SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 1
CS&B COMMITTEE AGENDA
NOVEMBER 9, 1995
POLICY REPORT
INFORMATION
DATE: October 17, 1995
TO: Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM: City Clerk and Communications Advisor
SUBJECT: City Communications Strategy
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the Communications Strategy as outlined
in this report.
B. THAT Council approve the establishment of a regular full-time
Communications Co-ordinator position in the Communications
Division, subject to job evaluation by the General Manager of
Human Resource Services, at an estimated annual cost of
$64,400.
C. THAT Council approve additional program and support
expenditure of $120,000, as detailed in the report. This
includes a one-time allocation of $42,000 for graphics support
pending evaluation of a permanent arrangement from within
existing departmental budgets.
D. THAT Council approve the elimination of the regular full-time
administrative position, at an annual saving of $35,100.
E. THAT the additional funds required for the expanded
Communications Program (estimated to be $135,900) be funded
from within existing departmental budgets, with the offsets to
be reported in the 1996 Operating Budget Process. The 1995
portion of the program cost is estimated to be $23,900, with
the source of funds to be Contingency Reserve.
F. THAT Council approve a proposal call for professional services
to establish a City Visual Identity Program, including
standards for City publications, vehicle and building signage,
letterhead and business cards, at an estimated cost of
$60,000. Source of funds for this program to be the 1995
Strategic Initiatives Fund.
G. THAT Council direct the Communications Advisor to report back
on the other proposed programs in 1997 and 1998, when the
sources of funds for these programs have been identified.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of A through G, noting that
the Corporate Management Team fully supports these proposals.
COUNCIL POLICY
On July 26, 1990, Council approved the following communication
objectives as City policy and as a guiding framework for the development
of a City Communications Program:
1. Vancouverites should know about and understand pending City
decisions through participation and comment.
2. Public involvement should occur in an atmosphere of openness and
trust; where the purposes of consultation are clear; and where the
rights and obligations of the public, of City staff, and of Council
are fully understood by all participants.
3. Vancouverites should receive clear and accurate information about
any City program, service or regulation which affects their lives
or livelihoods.
4. City information should be delivered through media which
effectively attract the attention of those who need to know in
language which they can readily understand.
5. The City should be a helpful, accessible, consistent,
unintimidating and human source of information; and those served
should always feel welcome.
PURPOSE
The report asks Council to:
- approve the proposed City Communications Strategy, and recognize the
significant contribution of the community-staff Diversity
Communications Project to the strategy;
- approve the necessary resources and activities to support that
strategy;
- recognize the City s communications function as a corporate resource
that is funded in the Operating Budget; and
- acknowledge the offsetting effects of savings in advertising ($58,000
is documented in this report) and other communications savings
realized by the Communications Division.
BACKGROUND
Communications Division
- February, 1992: The communications consulting firm of Hill &
Knowlton audited the City's communication with the public.
Suggestions included a four-person corporate Communications Division,
with a multicultural communications specialist.
- September, 1992: Council approved creation of a two-person operation
a Communications Advisor and a Clerk Steno II using offset
funding created by a re-organization in the City Clerk s Department.
- June, 1993: A Communications Advisor was hired. It was anticipated
this person would review the audit, determine communications needs
and then return to Council with a request for appropriate funding.
- October, 1993: Rather than a need for a Clerk Steno II, the
communications advisor identified an urgent need of a senior
communications specialist. Accordingly, the Clerk Steno II salary
was used to hire an individual three days a week for writing, editing
and communications planning duties. This temporary position was
increased to five days a week, and has continued without regular
funding. (Funding has come from a position in the City Clerk s
Department identified for elimination in the 1994 Budget Management
Program.)
Diversity Communications Project
- Initiated in late 1993 by City Clerk and the then-Directors of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Program and Social Planning Department.
The project team was made up of representatives from all departments
and an equal number of representatives of Vancouver's diverse
communities. (See Appendix A.)*
- Mandate was to address issues involved in communicating with
Vancouver's increasingly diverse population.
- First phase concluded April, 1995 with a presentation to Council and
senior City Staff. The main ideas of the project were conveyed in a
series of re-enactments of common communications barriers that
customers face when dealing with the City.
* APPENDIX A. LIMITED DISTRIBUTION.
(On file in the City Clerk's Office.)
Findings of the Diversity Communications Project include:
- The major communication problems facing the City of Vancouver are not
necessarily unique to diversity issues. Notions of a communication-
rich mainstream and a communication-poor remainder proved unfounded.
