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Twitter not so tweet after all, city says

February 23rd, 2012, 5:55 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach has made a big deal out of using social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to communicate with Colorado Springs residents.

When he announced a town hall meeting for Wednesday night, Springs resident Justin Burns went on the mayor’s Facebook page and suggested that Twitter would be “a great Q & A tool” to use for the event.

At least 200 million people actively use Twitter.

“Thank you Justin, that’s a great idea,” was the response.

But the mayor’s Communications Office didn’t chirp a single tweet.

The Gazette asked Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey how many of her employees were at the town hall meeting and why no one — including a recent addition with supposed social media expertise — didn’t tweet from the event.

Here’s her response:

For the Town Hall meeting, we had John Leavitt, Mary Scott, Laura Benjamin, Julie Smith, Bill Beagle and myself.

John – Front door greeter and usher – helped with set up.

Julie  – Videographer – helped with set up.

Bill – Videographer

Laura – Collected questions, took pictures and co-emceed with Steve Cox – also helped with set up

Mary – Took notes to write a summary for Q & A – to get something posted today for those who were unable to attend

Cindy – Event producer

Given the hour and the event, was not sure how large of an audience we would have on Twitter.  I have to think about return on investment.  I have included an article about Twitter time – and listened to panel of three Twitter uber users today – they all concur that 8-5 is prime time.  We will discuss and even post a poll to determine if we should have someone tweeting at all events – or if resources should be allocated differently.  This was our first Town Hall, so we learned from it.  Our goal is to provide excellent customer service always.  If enough of our citizens would like to get tweets, we will provide.   http://pinterest.com/pin/270286415106330645/

Cindy

Posted in: City Administration • City employees • Meetings • • • • • • • | 8 Comments »

Urban Renewal ‘welcomes’ probe of finances

February 16th, 2012, 9:38 am by

Even though the problems at the Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority have been widely reported, The Gazette asked the Bach administration yesterday to explain why it was inspecting the authority’s financial records.

Cindy Aubrey, who is Mayor Steve Bach’s chief communications officer, provided the following statement:

“The Urban Renewal Authority Board asked the City for a line of credit last fall – they wanted a loan from the general fund to cover expenses. The City initially understood that the Urban Renewal Authority was seeking an excessive amount of money for the Ivywild development project.  The Mayor intervened.  Urban Renewal Authority recently announced that they defaulted on money they borrowed for the North Nevada redevelopment project. The Mayor thinks it is appropriate to take a look at the Urban Renewal Authority.  The Mayor “shall have charge and supervision over all accounts and records of the City, and all boards or groups required to keep or make accounts.and may inspect or cause to be inspected all records or accounts required to be kept in any of the offices or departments of the City, and cause proper accounts and records to be kept and proper reports to be made.”

The statement apparently reached a wide audience.

Today, City Council President Scott Hente issued a rebuttal of sorts.

Here’s what Hente wrote:

Scott Hente

All,

Please allow me to comment on a couple of things:

1) The CSURA has always been totally transparent with its bookkeeping, financial reports, and audits.  All of those items have always been discussed in open session, with the media sometimes present, and are referred to in the agendas and minutes, which can be found at its web site http://www.csurbanrenewal.org.  The CSURA welcomes the opportunity for any agency to take a look at its financial records and will work constructively and cooperatively with the Mayor’s office and provide any information they may request.  As an aside, the CSURA’s annual audit, to be conducted by the locally respected accounting firm of BiggsKofford, is due to begin later this month.  As has always been the case, that audit report will be a matter of public record.

2) There never was a proposal to seek “an excessive amount of money for the Ivywild development project”.  There was an initial pro forma, which was basically a mathematical exercise, to ascertain the feasibility of whether tax increment financing would be a viable option.  The numbers used in that pro forma were for analysis purposes only and were never vetted, discussed, or approved by the CSURA Board.  The Ivywild Urban Renewal Area will prove to be an outstanding urban renewal project and will be an economic driver for that part of town.

As always, please do no hesitate to contact me with any additional questions you may have.

