St. John Parish creates communications department | NOLA.com

Saying St. John the Baptist Parish needs effective communications with the public, the Parish Council approved the creation of a department for that purpose. Some council members were concerned about creating a new department, but eventually relented, voting unanimously to create the department and to confirm Parish President Natalie Robottom's nomination of current public information officer, Paige Braud, to lead the agency.

Councilwoman Cheryl Millet said she had reservations. "It takes six members to remove a director," said Millet, who is concerned that the administration will become "top heavy."

"Creating a department is what I'm against, not the position," she said.

But Robottom said Braud is working as a special assistant to the president, a job classification that is intended to be temporary.

Robottom and some council members cited increasing expectations that the parish alert residents through multiple channels whenever there is an emergency, and that Braud has done a good job of informing them and the public.

"When the charter was created in 1985, there wasn't email and texting and Twitter and robo-calls. There are now," Robottom said.

She said Braud won't get a raise from her current $60,000 per year salary, which Robottom said involves working nights, weekends and holidays, and includes coordinating special events, as well as communications.

Robottom said a parish secretary who now reports to the parish finance director will report to Braud.

Robottom also wants to create a system to track calls to the parish and ensure that residents get a response to their questions.

Robottom said she hopes to create an additional civil service position to track that.

"We do think it's important to close the loop when we receive calls," she said. "There's not a specialized tracking mechanism and there's not always a response."

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Matt Scallan can be reached at mscallan@timespicayune.com or 985.652.0953.

Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/01/st_john_parish_creates_communi.html

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