Simply put, the City needs to have its messages clearly outlined
first in English before it can successfully deliver those messages to
all its diverse communities.
- Residents are ill-informed about what their City government is
responsible for, and what it is NOT responsible for. The most basic
information about the City is hard to come by. Newcomers, whether
from abroad or another Canadian city, lack essential information.
- The City sends confusing messages. A weak and wildly inconsistent
visual identity fails to graphically connect services rendered with
taxes paid.
- Citizens need to feel they are welcome to City facilities, and
welcome to participate in the decisions that are made there. City
Hall, the symbol of government, must appear to be more accessible in
terms of signage and general welcoming nature.
- There is a need to maximize the use of existing community and staff
skills and resources in communicating with Vancouver's diverse
communities.
- The City needs to know how it is covered in all major news media.
This is true of mainstream and ethnic media.
The Diversity Communications Project and an overall communications
strategy are completely interdependent. The main ideas of the project
have been incorporated into this report. These include signage and
other visual identity issues, tours, staff and customer access to
information, and the need to put a human face on City Hall. (A complete
listing of ideas generated by the project is included in Appendix A of
this report.)
A key recommendation of the project was the need for a diversity
communications specialist. This was achieved when the then-Director of
Social Planning agreed to second a multicultural social planner to
Citywide communication needs on a part-time basis for a period of 18
months. Thereafter, an evaluation will be made about the need for an
ongoing arrangement.
Another key need identified during the project an information display
suitable for fairs, schools and other public venues has already been
produced in a joint effort by the Communications Division, the Planning
Graphics group and the Social Planning Department.
DISCUSSION
Communications Strategy
The following discussion outlines five core components of a
communications strategy for the City of Vancouver. It reports on what
has been accomplished, and recommends what still needs to be done. It
is worth noting that, for the most part, these components did not exist
in any centralized way before the Communications Division was
established in mid-1993.
These five components of the strategy form the core responsibilities of
the Communications Division to support Council's five Communications
Objectives.
These are the five core components of the strategy:
1. Advertising
2. Media Relations
3. External Communications
4. Internal Communications
5. New Communication Technologies
These activities support Council s Communications Objectives in a
coordinated, concerted and cost-effective manner. By centralizing
communications activities:
- Messages gain power from consistency and repetition
- The source of messages is clear. Residents know what services the
City provides (and does NOT provide). Residents know how to access
services.
- Communications expertise is concentrated, and made available to
departments and boards. This frees departments to concentrate on
core business.
- Employees in a large, diverse organization are given the opportunity
to communicate over issues of corporate importance, such as the
Better City Government initiatives;
- There is a greater impact than the sum of component parts, so that
synergies occur:
- advertising messages are elaborated and repeated in news releases;
- messages about the City's Internet and Faxback services appear on
newspaper advertising; and
- successful strategies are shared corporately, and do not need to be
re-invented.
The Division is represented on core groups that co-ordinate such
initiatives as the Better City Government process and the Civic Youth
Strategy. In the past, the Division has had similar involvement with
such projects as the Large Events review, the Casino review, CityPlan,
and emergency preparedness.
With the help of staff representatives of the Diversity Communica-tions
Project, the Communications Division will work with City departments to
create individual communications plans. These plans will help
departments identify key messages and communications activities to
support core businesses objectives and customer service initiatives.
In detail, here are the activities that have supported a City
communications strategy, and here is what still needs to be done.
1. Advertising
The Division established an in-house advertising agency on January 1,
1995. This has had numerous benefits:
- City ads now have greater visual impact and consistency. From April,
1994 to the present, more than 200 ads were written and laid out
using a new design that gives greater visibility and visual appeal to
City advertising.
- The City's advertising now reaches a more diverse audience, as
advertising dollars are now redirected from an over-reliance on
mainstream media to more cost-effective community and ethnic outlets.
This mirrors news coverage of the City, which is more intense in
community and ethnic news media.
- Agency commission fees no longer go to an external agency. Immediate
annual savings $12,000.
- Re-directed Public Hearing ads to community and ethnic news media,
improving notification to residents. Estimated annual savings
approximately $23,000.
- Two types of Engineering ads were directed to cheaper, more effective
media. Annual savings $16,500.
- One Finance Department ad was directed to community and ethnic media.
Annual savings $6,000.
- Some Human Resources career ads are now placed in a category at one-
third the cost of traditional placements. Career advertis-ing
represents a significant volume of City advertising, and the new
design creates a more positive image for the City in high-profile,
daily newspaper advertisements.
