter.

This is the first time the county has hired a public relations company, and that’s why it’s on a trial basis, said Commission Chairman Gus Johnson. “There are times where the county doesn’t get the story out as well,” Johnson said. “It always has to be a negative before we can get in the paper. We would like to see some positive.”

Johnson is unsure what role the firm may have in the county’s attempt at putting another jail measure on the ballot. That will become clearer in the next month as the jail committee starts planning a new strategy.

For now, he said, the firm will help present information to the public, such as explaining why the county landfill is no longer accepting Christmas trees.

In November, voters rejected using the local option sales tax to pay for a $50 million jail expansion.

The Citizen Jail Expansion Advisory Committee analyzed the election and concluded the county failed to publicize why the expansion was needed and why it carried a $50 million price. The committee added that getting out the vote, raising money and campaigning are paramount if Kootenai County wants another shot at passing a measure.

Cynthia Taggart of Taggart & Clarke Effective Communication said she hasn’t talked with the commission about the jail, but the company used it as an example of how communications could be improved when it made its presentation to the commission.

One of the company’s first tasks is helping Johnson write the annual state of the county speech that he will deliver Tuesday to the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce.

Taggart, a former Spokesman-Review columnist and reporter, also said the firm would like to offer a column to local newspapers providing information on topics such as how to combat noxious weeds. The firm is co-owned by former Coeur d’Alene Press journalist Ric Clarke.

The county will pay Effective Communication $75 per hour for its work, which Johnson said will include two press releases a month, help with the county speech and the quarterly internal newsletter.

Taggart is married to former county administrator Tom Taggart, whose job was eliminated in 2001. The commissioners, including Johnson, justified the move by saying they were elected to do that job. Tom Taggart is business manager for the Lakeland School District.

Johnson said he sees no conflict in hiring Cynthia Taggart and that he doesn’t think her husband will try to influence any county decisions.

“She’s her own person,” Johnson said. “That’s old news and we go forward.”

Taggart said the commission did ask if she would be affected by her husband’s relationship with the county.

“I told them for 20 years I’ve been in the media and he’s in the public sector, and we have no problems working it out,” she said. “They just needed to know I’m not influenced by him.”