Scott

 

Posted in: City Administration • City Council • Politics • • • • | 7 Comments »

Mayor and his wife celebrate 28 years of marriage

February 10th, 2012, 1:53 pm by

Congratulations are in order for Mayor Steve Bach and his wife, Suzi.

Mr. and Mrs. Bach are celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary.

“The Mayor is taking some personal time,” Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey said an email.

But Bach has been “staying close in touch with his office,” she said

Bach and his wife are out of town, but Aubrey said she didn’t know exactly where.

“It’s pretty close to home,” she said in a telephone interview.

Wherever it is, congrats!

Posted in: City Administration • People • • • | 3 Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 9th, 2012, 2:41 pm by

Is the Bach administration trying to dissuade reporters from filing open-records requests?

The mayor’s Communications Office, led by former TV news director Cindy Aubrey, has been sharing open-records requests filed by one media outlet with every news organization in town for about the past month.

It’s happened to The Gazette twice and to the Independent once so far.

“It smells of punitive action,” Al Tompkins, senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute for journalism in St. Petersburg, Fla., told the Indy.

Some City Council members can relate.

“I share your and Daniel’s frustration with the difficulty of getting information from the executive branch of the Colorado Springs city government.  As we work through this new form of government, Council members have occasionally been the last to know some information and, on more than one occasion, we find out something either in the media or when a media person calls us asking for a comment,” Councilman Bernie Herpin said in an email to the Independent’s J. Adrian Stanley and The Gazette.

Mayor Steve Bach, in case you’ve forgotten, pledged transparency when he was running for office.

 

Posted in: City Administration • City Council • Colorado Open Records Act • Transparency • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 2nd, 2012, 3:41 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach, who pledged transparency when he was running for office, held a closed-door meeting Thursday with regional leaders in what is being called the Pikes Peak Region Mayors Caucus.

Bach said he got the idea after attending the Denver Metro Mayors Caucus.

Unlike Bach’s meeting, however, officials in Denver aren’t afraid to let the sunshine in.

Catherine Kearney Marinelli, principal of Civic Results and the director of policy and programs for the Denver Metro Mayors Caucus, said Denver’s meetings are open to the public.

“We often have a number of people sitting around the outskirts of the table. Only mayors sit at the table because it’s really intended to be an opportunity for them to have a dialogue about whatever pressing issues they’ve decided to address on the agenda. But we do have visitors in the room quite often and sometimes members of the press.”

So, will future meetings be open to the public?

The answer is maybe yes, maybe no.

Here’s what Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey said in an email:

“In the press release you will see that this was a “get acquainted” meeting with the mayors from around the region.  In the meeting, they had a discussion about whether or not this was going to be a useful, productive get together.  Mayor Bach, having attended the Denver Metro Mayor’s Caucus, thought that this same kind of gathering could be a good idea for our region.

After the group discusses the format, whether or not they will be public and the frequency of the meetings, I will let you know.  This is a brand new idea for our region – still working out all of the details.”

Posted in: City Administration • Meetings • Transparency • • • • | 8 Comments »

Bach and other regional leaders want to meet with Hickenlooper

February 2nd, 2012, 1:54 pm by

Mayor Steve Bach and El Paso County Commission Chair Amy Lathen

On the campaign trail, Mayor Steve Bach pledged to build regional collaboration.

On Thursday, the mayor made a big step toward achieving his promise by organizing what is being called the first Pikes Peak Region Mayors Caucus.

The group, which met for the first time this morning, plans to request a meeting with Gov. John Hickenlooper in the near future to talk about issues facing the Pikes Peak region.

Bach’s Communications Office announced this afternoon that Bach had met behind closed doors with other regional officials and that they planned to request a meeting with the governor.

Despite the name — Pikes Peak Region Mayors Caucus — El Paso County Commission Chair Amy Lathen an Teller County Commission Chair Jim Ignatius also attended the meeting.

“Mayor Bach decided to organize this group as a direct result of attending the Denver Metro Mayors Caucus,” the Communications Office said. “The Mayors will come together to build consensus and collaborate on regional issues.”

Thursday’s meeting, in the City Administration Building downtown, was a “get acquainted meeting.”

The new group plans to meet again next month to talk about the Colorado Department of Transportation and funding for the entire region.