- Because of the Division's media relations activities, opportunities
to co-ordinate and leverage communications activities are enhanced.
2. Media Relations
The Division has enhanced the City's relations with community and ethnic
media by becoming a central contact point for news media. It produces,
on average, two highly recognizable news releases per week for
departments. The Division also maintains media contact lists, answers
media queries, co-ordinates interviews with appropriate officials, and
produces a weekly events calendar and fact sheets.
The Social Planning diversity communications resource will enhance the
City's relations with ethnic news media. A strong thread throughout the
Diversity Communications project is the City's need to listen to its
communities' views. Accordingly, this report proposes the City contract
for ethnic media monitoring services.
3. External Communications
In addition to advertising and indirect communication via the new media,
the City also communicates directly with residents in a variety of ways
that are carried out by the Communications Division:
- CityNews: Traditionally, a newsletter from the City was delivered to
property owners with tax notices two times a year. The four-page
newsletter was essentially given a free distribu-tion by being
delivered in envelopes with tax information. The only cost was
printing, about $13,000 per year.
The newsletters of July, 1994 and January 1995 were doubled in size,
nearly doubled in distribution by being delivered to all residents,
and given professional writing and design treatment. The annual cost
of the method was $62,600. (Higher paper costs, along with page
size, copies to be delivered, and professional design, contribute to
the higher costs.)
In December, 1994, Council instructed the Division to survey
residents to determine if this delivery method was cost- effective
and to explore alternative methods.
MarkTrend Market Research Inc. was hired to perform the survey
(results on file in the City Clerk's Office). The Communica-tions
Division has concluded as a result of the survey that the method of
distribution is too costly for the results obtained. Accordingly, the
Division recommends that the City return to the previous method of
distribution with tax notices at an annual cost of $19,000 per year,
with $9,500 required for 1995.
- CITYweek a weekly calendar of events and public meetings faxed to
190 locations and posted on the Internet.
- Information on Departments and Boards is a 100-page volume on what
the City does and how it is organized to do it. This guide to City
government is the most complete source available for new employees
(as well as new members of Council), news media, educational
institutions and libraries. Funding is uncertain at present, and
this report asks for approval of $2,500 in annual funding for
updating and reprinting, and it seeks this amount for 1995 also.
- The Division offers content, editing and graphics advice to
departments on a wide variety of external communications vehicles,
including brochures, notifications and newsletters.
- The Division acts as a resource for translations and inter-preters.
To further help the City to communicate with its diverse popula-tion,
the following enhancements to the City's external communica-tions are
requested:
A. Visual Identity
The City's visual identity is seen on business cards, letterhead,
buildings, advertisements, vehicles and myriad documents. The current
symbol is a traditional heraldic crest. The fine detail of the crest is
ill-suited to the demands of high visibility, varied reproduction and
symbolic description of a large, complex corporation serving a highly
diverse workforce and community.
Compounding the weak identity is an absence of usage standards that
would bring strength through repetition and consistency.
A new visual identity, along with a well-defined system of use, is
required. Creation of new identity would not preclude retaining the
traditional crest. Indeed, some cities (Toronto, for example) use the
traditional crest for official and ceremonial purposes, but use a more
modern and meaningful logo for all other business applications. A new
identity would require Council and staff participation with the
assistance of professional design resources.
There are cost-saving implications to standardizing identity usage:
staff resources are not devoted to executing unprofessional and
individualized identity exercises; and the City's print shop can realize
economies of scale through standardized applications.
The City's Corporate Management Team has agreed with this direction.
Source of funds for this program would be the 1995 Strategic Initiatives
Fund. This report asks for Council approval to proceed with a new
identity program, but with execution contingent on Council approval.
B. Signage
Signage for City buildings is an issue closely related to visual
identity. The Diversity Communications Project identified severe
deficiencies in signage at City Hall and other civic buildings. A sum
of $25,000 will be allocated from 1995 Capital Budgets to fund a signage
program. A report will be forthcoming from the Manager of Facilities
Development.
C. Brochure
Vancouver, unlike most large cities, does not have a comprehensive,
user-friendly and concise brochure that gives a quick overview of City
services, key contacts and other essential information. This is
information particularly useful to newcomers. This report seeks 1996
funding of $20,000, with ongoing annual funding of $8,000 for updates
and reprints.
