City's new Communication policy brings City Hall into the Social Media age

After being sent back to the shop for a few tweaks over the last few months, the City of Prince Rupert rolled out their new Communication policy on Monday, with the Council members that were on hand for the evening providing their endorsement for the new framework that will replace the old policy of 2003.

As the City's Communication Manager Veronika Stewart pointed out to Council at Monday's session, there have been a few changes in how message making and communication takes place from sixteen years ago.

"The previous policy was from 2003 so it didn't really reference the kinds of Internet communications that we now use pretty frequently and we also didn't have communication staff on hand. So there are a lot more commitments on the city's part to communicate with the community and the policy outlines."  -- Communication Manager Veronika Stewart

As Ms. Stewart observed, the first of the changes that came about included her actual position, which did not exist back at the turn of the century and was only added to the civic roster in  2015.

The quest for the voice of City Hall began shortly after Mayor Lee Brain had been elected in November of 2014, with the Mayor making note of his hope to create a Communications department

With her arrival the city has embraced a range of communication options for deliver of information, from the traditional website, to a social media platform on twitter and Facebook.

As well, the City introduced a mobile app program last year, as well as their consultation project launched earlier this year known as Rupert Talks.

The path towards delivering on the new policy has been a somewhat winding road first started in May of 2017, when Councillor Blair Mirau raised the issue of more transparency on closed council issues, with Mr. Mirau and Councillor Cunningham both looking for council to develop some form of a policy on communicating more effectively.

November 2017 -- City puts Communication Policy plans on hold to allow for further study
October 2017 -- City staff to seek approval of new communication policy at Monday session

In her comments to Council she outlined the work that went into the program, noting how Council members had provided input through the period of workshops and review towards it.

Ms. Stewart's presentation to Council can be reviewed below starting at the  41 minute mark.




The new Communications policy document includes sections related to Media Relations, Social Media Policy and Council Communications, City Branding, Employment Postings and Crisis and Emergency Communications.

You can review the full Communication Policy and Procedures release from the City Council Agenda from Monday evening starting on page 39.

As part of Monday's Council session, members voted to repeal the 2003 version and accept the new one in its place.

For more items of note from Monday's City Council session see our Council Timeline feature, a wider overview of Council Discussion themes can be explored from our Council Discussion archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.