Politics & Government

Commissioners to Decide on Communications Position in Open Session Tuesday

The fate of the county's Communications/Public Information Services position will be decided Tuesday afternoon in a Board of Commissioners open meeting.

The Carroll County Board of Commissioners plans to make a final decision on the county's communications/media relations position at Tuesday afternoon's open session.

"We are going to consider the full range of options," said Board President Doug Howard, including from within county staff as well as applicants who submitted bids for outsourcing the work.

"We are committed to making a decision that day (Tuesday, Nov. 29) as the current contract for this work expires on Nov. 30," Howard said.

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As previously reported by Patch, the board of commissioners terminated four positions upon taking office one year ago including the public information officer position held by Vivian Laxton.

The PIO duties were absorbed by then Deputy Chief of Staff Cindy Parr. Parr resigned in late July.

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In August, the board hired Jim Simpson, owner of Baltimore-based Alex Grace LLC, as a media consultant at a cost of $6,000 per month on a three-month contract.

Commissioner Richard Rothschild said that Simpson was hired to take on special media projects and to build relationships with media outlets. He said Simpson was not specifically hired to take on the PIO functions but to coordinate projects such as a recent PlanMaryland forum sponsored by the board.

In late September, the board voted to extend Simpson's contract an additional month, to Dec. 1, to allow time for a bidding process to fill the position, according to Howard.

In late October, the county posted a call for bids for the Communications/Public Information Services for Carroll County government on its website.

According to the job description, the consultant/firm will:

  • communicate ideas and philosophy to constituents and state and federal agencies;
  • present ideas/strategies to communicate county positions on various governmental issues;
  • develop strategies to employ current and emerging technologies in implementing communications strategies;
  • develop 'branding' concepts and implementation strategies for various county initiatives;
  • promote commissioner community events
  • share employee customer service or professional accomplishments
  • plan and stage two-way communication opportunities for important governmental issues such as airport extension and waste-to-energy proposals. 

The ideal person for the job will have the following qualifications according to the job description:

  • proven written and oral communication skills appropriate to a wide variety of audiences;
  • proven ability to arrange broad media coverage from multiple media outlets for important county government positions and events;
  • demonstrated ability to utilize multi-media technology and an understanding of differing community needs;
  • accomplished ability to develop website upgrades presenting cohesive message and ease of constituent use;
  • demonstrated ability to align multiple points of view into a coherent message;
  • demonstrated experience with public forums, both as a participant and organizer

According to the county's purchasing department, two proposals were received for the position by the Nov. 15 deadline.

In a recent Carroll County Times article, Simpson said he would be among those to submit a proposal for the position.

Board member Haven Shoemaker said he wants the position to be kept as a staff position.

"I'm still holding onto the prospect that this function could be filled in-house," Shoemaker said.


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