D. Multilingual Telephone Lines
CityPlan instituted a number of telephone lines for non-English-speaking
residents. This report proposes that these lines be retained for
communicating important information to a variety of non-English-speaking
communities. This report recommends funding of $4,000 per year to
support the lines.
E. Information Programs
To broaden to all residents the communication that taxpayers
receive, this report proposes a sum of $10,000 annually for widespread
information programs (e.g., advertising, broadcasting, etc.).
F. City Hall Tours
Tours of City Hall were a high priority with the Diversity
Communications Project as a way to put a human face to municipal
government. At present, tours occur on an ad hoc basis. They are not
publicized, not co-ordinated well with the community, nor part of an
overall strategy to welcome residents to their City Hall. The Division,
with other City Clerk's department staff, would organize and co-ordinate
tours of City Hall. An outreach program would work with communities to
train volunteers and publicize the tours. A sum of money to create a
tour program, train volunteers and cover other expenses will be
requested in 1997.
G. Video
The Diversity Communications Project repeatedly pointed out the need for
a video that can give audiences a good overview of what the City does,
and that can be translated into various languages, with community
assistance. Funding for the video, approximately $15,000, will be
requested in 1998.
4. Internal Communications
Knowledge of a "big picture" gives employees a sense they are part of a
team doing important work. The Division is engaged in a number of
communications activities, including:
- CityLink the quarterly newsletter for all City employees.
- Work with the Corporate Management Team to create communication
planning around Council's Better City Government initiatives and
created staff communication vehicles. The Communications Advisor
sits on the Better City Government interdepartmental coordinating
group.
- Acting as a resource for staff training classes on language usage,
and an ongoing resource for design and language usage to departments
and boards.
- Making A Difference the division worked with a creative team to
develop the City's new-employee orientation video.
- Various consultations on writing and editing skills.
- Labour relations communications.
5. New Communications Technologies
The City's new and growing use of technologies such as the Internet and
Faxback is consistent with all five of Council's communication
objectives. These communications tools are treated as a separate
category now, but in the future they will be more seamlessly integrated
into the City's core communications activities.
The City is recognized as a national leader in using the Internet to
communicate with residents. We are now sharing an increasing and
increasingly user-friendly amount of information with residents and
staff. The Internet is a key communication enabler
for the City's Integrated Service
Delivery initiative. Future developments hold great promise in a number
of areas, including marketing, public access to databases, consensus-
building on major issues, intergovernmental communications, and various
forms of electronic commerce such as procurement and remote payment of
fees.
The Division has taken a leadership role in the City with regard to the
Internet. It has:
- acted as an Internet mentor and champion within City govern-ment;
- created, with Information Services, the City s presence on the
Internet with a World Wide Web home page;
- been responsible for content development and provided co-ordination
at a corporate level;
- begun work on developing standards and policies for departments and
boards; and
- is working closely with Information Services on the development of
the City's own Internet service for staff and public access.
Faxback: The division has been working with Information Services on
Faxback, a system that provides automated faxing of documents to the
public upon request.
This report asks for an annual sum of $2,000 for the Communications
Division for Internet-related expenses, including software, training,
etc.
REQUIREMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION
The Communications Division requires adequate resources to carry out the
City's communications strategy. Thus far, the Communica-tions Division
operates on an annual budget of $115,200.
Why the discrepancy between existing funding and the amount identified
as required in this report? The Division has established a corporate
communications function where none previously existed, and where funding
needs were unknown. Existing funding has come from historic economies
realized in the City Clerk's Department. There has been no
corresponding corporate commitment of support, although the need for
good communications consistently rates highly in Council and corporate
priorities.
Two staff changes are requested:
1. Establishment of a Regular, Full-time Communications
Co-ordinator Position in the Communications Division.
A communications specialist has been in an acting capacity, using
funding originally earmarked for a Clerk Steno II position. The
remainder of funding to support the position (informally called
Communications Co-ordinator) has come on an ad hoc basis from
funding for a position in the City Clerk s department due for
elimination as a result of the 1994 Budget Management Program.
To achieve this, the Clerk Steno II position originally funded
for the Division needs to be abolished, and the new position of
Communications Co-ordinator established.
The Co-ordinator would assist the Communications Advisor with a
range of duties, including operation of the City advertising
agency, writing, editing, desktop publishing, communications
planning, and media relations. The Co-ordinator position must
have facility in dealing with senior management in a corporate
and political environment, and be able to act in the absence of
the Communications Advisor.
This report asks for additional annual funding of $34,300 to
convert the position, with $4,900 required for 1995.
