COMMUNICATIONS

About Communications

The Town Manager’s Office Communications staff works to enhance communication between the Town and Parker residents, the media and other interested parties. Townwide public relations are handled by the division, including promoting the Parker community, responding to media inquiries and providing awareness of and opportunities for citizen involvement in the Town’s decisionmaking processes. The division serves as the Public Information Office for the Town.

GENERAL FUND: EXPENDITURES

Shaded sections represent equivalent positions with title or level changes.

Explanation Of Significant Budget Variances

2023 Adopted Budget vs. 2022 Projected Actual

• The 2023 budget for Salary and Benefits includes funding for a performance pay adjustment of 5% and increased healthcare costs.

• The Purchased Services budget includes an increase in the cost of putting on community events.

• The increase in costs associated with community programming is offset by overall general fund revenue increases.

2022 Accomplishments

Support an Active Community

• Implemented a new Volunteer Portal System (VolunteerParker.org) to promote volunteer opportunities that exist across all Town departments

• Reintroduced a full schedule of Town special events following the phase-out of COVID-19 attendance restrictions

Section Title

GENERAL FUND: EXPENDITURES

Department: Communications

Innovate with Collaborative Governance

• Launched a redesigned Town of Parker website (ParkerOnline.org) featuring easier navigation and search functions, as well as additional accessibility features for ease of use

• Introduced a new and innovative drone light show for the Town’s July 4th event, one of the first such shows ever to be held in the Denver metro area

Foster Community Creativity and Engagement

• Recorded 200,000 engagements on Town social media channels through October.

• Attracted 236,132 visitors to the Town website through October

• Transitioned live streaming of Town public meetings from Facebook to YouTube, making it easier for more residents to keep informed about their local government

Enhance Economic Vitality

• Worked alongside long-time event partner The Rotary Club of Parker to introduce a new format for the State of the Town event to improve engagement with business and community members

• Led communications and engagement efforts for implementation of the My Mainstreet project, the largest development and community-building project in the history of downtown Parker

2023 Goals

Support an Active Community

• Introduce new community event permit platform to better serve the needs of our active community

Innovate with Collaborative Governance

• Work with other Town departments to meet the State of Colorado’s new website accessibility standards, which will take effect in 2024

• Launch a redesigned Parker at Work Employee Intranet to better support all departments across the organization

Foster Community Creativity and Engagement

• Explore new community outreach activities to better connect residents with their local government

• Expand the use of video as a communications and engagement platform

GENERAL FUND: EXPENDITURES

Performance Measures By Strategic Goal

OUTPUT MEASURE: Number of individuals who showed interest in attending one of the Town's large special events, such as the Stars and Stripes Celebration, Mayor's Holiday Lighting, Bike to Work Day, or Hometown Holiday Experience, by visiting the Town's online events webpage*

OUTPUT MEASURE: Recorded engagements (likes/reactions, clicks, comments, shares) between Town of Parker, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts

Reflects overall social media engagement efforts for the Town channels.

OUTPUT MEASURE: Recorded engagements by individuals who participated in at least one project on the Town's online community engagement platform through an action such as viewing a project, downloading a document, asking a question, participating in a survey or contributing an idea*

New performance measures more accurately reflect departmental goals that align with the Town's overarching strategic goals.

A handful of factors are likely affecting Town social media engagement in 2021. Facebook has restructured how pages are promoted reducing the number of followers who see our posts on their News Feed. The engagement drop among municipalities' pages is a trend being experienced by many of our peers nationally, as evidenced by discussion among Government Social Media Organization professionals. Regular pace of events/activity frequency did not resume until fall and community events are some of the biggest drivers for engagement numbers. We also saw a diminished response/engagement to COVID messaging from 2020.