by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
To pull off the City’s first Super Bowl, City Hall rallied unprecedented volunteer support from police, firefighters, emergency workers and citizens.
Now comes the hard part.
Writing the thank-you notes.
In an effort that should shame everyone who still hasn’t acknowledged Christmas gifts, the mayor’s office is mounting a wave of mass correspondence to thank more than 20,000 Super Bowl volunteers.
City Chief of Staff Steve Diebenow has dubbed it “Waves of Well Done,” a play on the City’s “Waves of Welcome” campaign to greet visitors.
Diebenow’s line was uttered tongue-in-cheek but the labor required to thank everybody involved in hosting the world’s largest single-day sporting event is serious. Since the Feb. 6 game, the wave of thanks has been an at times overwhelming commitment.
“It’s an enormous amount of correspondence,” said Susan Pelter, the mayor’s speech writer. “It’s been all-consuming for the past couple of weeks.
“It’s really reflective of the enormity of the undertaking in hosting a Super Bowl and the huge collaborative effort that it took. The mayor feels very strongly that their contribution should be acknowledged.”
Pelter is charged with drafting the letters. Mayor John Peyton decreed that form letters will not do, so she’s been tailoring the letters based on what specific contribution the volunteers made. From firefighters to police to greeters at the airport, Pelter has had to come up with about a dozen ways to say thank you, according to mayor’s office staff.
In addition to the mass mailings, Peyton has written dozens of letters to business and political contacts made during game week. He’s traded correspondence with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney among others. A well-placed letter continues the momentum of relationships built in early February, said Pelter.
“So many people commented on how nice their visit to Jacksonville was,” she said. “This is a way to continue that good feeling they had when they left.”
But writing the letters is only half the battle. Stuffing envelopes has become the newest collateral duty at City Hall and it hasn’t been left up to the administrative assistants.
Diebenow prohibited delegation of the job to administrative staff. The mayor’s top policy and political advisers likely thought their days of stuffing envelopes were behind them but most of the mayor’s executive staff has taken its turn along with lawyers from the Office of the General Counsel.