City of Morgan Hill Communications Assessment

such, they are another heavy content producer, utilizing the City’s website, Constant Contact platform and social media sites. Twice a year, Environmental Services sends out an email newsletter via Constant Contact to 14 different Lists (totaling 7,108 recipients) and to 11 different social media sites (two Twitter Profiles, one Facebook Profile and eight Facebook Pages). On a weekly basis, Cynthia publishes “The Scoop”—a blog post for the City’s “News Flash” section detailing City public project progress, especially construction and maintenance notifications for the community. Cynthia also shares out “The Scoop” to the City’s Agency account on Nextdoor.com, the City’s main Facebook Page, the Environmental Services Facebook Page, and the City’s @cityofmorganhil Twitter account. The Environmental Services team leverages these same communication platforms to drive awareness of, and encourage participation in, its free informational workshops on topics such as Home Composting and Home Energy Upgrades. Cynthia noted that Constant Contact has been particularly effective due to its ability to immediately reach community members, and that a turnout of 25 people is considered a success. The team will also funnel Press Releases through Maureen to submit to the local newspapers, include notices in the Community Services Activity Guide, and send out information as a ‘stuffer’ in monthly water bills. Recology is the City’s waste hauler service provider and handles billing as well. To date, 3,375 customers have signed up to pay their bills online and there are 2,698 email addresses in the database. Similarly, community members can pay their water bill online through the WaterSmart system. Other Communications Tools The Community Services Department also interacts with the community via a Customer Comment Form on the City’s website. As of this writing, the Department had fielded 231 submissions in the past six months. The majority of these comments came from CRC members whose email addresses were already in Constant Contact. The Department team responds to these submissions via email whenever possible. Economic Development The Economic Development team is comprised of Leslie Little, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Edith Ramirez, Economic Development Director; and John Lang, Economic Development Coordinator. The City’s Economic Development Department promotes the City’s brand and economic features in an effort to attract investment and sustain and grow the economic health of the City. The team has developed a brand that embraces the agricultural heritage, access to wine country and the outdoors as key assets of the community, while also directly aligning itself to Silicon Valley as a progressive, innovative and smart community. The City as well as local non- profit organizations use “Meet Morgan Hill” as a slogan to re-introduce the new image that not only promotes Economic Development but a City identity. This slogan is used on the City's website with links to various third-party City entities and organizations that support the City.

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