WPCNR CITY HALL SPIN. May 30, 2004, Updated May 30, 2004, 11:41 P.M. E.D.T.: Current White Plains Executive Officer, George Gretsas, the City Manager Select of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (though officially reported by Leslie Backus of the Fort Lauderdale Public Affairs Office Thursday as still being “negotiating” with that city going into this weekend), is reported planning to bring White Plains city communication to that city, telling Sun-Sentinel reporter Brittany Wellman last week (when she was in White Plains interviewing Mr. Gretsas), that the City of Fort Lauderdale needs more “cohesion” in the manner it communicates with the public.
Mr. Gretsas has previously declined to discuss with WPCNR the challenges he faces in Fort Lauderdale and how he might deal with them. However he held two lengthy interviews with the Sun-Sentinel correspondent according to WPCNR sources.
In a column appearing in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Saturday, Mr. Gretsas is described as “incoming City Manager,” whatever that means, considering he was reported still negotiating last Thursday afternoon by Ms. Backus.
Information Management a Priority
The column reports Alan Silva the current acting City Manager, as having instituted a policy where communication between any city employee and the public of Fort Lauderdale needs to be approved by the city public relations staff. Silva told reporter Wallman according to the column that “We’re trying to make sure all our communication with the media and community are accurate and professional,”
Information White Plains Style.
In White Plains, communication from the Mayor’s Office to the public is cohesive, but infrequent, tightly controlled, frequently tight-lipped, and its accuracy and professionalism are subject to debate.
Openings, news events are staged and question and answers from the media are not invited, and frequently facts are withheld to put the city position in the best light. Executive Sessions in Work Sessions are a staple. Fort Lauderdale by contrast, has a large public relations staff, compared to the White Plains Mayoral staff of the Economical Development Officer and Public Information Officer, Paul Wood, Ted Lawson, the Grant Writer, and the personable Rick Ammirato, a Mayoral associate.
Half the Truth, and Anything But the Whole Truth.
White Plains communication style and substance policy operated in typical fashion last week when the city budget was approved at 4 P.M. in the afternoon, and in the televised portion of the meeting, no one on the Common Council announced that City Commissioners were receiving a 4% across-the-board raise, or that the Parking Authority budget would be folded into the city budget, should they create the Parking Department, actually raising the budget to $128.5 Million, not $114.5 Million as publicly stated.
Bad news is withheld from the media and specific questions on unclear matters are not answered in a timely manner, and specific information is frequently not supplied without a Freedom of Information Act request from private citizens, even, let alone the media.
Can we have a confirmation, please?
Requests for confirmations are often met with terse “no comments,” and calls are not returned in a timely manner, if they are returned at all.
City Commissioners, including the top brass of the Department of Public Safety are not allowed to speak to reporters, councilpersons, or citizens on policy matters, without a member of the Mayor’s staff monitoring the telephone conversation.
City employee computers are monitored and hard drives subject to inspection, and it has been told to WPCNR that cellphone bills of city employees holding city cellphones are checked for possible calls to or from the ever inquiring media.
Knock for Admittance.
During Council Work Sessions, in the Mayor’s Conference Room a doorway away from the Mayor’s office, the inner sanctum of the Mayor’s office is locked, and can only be accessed by Commissioners or Mayoral assistants seeking to speak to the Mayor or Mr. Gretsas by knocking for admittance. The cloak-and-dagger atmosphere of knockings and openings borders on the comical, like a Marx Brothers movie at times.
Typical of city communication is the rumor that Mayor Joseph Delfino was holding a private party Saturday evening at Legal Sea Foods in the City Center. The Mayor’s Office denied Mayor Delfino was holding any party or anything of the sort. However, a leading political figure said, after they had been told of the denial, that the Mayor was indeed having a party of close-knit associates that was very “hush-hush,” and were upset they were not invited.
George Gretsas speaking to WPCNR late Sunday evening reported that he had just spoken with the Mayor, Joseph Delfino, who said he was at a private barbecue in Valhalla Saturday evening that “had nothing to do with him,” and “was nowhere near Legal Seafoods.”
If Mr. Gretsas does leave White Plains, as he now appears to be focusing quite clearly on the Fort Lauderdale challenge, perhaps his successor will lift this atmosphere of paranoia that enshrouds the Mayor’s office, and if Mr. Gretsas chooses to remain, perhaps he might consider loosening up the information reins for not just media but for citizens alike.