“We will in turn, as a group, ask for a meeting with Governor Hickenlooper,” Bach is quoted as saying. “Our hope is that this group of Mayors and Commissioners will be able to effectively address the larger issues facing the region.”

City spokeswoman Mary Scott said she didn’t know when the group would request a meeting with the governor.

“I don’t know if that has been determined yet,” she said in an email. “I am copying (Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey) to see if she can find this out for you.”

Other attendees include Calhan Mayor Blair Bartling, Cripple Creek Mayor Bruce Brown, Monument Mayor Travis Easton, Fountain Mayor Jeri Howells and Manitou Springs Mayor Marc Snyder.

Bach, who pledged transparency in his administration, didn’t make the news media aware of the meeting.

When asked why not,  Scott responded: “This was not a public meeting.”

 

Posted in: City Administration • Meetings • Politics • • • • • • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Quote of the Day

January 20th, 2012, 11:56 am by

Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey released the expense reports of Mayor Steve Bach and several managers and department heads to all the news media in Colorado Springs this week after The Gazette filed an open records request for the information.

(Check out what the Indy had to say about the city’s tactics here.)

Anyway, Aubrey’s press release claimed that the mayor “has about $6,000 in unreimbursed expenses so far for which he will not seek reimbursement.”

Of course, one of the TV stations reported that little tidbit without any evidence to support it.

The Gazette has been asking the Communications Office to provide evidence to support the claim.

Today, Aubrey said she couldn’t.

“Because he is not being reimbursed  - those expenses are not public record,” Aubrey said in an email.

Posted in: Budget • City Administration • Colorado Open Records Act • • • | Post a Comment »

Domino’s, MacKenzie’s Chop House and car wash show up in Bach administration’s expense reports

January 19th, 2012, 12:20 pm by

 

Mayor Steve Bach has submitted more than $3,000 in expense reports since taking office in June.

Nearly all the mayor’s costs are travel-related.

They include $835.10 for the Hilton Baltimore in June and $726.72 at the Liaison Capitol Hill in October.

The information was obtained under an open-records request submitted by The Gazette.

Click on this link to see the report: 2011 expense report.

The city released the information to all the news media.

It’s the second time the city’s Communications Office has disseminated information to all Colorado Springs media following an open-records request submitted by The Gazette.

The Communications Office is run by Cindy Aubrey, a former news director at one of the local TV stations.

When open-records requests are filed, the city’s Communications Office said it “reserves the right to post the information on its Web site and to disseminate the information to area media outlets and to interested citizens through other channels.”

The Gazette had requested the expense and mileage reports of the mayor and several high-level employees, including City Attorney Chris Melcher and Steve Cox, the mayor’s former chief of staff who is now working as his chief of economic vitality and innovation, a new position created by the mayor.

The city didn’t release the actual expense reports but a spreadsheet outlining the general details of the reports.

Melcher hasn’t submitted any expense reports to date.

Cox has submitted about $782 in expense reports since June.

They include a $54.75 lunch with Dan Slack, CEO of the Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado,  and a $39.19 lunch with former Vice Mayor Larry Small, both in October. Cox also charged taxpayers $14.95 for a car wash in December.

Aviation Director Mark Earle submitted $3,561 in expense reports, including $49.18 at MacKenzie’s Chop House in August and a $518 stay at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland in June.

Cemetery Manager/Operations Supervisor William Deboer charged taxpayers $28.53 for Domino’s Pizza in June.

Here is the rest of the information provided by the city:

Mayor Steve Bach – $3048.90

Chief of Staff and Chief of Operations Laura Neumann – $0

City Attorney Chris Melcher -$0

Fire Chief Rich Brown -$458.30

Police Chief Pete Carey – $672.90

Economic Vitality Chief Steve Cox – $782.37

Economic Vitality Specialist Donna Nelson – $75.00

City Clerk Cindy Conway – $0

Municipal Judges -$0

Chief Financial Officer – NA

Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy Johnson – $2131.21

Human Resources Director Ann Crossey – $560.49

Human Resources Manager Lori Smith – $980.98

Chief Communications Officer Cindy Aubrey – $0

Aviation Director Mark Earle – $3561.73

Cemetery Manager / Operations Supervisor William Deboer – $28.53

Parking Manager Greg Warnke -$0

Information Technology Jesse James – $732.33

Innovation and Sustainability Manager Nick Kittle -$883.28

Senior Analyst Bob Cope -$35.00

 

 

Posted in: City Administration • Colorado Open Records Act • • • • • | 17 Comments »

Laura Benjamin joins Bach administration

November 29th, 2011, 11:50 am by

A communications maven has joined Mayor Steve Bach’s administration.

