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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/13/2018 COW Minutes COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES - February 13, 2018 - rd 3 Floor, Village Board Room Village Hall, 50 S. Emerson Street 1. ROLL CALL– CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:04 p.m. in the Village Board Room of the Village Hall, 50 South Emerson Street, by Mayor Arlene Juracek. Trustees present included William Grossi, Eleni Hatzis, Paul Hoefert, Richard Rogers, Colleen Saccotelli and Michael Zadel. Staff present included Village Manager Michael Cassady, Assistant to the Village Manager Nellie Beckner, Village Clerk Karen Agoranos, Communications Director Howard Kleinstein, Building & Inspection Services Director William Schroeder, Community Development Director William Cooney, Fire Chief Brian Lambel, Police Chief John Koziol, Public Works Director Sean Dorsey, Finance Director David Erb, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Andrew Schaeffer and Administrative Analyst Alexander Bertolucci. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Approval of Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes of January 9, 2018. Motion by Trustee Grossi, second by Trustee Zadel. Mayor Juracek called a voice vote and the minutes were approved unanimously. 3. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Jose Garcia – 308 I Oka Ave Stated his comments are a repeat complaint when he addressed the Village Board in 2015. He presented concerns as a spokesperson for the 300 block of S. I-Oka and will get a petition together signed by those affected. The complaint is repetitive unnecessary snowplow passes after the snowfall stopped and streets have been cleared. 4. DISCUSSION ITEMS 4.1 Village of Mount Prospect Communications Plan Assistant to the Village Manager Nellie Beckner stated the creation of a Village Communication Plan has been a strategic planning goal since 2016. Nearly every Village employee, as well as Village representatives such as elected or appointed officials, has regular interaction with the public. Due to the vast amount of communication that is taking place, it is essential that a large organization such as the Village of Mount Prospect has a plan to insure its communication is clear, effective, and unified Ms. Beckner reviewed the purpose of a Communication Plan and presented the contents of the Village’s draft plan. The Communication Plan consists of four sections: Identify, Establish, Improve and Appendices. The Identity section is an inventory of current policies and procedures which support the Village’s overall communication strategy and helps us understand where we are today. One communication objective is to use clear, transparent messaging to provide leading edge customer service to Village residents and stakeholders. The website is the Village’s primary communication tool. It’s timely, collaborative, accessible, and a lot of content can be shared in a simple format. Newsletter and other print communications are important as well. The 2016 Community Survey showed 66.5% of residents prefer print communication, the newsletter, with the website a close second (55.5%). Social media 2/13/18 Committee of the Whole Page 1 of 4 th ranked 5 as a source of news. The plan recognizes other organizations work with the Village and it is also useful to know what their communication standards are as well. She reviewed target audiences and how the same message may be written/sent in a different manner depending on the audience. Communication tools can be classified as Proactive or Responsive and some tools, like the website, is a key tool for both platforms. Examples of proactive communication are e-newsletters, advertisements and press releases and responsive communication examples are email, billing and CRM. She stated Message Alert Levels provide a hierarchy of responsibility should an event occur related to public health and safety. Ms. Beckner presented the Establish section of the Communication plan that contains Logo Guidelines and Branding Strategy, Key Messaging Statements, Communication Process and Message Response Protocols. The objective is to establish formatting of all proactive communication tools, templates for everyday documents and standardization. Also to assist staff in using keywords, phrases and sentences used in the Village communication. Additionally, establish processes for the annual calendar, messaging creation and message coordination and approval. This positions the Village to plan social media and press releases in advance. Message response protocols establish guidelines on how to response to social media or negative press with the goal of addressing the issue and removing the negativity. The Improve section reviews analytics and future considerations. Ms. Beckner stated staff looks at analytics to see when is the best time to post on social media, interest of target audience and reach of posts. Future considerations and best practices includes keeping up with trends and the changing landscape of social media and technological advances. The Appendices consists of three sections: Communication Tools, Crisis Communications and Staff Communication Guidelines. Ms. Beckner stated Communication Tools is a quick reference guide for the most popular tools and includes goals, contributing team members and content procedures. Communications Director Howard Kleinstein presented Appendix II: Crisis Communications. The goal of crisis messaging is protecting the integrity and reputation of the Village. He reviewed communication steps in a crisis event and the four different crisis levels. Assistant to the Village Manager Nellie Beckner provided an overview of Appendix III: Staff Communication Guidelines that addresses everyday duties. This includes reviewing guides or documents that have been in place but not recently updated and supporting staff with training. Ms. Beckner stated the Plan serves as an overall policy document, to be supported by additional documentation. As communications tools are added, changed or eliminated, the Communication Plan will be modified accordingly. Staff had identified the following supporting objectives to implement: Establish a Crisis Communication Team. Create Key Messaging Statements and formal standardization of internal processes. 2/13/18 Committee of the Whole Page 2 of 4 Draft a Branding Strategy, which will outline the Village’s identity and give clear direction on marketing and promotion of various Village activities and services. Establish regular tracking and reporting protocols to assist in evaluation of current communication tools. The following responses from staff were provided to questions from the Village Board: Staff may utilize a consultant to develop a Branding Strategy. Staff has yet to outline consultant parameters; however, whoever is chosen would need to understand the trends we have started and push it in the right direction. The CRM is a communication tool for our customers and staff to directly respond back to each other. Staff is not discouraging customers from calling the Village. Also the Village has worked to make written communication more responsive. For example, Village Newsletters changed from quarterly to bimonthly issues. Plus the Village took out an advertisement in Journal and Topics as an opportunity to let people know about the new textile recycling program. Regarding targeting audiences the Village follows social media groups, has access to household demographic information and utilizes our relationship with school districts. The Communication Plan started as a consultant assisted eight page draft plan. Then staff organized the communications we have, held meetings with leadership team on what we are trying to solve for, conducted research what goes into a communication plan, utilized the Communications Director’s education, and MECO consulting. Rebranding should happen when the brand is tried. The only feedback on the current logo is that “Mount Prospect” is hard to read when the logo is small. When staff posts on social media it should be tied back to the website. In crisis communication on an active scene staff would establish a media center with department representatives. Staff has reviewed Instagram and it does not always work well with content the Village puts out. Opportunities to use Instagram would be Irish Fest, the Block Party, Fridays on the Green or other messages that could be shared photographically. Analytics provide data on if users are accessing the Village’s website from a mobile device or PC, internet browser type, screen size and etc. Public Comment Jose Garcia 308 I-Oka Av. Louis Goodman 310 N School St. The following responses were provided to questions from the public: There is a ‘Contact Us’ page on the Village website. Director of Communication receives and routes submitted messages with a 24 hours or less response time and the email is monitored on the weekends as well. Facebook and Twitter messages receive an automatic reply and staff monitors those messages too. Freedom of Information Requests may be submitted online through the Village’s CRM or through the Village Clerk’s Office. 2/13/18 Committee of the Whole Page 3 of 4 In case of an airplane crash, Village of Mount Prospect would respond and the FAA investigates the incident. The Communications Plan is a living document and Village Board would be updated if there were any major amendments. Staff will move forward with the implementation strategies. 5. MANAGER’S REPORT None. 6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS None. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:39 p.m. Alexander Bertolucci Administrative Analyst 2/13/18 Committee of the Whole Page 4 of 4