Municipal officials in Richmond Co. are reviewing how they get information out in the face of COVID-19.
Councillors decided to review their current municipal communications plan at January’s regular meeting Monday night.
After, Amanda Mombourquette, Richmond Co.’s warden, said she hopes to lay down some concrete tactical plans for municipal communications.
“What are the media channels that we use- traditional, social, digital, whatever it might be- to let the public know about what’s going on?” she said. “Is there a routine around some of that, so you know if a regular council meeting is coming up, it’s going to be published here, here, and here?”
Mombourquette said the current plan is very general, and lacks the detail needed to be an effective document.
She said the municipality doesn’t have an established communications officer, so they need to decide what resources need to be put in place to make a good communications plan and facilitate strong public communications.
Mombourquette said it’s important to accountability.
“We want to really set that expectation,” she said. “It holds us as councillors- and as a municipality- accountable.”
Mombourquette said the COVID-19 pandemic brought the need for a good communications strategy to the forefront.
She said it put a spotlight on how important clear, effective communications are.