2. Graphics resource
A graphics position dedicated to corporate communication needs is
required in the Communications Division. This position will
assist in enhancing the City's image in advertising, publication
design, signage and other areas, including the Internet and
Faxback.
This person will free up the Advisor and Co-ordinator to
concentrate more fully on a variety of communication planning
activities, including departmental planning exercises, diversity
communications enhancements, pursuit of new technologies, and so
on. Currently, these two positions are devoting too much time to
hands-on work that could be done by a dedicated graphics
resource. The graphics resource would be required to assist with
some of the Division's clerical work, particularly in support of
the advertis-ing agency function.
A graphics resource, acting at the direction of the
Communications Advisor, would work with the design consultant
chosen for the City identity program to help create and maintain
visual standards across City departments and boards.
Long-term, the City's needs may be best served by a
rationalization of the graphics resources currently residing in
City departments. Similarly, a closer co-ordination with the
City's print shop and the Division may better serve corporate
interests.
However, the immediate need for the graphics resource in the
Division cannot await resolution of organizational issues, which
the General manager of Community Services estimates may take a
year or more. This report requests funding of $42,000 per year
for this resource, with $7,000 for 1995.
Ongoing clerical support is currently being provided by the City
Clerk's Department.
There are two further budget items required to support the
Communications Division:
1. Office Budget
Items include office supplies, repairs, publications, couriers,
printing, equipment rental, etc. This report requests annual
funding of $3,500.
New and Non-recurring funding for hardware and software upgrades
of $4,400 is also requested. Due to the division's intensive use
of desktop and Internet publishing tools, it is anticipated that
similar annual funding will be required for these items.
2. Consultant Costs
These include corporate writing, editing, design and translation
over and above that which can be provided by the division.
Design and writing resources are limited in the City and often
not available within an appropriate time frame for projects
requiring them. A dedicated budget would replace the existing
system of seeking funding from departments and boards on an ad
hoc basis. Seeking ad hoc funding means that frequently more
division time is spent finding resources than is spent on the
actual project. This report requests an annual consultants
budget of $10,000
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The initiatives proposed in this report form an extensive plan
covering a four-year period from 1995 to 1998, and have the full
support of the Corporate Management Team. For funding purposes,
this report will deal with the funding requirements for on-going
operating and one-time items in 1995 and 1996. The remaining
programs proposed for 1996, 1997 and 1998 will be addressed in
future reports to Council when the funding issue is clarified.
A. On-going Operating Costs - 1996 Requirement
Recommendation B1 -
Communication Coordinator position $64,400
Recommendation C -
Temporary graphic support $42,000
Information on Departments
and Boards 2,500
Media Monitoring 1,500
Internet 2,000
Multilingual Lines 4,000
Consulting 10,000
City News 19,000
Office Supplies & Services 8,000
Information Programs 10,000
99,000
Recommendation E -
City Information Brochure
(the ongoing cost, starting
1997, is $8,000) 20,000
$183,400
Source of funds
- Elimination of Clerk
Typist II position $35,100
- Transfer of funds from
Revenue and Treasury to
partially fund CityNews 12,400
47,500
Additional funds required $135,900
The expanded program is aimed at furthering the City's Communica-
tion Objectives and will benefit the City as a whole. As
detailed in the report, the City's advertising expenditure has
been reduced by approximately $58,000 since 1993, with a number
of changes initiated by the Communication Division. The
"savings", if captured, could be used to partially fund the
expanded program. However, as the advertising expenditure level
fluctuates from one year to the other depending on the activity
level, it would be difficult to identify and reallocation the
savings.
To resolve the funding issue, it is proposed that the additional
costs of $135,900 be funded from within the City's existing
operating budget, with offset to be provided by a corresponding
reduction to departments. This will have the effect of pro-
rating the additional cost to the departments based on the size
of their current budget, and departments will have to make the
appropriate adjustments to free up the required funds for this
program. The actual impact to individual departments will be
determined in the 1996 Operating Budget process.
The 1995 portion of the cost is estimated to be $23,900, with the
source of funds to be Contingency Reserve.
B. One-time Cost
Recommendation "F" deals with the establishment of a City Visual
Identity Program at a cost of $60,000 to be implemented in 1996.
This is a new corporate initiative and the appropriate source of
funds is the Strategic Initiative Fund.
CONCLUSION
This report proposes a communication strategy for the City. If
approved, the strategy will enable staff to advance Council's
objective of involving all Vancouver residents in their city
government.
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