If you find yourself with a much more positive view of Guilford County government later in 2023 than you did at the beginning of the year – well, there’s an explanation for that.
Guilford County has just hired three new public relations employees, which, in one fell swoop, quadruples the size of the department that does things like inform the community of county services and events, helps county administrators communicate with county staff and attempts to get people to view the county and its government in a positive light.
In the early summer of 2022, Guilford County hired Communications and Public Relations Director Julie Smith to do things like inform county residents about the fiscal 2022-2023 budget, communicate with employees about a pay and benefits study and call attention to the Guilford County Division of Public Health winning the state’s “Health Department of the Year” award.
Now, Smith will have three employees under her helping her with those and other tasks.
In the past, it would be unheard of for the county to quadruple a department overnight – however, in 2023 it may be a trend. The county recently nearly tripled the size of its Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Department. At the start of 2023, Guilford County had three employees devoted to increasing MWBE participation in county contracts and services. Now, after the county added five MWBE positions, there will be eight county employees devoted to that purpose.
It’s nothing new for Guilford County administrators to want to improve the county’s public image, and, for much of this century, Guilford County managers have been trying to class up the image of Guilford County and give it a more polished and professional public-facing demeanor. There has been a feeling among many in county government that, though Guilford County is the third largest county in the state, the county’s government enjoys nothing like the professional image Mecklenburg County and Wake County do.
Nearly two decades ago, when the then-new Guilford County Manager David McNeil wanted to spruce up the image of the county, McNeil found a dusty old podium with a county seal on it and he cleaned it up and encouraged county commissioners to use it when they held press conferences or spoke in television news spots. It didn’t really enhance the county’s image all that much, however, the podium did have the advantage of not costing the county’s taxpayers three salaries and three benefits packages annually.
Nothing like having tax and spend dumb a$$ democrats in charge of the peoples tax money one question what happens when the money tree drops all its leaves
More Government overhead. I see a trend here.
Since the bond boondoggle and 30% property tax increase County Government (Skippy and his minions) need some good public relations to win reelection so they can be around when those bond dollars finally start rolling.
A bigger govt wasting your tax dollars with more hires that will accomplish nothing.
my chances of having a ‘public relation’ have > significantly ! i can hardly wait ! ‘private’ relations r so overrated ! as confessed elsewhere – i am a spam eating, lie ing, philosopher ?
We don’t have to be meck or wake at least we are not rockingham, the county and the city. The rest of this state is stagnant and has almost nothing to offer. We are growing for a reason for all the hype about other counties none have grown in 2005 Greensboro and Winston was neck and neck in the population race almost twenty years later Winston had grown by 10,000 Greensboro 50,000 and the county has added about 80,000 total results are professional increased standard of living is professional you no what’s not professional failing rural schools and meth dens you like to call small towns. Remember I don’t have to leave the county line for nothing try that in Davidson.
You want to come back and try to reframe just want you were trying to say?? My goodness sweetie no one isaking you stay…
Population growth does not necessarily yield quality of life. In fact, the opposite may be true. More could be added about the quality of the population, but I refrain. As far as meth dens in small towns, those meth dens did not originate in small towns; welfare did not originate in small towns; Antifa did not originate in small towns; woke ideology did not originate in small towns. As far as rural schools are concerned, the education bureaucracy has ruined public education. The federal Department of Education should be eliminated as well as teachers’ unions. However, being a BigCity sort of person, I suspect you like big bureaucracies.
I suggest you learn to speak English.
Little town is just a democrat socialist a&& go back to wherever the he && you came from.
Male sure they watch Dave Chappelle’s PopCopy Employee Training video.
Shouldn’t it be called “The Public Gaslighting Department”?
Or “The Pollyanna PR Platoon”?
It’s crystal clear that the Parasitic Sector has WAY too much money (while we struggle).
It’s called the county’s full employment policies for those who voted for them, or are related to them in onw way or the other. How many were Asian or Hispanic to ensure diversity?
. . . & they will be easy for us to spot with the bright yellow ‘clothing’. ?
They could have used the increased tax revenue to provide better services to county residents.