Getting out the message

Kootenai County’s recent hiring of a local public relations firm has become a hot issue in Tuesday’s commission races.

Both incumbents, Commission Chairman Gus Johnson and Commissioner Katie Brodie, think it’s a good use of taxpayers’ dollars because it informs residents and county workers about what’s going on in their county.

Brodie said in the upcoming months the firm will focus on producing three television shows to air on Coeur d’Alene Cable Channel 19. The spots will focus on property taxes, the county budget and the rewrite of the comprehensive plan, which is the growth plan for the county.

“This is now a $70 million corporation,” Brodie said. “I would challenge anyone to show me a $70 million corporation that isn’t using some sort of communications specialist.”

Yet their opponents in the primary election criticize the decision, arguing it’s wasteful spending.

Rich Piazza, vying against Brodie, thinks it’s the commissioners’ responsibility to keep the public informed.

“When you hire a consultant, what you’re saying is you’re not very effective,” said Piazza, a retired county appraiser.

Johnson’s challenger, Post Falls City Councilman Todd Tondee, thinks a wiser idea is hiring a city administrator. Yet that would require a public vote. Tondee said that’s likely why the commission opted to hire a public relations firm instead.

The candidates aren’t alone. Earlier this month, Commissioner Rick Currie, the only member not up for re-election, voted against a one-year, $18,000 contract with Taggart & Clarke Effective Communication.

The firm’s co-founder is former Spokesman-Review reporter Cynthia Taggart. Taggart’s husband is former Kootenai County Administrator Tom Taggart.

Currie agrees that the commission needs occasional help getting out its message but says the county should perhaps use the firm on a case-by-case basis, not get locked in to a contract.

“We don’t need someone to try to put a spin on it,” Currie said. “If it smells bad, it smells bad. If it smells good, it smells good.”

In January, the commission unanimously voted to hire the firm for a three-month trial basis, paying it $75 an hour. In that time, Taggart & Clarke billed the county for $8,025, according to invoices received through a public records request. The invoices run through April 12.

The charges include $1,275 for the county’s annual financial report and $1,125 for writing Johnson’s State of the County speech delivered at a January Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast. There’s also a $1,200 charge for producing Kootenai Courier, the county’s internal newsletter.

The remainder of the bills are for County Connections feature columns that ran in the Coeur d’Alene Press, and story ideas.

Taggart said she and Ric Clarke, a former Coeur d’Alene Press employee, pitch potential stories to the local media, such as the retirement of a longtime court bailiff. She said that the commission doesn’t approve every idea but that they still get paid for their effort. Most story ideas cost the county $75.

Taggart doesn’t understand why anyone would oppose more access to government.

“It’s like wow, saying it’s not important for city officials to communicate,” Taggart said. “What kind of commissioners are they going to be?”

Taggart, Johnson and Brodie agree the results of the new public relations efforts aren’t yet measurable.

“The best we can do is offer it,” Taggart said.

In the new contract, the county will pay the firm $1,500 a month but can approve additional work for $60 an hour.

The firm must provide four issues of the newsletter, three quarterly television programs, four hours of communication work such as news releases, story ideas and projects such as the annual report. It must also produce the quarterly “What’s Cookin’ at the County” public newsletter posted on the county’s Web site and distributed in local businesses.

Johnson said the county will reassess the contract after the first year. If the budget gets tight, he said the commissioners will look at the communications contract as a place to cut spending because it’s not a mandated service. Yet he said there is no way to argue with the importance of communicating with the public.

That’s why the county is considering buying its own television cameras and sound equipment so it can tape public meetings. Cable Channel 19 would broadcast the tapes.

“We have to weigh all the priorities,” Johnson said.