City of Morgan Hill Communications Assessment

residents and businesses. To this end, Tripepi Smith conducted interviews with 48 individuals to analyze the City's existing communication platforms and determine how the City could improve and expand its current communication methods. Interviewees included: City Council Members, City staff (often referred to in this report as “teammates” to reflect City’s preferred terminology), representatives of partner public agencies (Chamber of Commerce, School District, etc.), and involved citizens. Additionally, Tripepi Smith assisted the City with a “Communications Survey” that sought to measure the community’s current levels of satisfaction with the City’s external communication efforts. Those findings have been included in Appendix B of this report. City communications and citizen engagement are critical aspects of a City’s day-to-day operations. Maintaining open lines of communication with residents can enhance the community’s understanding and awareness of City services and policy making, avoid conflict, empower citizens to help improve their community, and deliver on the myriad benefits of transparency. Morgan Hill City Council and staff show a sincere interest in public outreach, and there is a solid Communications foundation to build upon. For example, the City has one of the more active email marketing platforms (Constant Contact) Tripepi Smith has observed. Other notable Communications efforts include: • Hiring the first-ever full-time Communications and Engagement Manager three years ago. • Completely refreshing and updating the City website two years ago, making it mobile- friendly, providing a fresh new look, improving searchability, and making it translatable with Google Translate. • Adopting the “Spectrum of Public Participation” guidelines for Communications. • Establishing a main City Facebook Page three years ago, which has over 2,500 Page Likes/Fans now. • Establishing a main City Twitter account two years ago. • Implementing “Siteimprove” for better overall website management and analytics review. • Implementing a strategic and comprehensive Communications & Engagement process as part of the Downtown projects and single-lane pilot project. • Holding regular “Coffee with the Mayor” meetings to engage with community members in an informal environment. • The first ever "Coffee with a Cop" was held in Fall 2016. • Using a digital tool called “Flipping Book” to display its budget and master plans in an interactive format. Prior to 2013, the City lacked a dedicated Communications position. Prior to 2011, the Assistant to the City Manager had "Communications" as one of many responsibilities. The focus on Communications waned during the economic downturn (2008 - 2011) when additional responsibilities were added to that position. After hiring Maureen Tobin as the new Communications and Engagement Manager in 2013, a decision was made to use the resource of this new role to focus on a strategic and comprehensive Communications & Engagement

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