By Roy Wood, Special to the Times Chronicle 

After a more than two-year delay, Osoyoos council has approved a beefed-up corporate communications strategy, including hiring a full-time communications coordinator for the town.

In a report to council’s committee of the whole this week, corporate services director Marg Coulson described communication with the community as “a fundamental element of building and sustaining good relations” with the community.

In recent years, she wrote, the town has used a suite of communication tools and has “added several valuable new methods of communication and engagement.” The administration is now ready to appoint a “corporate communications administrative coordinator” to continue moving forward.

The coordinator has been on council’s radar since July 2023, when it voted to include the position in budget talks. In September 2023 council OK’d a $100,000 item for the 2024 budget.

A short time later, a local taxpayer firestorm erupted over drastically increased utility charges in the town. As part of the resulting effort to ease the overall taxation impact on residents, council voted to reduce the budgeted amount for the coordinator to $50,000 by taking money from elsewhere in the budget.

Nothing was done to hire the coordinator.

“It is recognized that significant time has elapsed since council’s resolutions,” wrote Coulson, “… however senior staff vacancies and secondments have prevented a report back to council until this time.”

Following Tuesday’s approval, Coulson told Councillor Jim King, staff “could have the posting up tomorrow.”

According to the job description approved Tuesday, the coordinator is a non-union position with a salary range between about $68,000 and $80,000.

Duties listed in the job description include:

  • Works with department heads and other staff to develop and distribute internal and external communications such as resident notices, press releases, presentations, reports, brochures and more;
  • Supports public engagement activities;
  • Maintains the town website and social media platforms;
  • Assists in completion of various reports;
  • Develops and maintains contacts lists, stock photos, archives and stakeholder engagement records;
  • Monitors news media and advises staff on impact of media coverage;
  • Acts as intermediary to arrange interaction between staff and media; and
  • Develops and maintains corporate branding programs.

Councillor Johnny Cheong asked Coulson whether the coordinator would be responsible for communication with other groups, like the chamber of commerce.

She responded that such interactions would be above the coordinator’s pay grade as an “administrative” employee and would likely fall to department heads or other more senior staff.

Coulson’s report said the town has been employing a “basic range of communication tools” to put out information, including the town’s website, E-news emails, newspaper and radio ads and video of council meetings.

To get information from residents and others, the town relies on people walking into the town offices, emails or letters, online surveys and delegations to meetings and public hearings.

The report outlined several new tools that have recently been put in place, including:

  • Two portable message signs placed at entrances to town to welcome visitors and disseminate useful information;
  • An expanded and enhanced online survey program;
  • A subscription to Voyent Alert, which allows visitors to plug into the town’s communication services while they are in town; and
  • An application has been made for a large LED colour screen at the Highway 3 and 97 intersection that would provide “vibrant, eye-catching pictures and messaging promoting tourism, local economic development initiatives, and community events.”

Several initiatives are planned and intended to be part of the new coordinator’s tasks. They include:

  • A town Facebook page;
  • More surveys seeking public input on a variety of subjects. “For instance, a survey to gather baseline feedback on the Town’s communications will be offered, then repeated in 2026 as one measure of gauging effectiveness of the new communications tools;” and
  • An expanded website.

The resolution passed by council on Tuesday includes a provision “that the improved effectiveness of the corporate communications activities be measured and reported to Council in Corporate Communications’ quarterly rep that the corporate communications.”