Laura Benjamin, president of Laura Benjamin Communications, a Colorado Springs-based training and coaching company, was hired Nov. 9 to work in the mayor’s Communications Office. Benjamin is being paid $56,000 a year.

“I think why the position was a great fit, according to what everybody has said, is that my background has been focused on communications for a very long time for a wide variety of platforms,” Benjamin said Tuesday.

“I’ve taught social media at the Small Business Development Center and taught classes and clinics on it,” she said.

“Having that broad background as well as more of a strategic understanding of how social media can be used after having taught it for so many years, I think that that’s where I see a lot of value, being able to bring that broad exposure.”

Cindy Aubrey, the mayor’s chief communications officer, said Benjamin will produce and oversee the city’s online marketing and communication functions, including its websites, social media and online press releases. Aubrey said Benjamin also will oversee bachsoffice.com, the mayor’s new website, and assist in the mayor’s social media efforts.

Bach, who promised during the mayoral campaign to embrace social media to communicate with residents, has upped his profile on Facebook and Twitter in recent weeks. The Communications Office set up a YouTube account for the mayor Nov. 15.

“With the need to ramp up communications internally, externally and with the Mayor’s office, Laura’s skills will be a tremendous asset,” Aubrey said in an email.

“She is well qualified for the position and will do a great job. Her background includes communications, marketing, social media, writing, career coaching and more. She is creative, enthusiastic and works well with teams,” she added.

Benjamin, who volunteered on Bach’s mayoral campaign, will continue to operate her communications company.

Aubrey said Benjamin, who will coach and teach social media classes on weekends, has “only a few” outstanding commitments left to fulfill with her communications company.

Benjamin’s website includes a long list of clients that Benjamin called a “partial list.”

“When I took this job, I had commitments that I had made, so certainly no one in the city wants me to compromise or break those commitments,” she said.

Benjamin is well respected in the community. Her sister is Lisa Bachmann, who runs her own public relations firm.

Posted in: City Administration • City employees • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Protesters ask city to renew permit for 11 months

November 18th, 2011, 10:57 am by

Photo by Daniel J. Chacón

The Occupy Colorado Springs protesters are running out of time.

A 30-day revocable permit that allowed the protesters to take up part of Acacia Park expires Sunday.

“They came in earlier this week and requested renewal of that permit,” Ryan Tefertiller, senior city planner, said Friday.

“They’re asking for another 11 months,” he said.

Tefertiller said revocable permits, which allow private use of the public right-of-way, are “typically” done for a year at a time.

“When they first came in, they were really requesting a year-long permit, and it was only granted for 30 days as sort of a trial period,” he said. “They’ve requested that it be renewed for that original year that they thought they would get originally.”

Tefertiller said the request is under review.

“We’re having meetings and talking with folks about what sort of action to take,” he said. “I really couldn’t tell you what the city is going to do at this point.”

Tefertiller said the city hopes to have a decision by this afternoon.

“By code, the mayor ultimately decides whether to renew the permit or not,” he said.

Cindy Aubrey, chief communications officer for Mayor Steve Bach, said Bach has not made a decision yet.

Jason Warf, who has been protesting at Acacia Park for more than 50 days, said protesters are prepared to go to jail if the permit is not renewed and fight the city in court.

“We don’t even technically need a permit. The city came to us and offered us a permit. That’s the only reason we took a permit in the first place,” he said.

“When that was done, they told us it would be a year and the 30 days was a trial period. In that 30 days, we’ve gotten nothing but support with the exception of the mayor’s office,” he said.

Should the mayor kick the protesters out or grant them an extension?

 

Posted in: Etc. • Parks • • • | 52 Comments »

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