City communications staff outline crisis-response workflow, tighten media strategy and recommend website vendor

Sam told council the city's communications team has become more strategic about media engagement, saying staff will accept interview requests when the city wants to "be the face of" an issue and decline when it does not. He used recent reporting about immigration enforcement as an example of situations where reporters attempt to draw local officials into divisive coverage.

Sam walked members through the crisis‑communications workflow used during last year's West Fest incident: chiefs report facts to emergency staff (EFO), EFO notifies council, investigators provide detail to Roxanne on Sam's team, and the communications group stages media coordination, social media monitoring and resident messaging. Sam emphasized getting verified information to residents first through city channels before broader media distribution.

On branding and digital presence, Sam said the city received 58 vendor submittals in response to a website RFP and will present a recommended vendor to council at the next meeting. He set a target date of Oct. 1 for the new site to go live, citing plans to add improved search and AI capabilities. Sam noted cost variation among proposals, including a high outlier he described as about $15 million.

Council and staff discussed internal notification preferences (GroupMe, email and text were mentioned) and Sam offered to tailor distribution. Sam also requested that council members refer reporters to communications staff when they are not able to respond directly.

What happens next: staff will present the website vendor recommendation to council and finalize communications protocols for upcoming high-profile events and operations.