by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Workspace: The City’s Public Information Office
When you’re in the communication business, being able to communicate easily is an important factor in how well you can do your job. The City is no different from the private sector in that regard so the people who manage written, Web-based, social media, graphic arts and other forms of getting out the official word recently experienced a welcomed move.
In the City’s case, a staff of about a dozen people do everything from writing and distributing press releases and scheduling news conferences to taking photographs at City government events and maintaining an archive of images including a Twitter page. When Mayor John Peyton speaks to the public or when someone has a question for the mayor, the Public Information Office coordinates the interaction. The staff also does things like producing an in-house newsletter for City employees and making sure the City Web site, coj.net, is up to date and easy to navigate.
For years the Public Information Office staff had been spread out all over City Hall, but they have been relocated into a suite of offices on the second floor at 117 W. Adams St.
“This is the first time in at least five years that we haven’t been scattered all over the place,” said Special Assistant to the Mayor Renee Brust. “Given that we’re in the communication business it makes sense to have all of us in the same place.”
A poll of the staff revealed the recent move marks the first time the entire staff was in the same general area and didn’t have to communicate among themselves via e-mail since John Delaney’s term as mayor.
Graphic artist Richard Weaver is a veteran nomad when it comes to switching offices. His first office when he went to work for the City was in the Haydon Burns Public Library and he even worked out of the print shop on Talleyrand Avenue for a period of time before moving to an office in the old City Hall on Bay Street. Weaver was in an office on the mezzanine at City Hall before his latest relocation.
“Every couple of decades we should all be together,” he commented.
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