Cindy Aubrey
Two employees in the city’s Communications Department were shown the door Friday.
John Leavitt, a well-respected city spokesman who routinely handled open-records requests, and Bill Beagle, the go-to guy for all things SpringsTV, were let go “as part of the organization-wide efforts to pursue efficiencies wherever possible,” Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey said Monday in an email.
“I want to stress that these were budgetary, not performance, decisions,” she said.
Aubrey’s explanation raises more questions since the city budget was approved in December and she hired Laura Benjamin, who volunteered on Mayor Steve Bach’s mayoral campaign, at the end of November.
“Laura has a different skill set and knowledge which she brings to the department,” Aubrey wrote in a follow-up email.
Aubrey also said some programming on SpringsTV Channel 18 will be eliminated.
“Springs TV will continue on – with additional replays of City Council and Planning meetings. We will however, no longer be producing City vignettes about parks, streets etc.” she wrote.
“We will help City Council upon request for any needs they may have,” Aubrey added.
So, who’s left in the Communications Department and what do they do?
Here are the names and titles of who works there now:
Cindy Aubrey – Chief Communications Officer
Mary Scott – Public Communications Specialist I
Julie Smith – Public Communications Specialist II
Laura Benjamin – Public Communications Specialist II
Dee Brown – Public Communications Specialist II
Mary Webb – Communications Admin
Aubrey provided a job description for each employee.
“I am currently rewriting my job description – and will be absorbing some of John’s duties,” she wrote.
Here are their job descriptions:
Laura Benjamin – Communications Specialist
Key Responsibilities:
Produce online communication and news for the City and the Mayor’s Office which includes:
Writing summations for newsfeed, announcements, social media posts, press releases and citizen responses
Act as the primary web content producer as well as web facilities person for communications
Additional Communication Duties:
Daily releases as assigned by CCO
Develop strong, ongoing relationships with media
Respond to media queries with the use of established messaging
Attend events with the Mayor and City personnel, take pictures and update the public with details.
Public speaking on behalf of the City/Mayor
Assist City Council when needed or asked with communication needs
Provide speaker training and media assistance for all staff upon request
Mary Scott – Communications Specialist
Key Responsibilities:
Daily media releases for assigned departments or as assigned by CCO
Assist Donna Nelson with all things Spirit of the Springs
Organize Spirit of the Springs events- including marketing and publicity
Produce employee profiles for Springs TV
Research and present positive media coverage
Oversee E-Town Hall Meetings
Oversee and direct employee communications
Act as liaison between US Pro Cycling Challenge and City
Media Relations
Develop strong, ongoing relationships with media. This includes quickly responding to journalist requests for stories etc.
Reaching out to beat reporters, assignment editors and news directors to pitch positive City stories
Internal / Employee Communication
Producing content for the Intranet
Answer questions for employees
Determine the best way to proactively communicate information and processes to department and City employees, employee meetings, brown bag lunches.
Julie Smith – Communications Specialist
Key Responsibilities:
Daily releases for assigned departments or as assigned by CCO
Working to find positive stories to tell about City efforts and the community.
Searching the city (media and any outlets available) for Spirit of the Springs’ candidates to celebrate and recognize.
Working with the Sister Cities Board, write all press releases and act as liaison between the City and the SC board.
Greener Corners
Work as a liaison with Nick Kittle to broaden the Greener Corners for the City.
Press Releases
Daily releases for assigned departments or as assigned by CCO
External Marketing
Assist in marketing efforts for the City.
Graphic Design
Assist all in City who request graphic design from Communications
Dee Brown – Communications Specialist
Key Responsibilities:
Operate cameras for all public meeting tapings and broadcasts including, but not limited to all City Council, formal and informal, Planning Commission,
Answer or direct all citizen remarks/complaints that are directed to City Communications
Act as a back- up editor and videographer for Springs TV
Event Planning
Assist in Event Planning & Implementation: Planning and implementing any events, including Spirit of the Springs, Solution Team events, Town Hall meetings or other events managed through the Mayor’s office.
Mary Webb – Administrative Assistant
Key Responsibilities:
Answer phones
Answer phone in department and forward all media calls to appropriate person.
Communications Budget / Contract Manager
Cindy & Dept Scheduler
Event Planning & Implementation: Assist in planning and implementing any events, including Spirit of the Springs, Solution Team events, Town Hall meetings or other events managed through the Mayor’s office.
Media Relations
Writing External & Internal Communication: Writing thank you notes, letters,
e-mails; responding to citizen and employee queries or complaints, etc.; and ensuring all written communication is on message.
So two veteran and well-respected employees were laid off for “budgetary reasons”, after the budget providing for their salaries was already approved.
And yet another person–a new person, who happened to be part of the mayor’s election effort–was hired a couple of months ago.
This is so peculiar that even the Gazette–whom you would expect to seek some level of working relationship–was compelled to comment. I don’t know what is going on here, but it does not pass the sniff test.
John Leavitt was a well-respected city spokesman and continues to be a well-respected guy.
A good, solid worker who happens to be very funny and a loyal friend to those lucky enough to know him.
John: I worked with you in a different organization and the head of that department (Mrs. Burns) was also crazy (and a fool) for not understanding how things should be done and letting you get away–even though you were awesome at your job.
This looks like another example where ego, power-playing and empire-building got in the way of common sense.
