Ways & Means Committee Divided on Town-Wide Communications Role

Burlington's Town Administration would like to install a town-wide communications director following this May's Town Meeting. But if the reception by the Ways & Means Committee is any indication, the creation of the role will be an uphill battle.

A centralized communications role has been a topic of conversation on and off for at least six years, said Select Board Member Nick Priest as he appeared before Ways & Means to advocate for the role. Priest ran on a platform of enhancing internal and external communications in town and helped coordinate the communications audit performed by the Collins Center in 2021 and 2022. The headline of that audit, presented to the Select Board in 2022, was that having a single person in charge of streamlining and unifying communications for the town would enhance efficiency and make reaching community members easier.

After that 2022 conversation there was little discussion of this role at Select Board meetings, but this year the proposed Town Administration budget includes a communications role. Advocating for that role along with Priest was Select Board Member, Sarah Cawley. The Collins Center audit, she said, showed a number of different social media accounts representing the different town departments. Having a unified strategy will not only make things more efficient for the town and reduce the demand on people in other roles, she said, but it will also make it easier for the town to communicate with residents about the upcoming capital projects, important ballot questions, and more. These efforts, she says, will build efficiency, transparency, and trust between residents and the town and result in a more informed and engaged citizenry.

Town Financial Analyst Sam Hockenbury echoed Cawley's sentiments, explaining that as he has performed some de facto communications efforts, he's found himself repeating the same things to different people; a dedicated communications person would streamline these efforts.

Incoming Town Administrator, John Danizio, justified the financial ask by pointing to other departments that have either decreased their headcount or found other sources of funding, like the Economic Development Department. Some Ways & Means members, however, said those decreases are a product of efforts at increasing efficiency and not a signal that new roles need to be added.

It's about "need versus want," said David Tait, a member of the two-member subcommittee that voted against the role. The role would be beneficial to the town, he said, but with some shifts in personnel happening in the coming year the town might have new ideas come in about how to improve communications. Furthermore, though there is space in the budget now, the conditions might change in future years, making it a tight squeeze. Each year, and especially now with some big capital projects on the horizon, any additions in headcount are scrutinized. This one, for him, which would cost the town about $120,000 annually including benefits, doesn't make the cut.

While members of Ways & Means acknowledged the deficiencies with the current structure, many spoke against adding the role. Some asked if neighboring towns with communications directors have seen a measurable increase in voter turnout or other measures of engagement; Priest said they could look into those numbers. Others proposed alternative solutions such as hiring a part-time person for the role or using a consultant for a year.

In the end, the Ways & Means Committee voted 7-5 to support the role, with chair Doug Davison voting in favor "out of respect for the Select Board and elected representatives;" he anticipates a lengthy discussion on the topic when the budget goes before Town Meeting in May.