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Collingwood council in favour of county decision to hire PR firm

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In Collingwood
Oct 30th, 2009
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By Morgan Ian Adams  Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin October 27, 2009
COLLINGWOOD — Simcoe County council’s decision to spend $250,000 on a communications consultant came out of an overall inability to get out good news stories about what the county is doing, not just the controversy of Site 41, says Collingwood’s mayor.
On Monday night, councillors narrowly defeated a motion to support a Tiny Township resolution opposed to the county’s decision to spend the money.
The county already spends $1.1 million on its four-person communication department. The decision to hire a consultant was made in late August.
Councillor Ian Chadwick, who presented the motion to support Tiny, said he was uncomfortable with the idea that a communications consultant was hired to “massage” the image of county and county councillors.
“It could be money better spent elsewhere,” he said.
Mayor Chris Carrier — who represents Collingwood on county council, along with Deputy-mayor Sandra Cooper — said his support of the expenditure came from an overall picture of the county not able to effectively deliver its message, including Site 41.
The county has been criticized for taking an aggressive tone in its news releases on the proposed landfill site, especially in its dealings with opponents of the dump.
“On Site 41, from my personal opinion, there were a number of communications gaffes,” he said. “When I looked at a number of issues, (the county) was not communicating effectively… and the actions we were taken were not being communicated effectively.
“The county was facing a circumstance of conflict rather than a circumstance of dialogue… (the county) was promoting an atmosphere of confrontation.”
As well, he said, for a $400-million corporation that delivers a number of programs, including child care, housing grants, and paramedic services, “our message was just not getting out.”
However, Councillor Tim McNabb — who sat at county council during his two terms as Collingwood’s deputy-mayor from 1997 to 2003 — noted he didn’t support the county spending the money “to gloss over” the Site 41 issue.
The problem was created by county council over one issue,” he said. “It was a lack of communication, whether (advice) was provided or not, or even listened to.
“The 32 people at county council are going to do what they want anyway… but if you’re going to change (the communications) policy it makes sense, but put it in the budget rather than as an add-on at the end of the year.”
Carrier noted the consultant was not hired to polish any politician’s image — one of the criticisms — and Cooper, who also supported the expenditure, noted the Site 41 issue was resulting in the public “losing sight of what the county is all about.”
“Site 41 was an example of when communication has gone awry,” said the mayor. “(The consultant) will assist the department on how to do communications more effectively.”

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