Santa Fe to Consider Restoring PIO

City of Santa Fe officials are set to consider restoring a public information officer position eliminated three years ago under what some believed were politically charged circumstances.

A resolution introduced by City Councilor Peter late last month says re-establishing a city PIO is part of the “on-going commitment for the City of Santa Fe to be open, transparent and accessible to the public desires.”

Ives said in a recent interview that “the ultimate goal is to increase the responsiveness of the city to information requests and getting information out to the public.”

“It was a position that used to exist and I think it’s helpful, certainly for members of the press, for people in the public to have at least one point source to come to for information,” Ives said.

The city already has several employees who work under the auspices of marketing and public information, but there hasn’t been a formal public information officer since the summer of 2009.

The City Council voted to eliminate the position that year as part of cuts made to plug a multi-million dollar budget deficit. The person employed as PIO had already announced plans to leave the city.

The elimination was proposed by Councilor Matthew Ortiz. Ortiz had, during budget talks, called the Office of Constituent Services, of which the PIO was part, “the mayor’s press machine.” It was a shot at Mayor David Coss.

Ortiz said the city already had “sufficient expertise” to cover the PIO’s duties.

City Councilors Rebecca Wurzburger, Ron Trujillo, Carmichael Dominguez and Patti Bushee, all of whom still sit on the council, joined Ortiz in voting to drop the position. Coss was among those who voiced strong opposition.

Ortiz’s proposals to specifically eliminate a couple other jobs – including an assistant human resources director who later said she was being retaliated against by Ortiz for participating in a city investigation into a childhood friend of Ortiz’s, a charge Ortiz denied – were voted down by other councilors.

Ortiz said at the time he wanted to get rid of other positions, but realized he didn’t have the votes. Ortiz did not seek re-election this year.

Ives’ proposal puts the PIO in the city manager’s office.

Ives said that having one person churning out announcements and information is more effective and efficient “than doing it in a more scattered fashion” and “should hopefully make (the effort) more professional, more responsive.”

His resolution says, “The national standard for generating public information through various types of medial tools is a public information officer who is an expert in communications and press releases.”

“The ultimate goal is having a PIO is to have an informed public which in turn makes the City a better place to live, to work and to enjoy life,” the resolution says.

Ives was elected to the council earlier this year.