City agencies pitch in for public relations

Erin Neff

Sunday, June 4, 2000 | 8:36 a.m.

If Southern Nevada were a giant washing machine, the city of Las Vegas and Clark County would be set permanently on the spin cycle.

But that doesn't mean other agencies simply rinse their hands of public relations activities.

In fact, local government districts, cities and police departments add hundreds of thousands more to the local marketing mechanism.

The Metropolitan Police Department devotes five full-time employees to its public information unit, including two officers and a lieutenant.

Salaries and benefits account for roughly $400,000 of the department's total $700,000 earmarked for public information activities.

"I wish I had more time for community outreach, but the fact of the matter is that we get about 2,000 calls a month," said Metro spokesman Tirso Dominguez.

Metro's PIO office receives about 2,000 media requests a month in addition to conducting television and radio programs and managing special events like the Southern Nevada Fallen Officer's Memorial.

Metro Officer Steve Meriwether hosts the department's weekly television show, "Coptalk," while Dominguez handles the radio programs and Spanish-language media requests.

But promoting programs and providing information on television is not something other agencies believe will be beneficial.

The city of Henderson last week backed out of a planned shared cable channel with the city of North Las Vegas, citing both cost and need.

"We found out that residents don't want it," said Vicki Taylor, assistant to the city manager. "If it's something important, they want it in their mailboxes."

Residents who responded to a city survey ranked watching taped City Council meetings on television last in a ranking of 17 options. Live council meetings ranked just 16th, Taylor said.

"It was a real eye-opener," Taylor said. "If we did something very minimal with television, it would be at the very minimum $500,000 to $1.5 million a year for the bare basics."

Henderson's two-person public information staff makes $171,000 in salary alone. Another $65,000 is spent on operating costs, but that does not include clerical help from other city departments.

Henderson also spends hundreds of thousands annually producing new resident guides, economic and demographic overviews and brochures for recreation and convention center activities.

"Henderson's the only full-service city," Taylor said. "We have 1,200 people moving in every month, and they need information about all of the city's services."

Taylor and Henderson's public information specialist, Brenda Fischer-Johnson, spend roughly half of their time handling media calls. The two also currently handle all of the calls related to Henderson's police department.

But the city does plan to add a police public information position in the new fiscal year budget.

In North Las Vegas, the news that Henderson pulled out of the proposed shared television channel came as a surprise.

"We can't support a full-fledged access channel without a partnership," said Michele F. Richardson, North Las Vegas assistant city manager for administration.

Although Richardson said she thinks the city could "do anything if you make it a priority," she added that the city has too many competing needs for tax dollars to fund a television station on its own.

North Las Vegas has been without a full-time public information officer since last December when Kim McDonald moved to a management analyst position in the city manager's office.

Ballard Communication was hired at the time for $2,850 a month to handle the city's public information needs. Ballard also has a city contract to create a newsletter.

Richardson said the contract with Ballard assisted the city during a transition period while McDonald moved into her new position.

The city has budgeted for a public information officer in the new fiscal year. That position has a proposed pay range of $45,000 to $65,000, based on a preliminary survey the city conducted.

The Clark County School District has also made attempts to keep its public relations costs in check.

Mike Ballard of Ballard Communications said he served on the district's Communications Council -- a network of volunteers who serve as quasi-publicity specialists for school activities.

"I thought it was a good idea to help people better figure out how to handle publicity," Ballard said.

The school district does have a three-person public information staff, although the current director's position is vacant. That position has a salary range of $59,964 to $83,892. The two public information specialists make $73,964 combined.