New gag order at City Hall

I was kicked out of a city meeting Tuesday. I had heard that Waye Mason was going to address the Stadium Committee, so I wanted to hear what he had to say, and what the committee members were thinking.

In typical backwards fashion, the city is trying to wedge a business model into a stadium to be built for a FIFA soccer bid, rather than first finding business model that works and then wedging an occasional large event into *that*. The rumour mill is that Huskie Stadium is too small for the regulation FIFA soccer field being proposed, which necessarily jumps the stadium proposal from “add some bleachers to Huskie Stadium” to “build a gazillion dollar new stadium.” Also, since FIFA is embroiled in scandalous controversy involving bribery from bid cities, I wondered if the committee was thinking maybe it’s not a great idea to deal with alleged crooks.

Anyway, when I got at the Alderney Gate conference room, a handful of the citizen reps were there; I introduced myself as a reporter, and shook hands with Peter Spurway and a few other folks whose names escape me at the moment. Nice guys. And I sat down off to the side, to wait for the meeting to start. City staffer Betty Lou Killen came in, was surprised to see me and immediately went to talk with meeting’s chair. Five minutes later, she pulled me aside, and basically told me I wasn’t welcome. Seems the committee doesn’t want the press, and therefore the public, to watch its proceedings.

Killen characterized the meeting as a private affair, meant to get honest feedback from invited speakers. Apparently the city figures if the press is there, these speakers will lie their asses off for some reason. I see this as a citizens’ committee, not some employee work group, and in my opinion the meetings should all be open to the public. I suppose I could file a lawsuit, and 20 years and $50,000 from now prove my point, but I’ll just publicly bitch about the whole experience and leave it at that.

This post, however, isn’t about me getting out of a meeting. See, when Killen pulled me aside, I immediately knew she was kicking me out, so I used the opportunity to attempt to interview her: What about the FIFA scandal? I hear you’ve given up on Huskie stadium? I’m hearing numbers like $125 million for a stadium?

But Killen would have none of it. “I could be fired for talking to you,” she said.

She then told me that a new city policy had come down from the top: new CAO Richard Butts has ordered that all dealings with the press have to be vetted by the city’s communications director, Shaune MacKinlay.

I then went back to my office and called MacKinlay, who confirmed the policy change. She said it was an effort to stop unauthorized people speaking about city policy, and confusing the issues.

The new policy upends positive press dealings implemented by MacKinlay. I regularly call city employees directly to ask them about matters. I call planners about developments, transit staff about bus terminals, tender managers about absurdly overbudget underpasses. This town is small enough that I often run into city staffers on the street, and conduct impromptu interviews about this or that issue.

This is how it should be: If we’re going to give the public reliable information, we reporters need to talk directly to the people working on stuff, and not through a gateway spin machine that is more interested in obfuscation, spin and delay than in informing the public.

Remarkably, the new policy has not been written down in a policy document, and city staffers like Killen are in fear for the jobs. Or at least say they are: That’s the problem with policies like these, especially unwritten policies—staffers can hide behind them as reason not to be forthright with reporters.

Butts has not responded to a request for comment.

Oh, just as I was about to post this, I get an email from MicKinlay, who included Butts’ original email to senior managers at city hall. I don’t see how it changes anything I wrote above. It reads:

TO: Senior Management Team

FROM: Richard Butts, CAO

DATE: May 10, 2011

SUBJECT: Communications Approach

As a follow up to the brief discussion at our last SMT meeting regarding
external outreach, I wanted to ensure SMT understands, effective
immediately, all media and marketing is to be coordinated through the
External and Corporate Affairs division. This includes any media
interviews, social media, news releases and marketing campaigns, and
will guarantee a consistent look and feel for all our external
communications. ECA staff will continue to coordinate with subject
matter experts within each of our business units. Because of their
reporting relationship with boards and/or commissions, three Units are
exempt from this process; Halifax Regional Police, Halifax Water and
Halifax Public Libraries.

In order to make this transition seamless, staff developed some short
term processes which will ensure objective, timely and accurate
information is delivered in a consistent format.

Marketing & Communications Services:

Each Business Unit is assigned a Marketing/Communications Advisor (see
attached chart). I am asking that all marketing and communications
materials will be vetted through your Marketing Advisor.

This year, the Advisors began meeting with your Business Units, to
review marketing and communications needs for the coming year. This
helps ensure that the messages relayed are consistent with the corporate
outcomes of HRM.

If a Business Unit foresees issues relating to Marketing and/or
Communications, media involvement or communications with Regional
Council, I ask that they work with their Advisor who will coordinate
with the Public Affairs team to develop an issues management strategy.

Media Relations and Crisis Communications:

To ensure media responses are well-coordinated and aligned across the
organization, Media Relations and Crisis Communications functions will
be directed to Public Affairs staff through the Manager, Shaune
MacKinlay, or Senior Communications Advisors Katherine VanBuskirk or
Michaelyn Thompson when Shaune is unavailable.

This does not mean that other HRM staff are not to speak to the media.
Staff can and will be drawn upon to speak to matters in which they have
expertise and for issues for which they have accountability. This should
not, however, happen without the knowledge and input of Public Affairs
staff. This will help prepare for media and ensure members of staff
and/or elected officials are properly briefed. Communications for EMO
emergency operations and for all on-scene media response from Halifax
Regional Fire and Emergency Services, will continue to be done as it is
currently.

Staff from ECA are currently building the longer term processes needed
to address the more complex communications activities and how they will
be coordinated through their division. Should you have any further
questions, feel free to contact me or Jennifer Church, Manager of
External and Corporate Affairs.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.