COLUMBIA — City Manager De'Carlon Seewood is set to propose a new communications department at Monday's Columbia City Council meeting.
This comes after the City of Columbia's current public information officer, Sydney Olsen, announced she will be leaving her position in March after five years in the position, according to reporting by the Columbia Missourian.
According to a council memo, Seewood said the city needs to improve transparency, public engagement and consistency in how the city shares information.
The proposal would amend Chapters 2 and 19 of the city code and reclassify several positions to support a centralized communications strategy, according to the council memo.
The department would act as a strategic hub for outreach while still allowing individual departments to keep their public information specialists, according to the council memo.
The primary goals of the department would include:
- Enhancing External Communication: Responding to resident inquiries while also utilizing data to proactively share information on topics of interest to residents
- Media & Public Relations: Managing public presence, handling all media inquiries and proactively pitching stories to local and national media
- Crisis & Reputation Management: Serving as the central point of contact for all public-facing inquiries to ensure timely and accurate information is provided during critical situations
- External Storytelling: Actively sharing milestones, successes and impact with the public through media outlets and digital platforms
- Streamlined Internal Comms: Improving the flow of information across departments to reduce "siloed" working
- Content Strategy: Overseeing the production of newsletters, social media and digital footprint
- Brand Alignment: Ensuring all external and internal materials reflect core values and visual identity
Columbia previously had a Community Relations Department, created around 2016 and dissolved in 2021. Its functions, including news media relations and public records requests among others, were absorbed by other departments, according to the council memo
The new Communications Department would include 25 full-time positions and four part-time temporary roles, including one new full-time position: Communications Director, according to the council memo.
Other agenda items:
The council is set to vote on a revised design for the Douglass Park basketball courts at Monday's meeting. The new designs will highlight the Moonlight Hoops basketball program and the Douglass Bulldogs, according to a council memo.
The courts were originally going to feature a Mizzou theme with black and gold surface painting and the Mizzou Tiger head logo at center court. Changes to the planned theme and color of the basketball courts were made after community feedback.
Other additions at the park will include a water fountain near the basketball courts, a scoreboard, new basketball goals, court lighting, and a small shelter.
The council is also set to vote on rezoning a 4.64 acre plot of land at East Highway WW and South El Chaparral Avenue. An abandoned church currently sits on the land, and the city is looking to redevelop the plot into a new city fire station.
The city council approved the construction of the new fire station in February last year, according to reporting by the Columbia Missourian.
Columbia Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer told previously told KOMU 8 that the new Fire Station 10 will help lower response times to the east side of town.
The Columbia City Council will meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the Daniel Boone City Building.