I’m praying for you and hoping you the best. You were too good for these people anyway…
Hey! I also worked with John Leavitt in his former crazy department–long before he got this most recent city job.
That department head from the old days really was out of touch and crazy in her quest for power. (For the record, she’s still out of touch with what’s happening in the modern world.)
Sounds like the same situation happened again.
John, buddy, you gotta stay away from these petty political environments and do your own thing.
You’re a classy guy. I know you’ll rise above it all and take care of your family.
I’m not that classy, so I’ll curse at them all for you!
Good luck on your journey back to mental wellness after all of this crazy nonsense. You’ll find something better. And healthier.
What a bunch of crap!
I’m sorry for all who lost their jobs and I hope they and their families turn out ok.
So the two dudes were fired, leaving only women in the department. Curious.
Wow. This is fascinating on so many levels.
As a former employee of this once-proud department I feel that I can speak with particular authority about this outrageous situation.
Bill and John are my former colleagues and friends. And while this news is disheartening for their immediate financial needs I’m certain it’s much more a liberation than anything else. Liberation from a broken organization and a nepotistic mayor, who, in several short months, has gutted the City of many of its best people and replaced them with cronies.
Three points that stand out for me:
- First, though I’m certain Ms. Benjamin is a lovely and competent individual she’s clearly the recipient of political favor. This is hard to refute. All her duties were covered by other members of the department before her arrival. There was not an open position or a need before Bach’s arrival. He instructed Aubrey to hire her and there she is.
- Second, a television channel does not run itself. I should know. Looking after SpringsTV used to be my job…and Bill’s…and a third person’s as well. It took all three of us plus the help of other staff members like John Leavitt. There’s a lot of technological infrastructure that goes into running even a small channel. Most of that infrastructure is over a decade old and constantly breaking down. And despite what pencil-pushing suits would like to think, keeping it all running is not the type of work just anyone can do. It’s highly technical and requires a lot in training, experience and ingenuity to overcome problems. The kind of skills Bill Beagle has in spades. Without him I foresee a lot of expensive emergency call-outs to LVW Electronics to patch-up the dusty and decrepit system.
Well, the fact of the equipment’s age was not lost on Aubrey and the mayor. They did something about it! They recently spent $22,000,000 to buy two new high-definition field video cameras and accessories. I guess that’s okay. One camera was certainly needed. The last camera was purchased in 2004. I know because I bought it.
But there’s something funny about this. Those cameras are field production cameras. Not cameras to cover City meetings. They’re the kind of cameras to produce the very kind of programming that Aubrey says the City will no longer be producing. Meanwhile, the infrastructure to broadcast meetings continues to age and fall apart. Is that money well spent?
And finally, eliminating Bill Beagle’s salary shouldn’t save the City any money at all. That’s because he should have been paid out of what’s known as the PEG Cable Grant. That’s money that is collected in cable subscriber fees by Comcast and passed on to the City, the school districts, UCCS and Pikes Peak Community College. This money is meant to be dog-eared to pay for the employees and operation of cable access channels. In theory, based on the Cable Grant agreement with Comcast, SpringsTV should cost the taxpayers nothing.
The city is receiving much more money from the PEG Cable Grant than is actually being put into SpringsTV. So where’s it at? It’s grey money. Where’s it going? My guess is it’s going to fund the installation of Bach’s cronies in positions with undetectable revenue.
John and Bill – as someone who also used to work with you (different dept), thank you for all your hard work and more importantly your good work. And thanks, Joel, for pointing out a key point – the cable grant that covered Bill’s salary and the expenses of SpringsTV. Letting him go didn’t save the general fund budget any money. I suspect we will see outsourcing of this work at a greater cost, which is typically the case (as well as some offloading of their duties onto the remaining staff that are so overburdened now). There are not enough communications staff people to help the City staff get information out, especially on the web, which is a time saver to the organization as citizens could find a lot more info, answers, services online if the City only had adequate support to do so. Now it appears it will be even worse with two less staff people. Best of luck to you both – you will be missed personally and professionally.
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[...]City sends two communications workers packing – City Desk : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO[...]…
Correction to my previous post. The purchase of camera equipment was $22,000. Not $22,000,000.
Connect the dots. Had to make budget cuts somewhere to fund all his new positions since Council didn’t give him his contingency money. Follow the money.
Oh give me a break everybody. This is the 4th time John has been canned from a PR position in the city in the last decade. PRACO, D-11, Memorial and now the city. Noticing a pattern?
But I’m sure it’s just that all 4 of his bosses were “crazy” and “fools”. Or maybe, just maybe the problem’s with the employee and not the management folks. He may be the nicest guy in the world. But clearly there’s issues there.
And to “Afriendfromjohnsolddepartment” – if you’re so sure of your position that you’re willing to hurl insults, perhaps you should be confident enough to use your real name instead of being an “anonymous poster”. If not, you’ve lost all credibility.
Wow, this seems to be a very large communications department for a city the size of Colorado Springs. When you take a close look at the job descriptions, there really is not enough work to keep each employee busy for 40 hours a week. How do those in charge justify such a large department?
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[...]City sends two communications workers packing – City Desk : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO[...]…
[...] months after two employees in the Communications Department were sent packing for “budgetary” reasons, the city says it is hiring a senior public communications specialist in that [...]