Daniel Doss

Module 4: Digitized Text

English 3134-R50

November 11, 2010

Interview of an Executive Communication Manager

The purpose of this paper is to identify the person in an organization who is responsible

for leading and coordinating the communication/public relations division of a company or

organization. My assignment was to meet and interview an individual in person who is

responsible for planning, implementation and coordination of communication for their respective

employer. I had to familiarize myself about the communications manager’s past experience,

both academically and professionally, and other qualifications that qualified her for this position

in addition to the duties, functions and responsibilities of her job. Lastly, it was important to

learn from the communication manager the communication approaches that she has tried and

found successful or non- successful. The organization I

chose for this assignment has been my employer for the last

fifteen years, the City of Franklin, Tennessee. Franklin,

which has been chartered as a city since October 26, 1799,

currently has 650 employees and according to the 2004 census has

a population of 46,000. It is the county seat of Williamson

County and for the last ten years has been one of the fastest growing counties in not only the

state of Tennessee, but the United States as well.

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 For years, the city employed a community relations director whose primary job was

coordinating special events between the city and various civic organizations. In November 2007,

Mayor John Schroer was sworn into office and drastic changes were made within the City

Administrator’s office including the resignation of City Administrator Jay Johnson and Deputy

City Administrator Randy Wettmore.

In August 2008, the city hired Milissa Reierson as the first Communications Manager

and retained Monique McCullough, community relations director

to work under Reierson. I had not officially met Milissa prior to

our interview, but had seen her on the scenes of several large

incidents representing the city and fire department while dealing with the media.

Milissa graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in Communication. Her

initial career plans were to work behind the scenes in television journalism, but she soon found

herself accepting a job with a small television station in San Angelo, Texas as a reporter in their

news department. She quickly moved up to larger television markets as a reporter and anchor in

Augusta, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee where she met her future husband.

When Milissa and her husband decided to start a family, she felt the odd hours that were

required of a weekend anchor and reporter would affect their home life.

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 She then accepted a job as Communications Director with the Tennessee Department of Labor

under Commissioner Mike McGill and Governor Don Sundquist. When Governor Phil Bredesen

took office, she was able to retain her job under new Commissioner James Neely. In June 2008,

the city began their search for the newly created position of Communications Manager and

Milissa, a Franklin resident, applied and was hired in August of that same year.

The city of Franklin’s Communications Office chief goal is to bring awareness of the city’s

resources to the citizens, businesses and stakeholders in Franklin, Tennessee and to brand the

city as a city government that consistently strives for excellence, innovation, teamwork, integrity

and to be action oriented. One of the major challenges for this newly created office is to develop

a new communications plan for the city because the city has never had a well-defined plan for

communicating the city’s stories and services effectively from the city administrator (city

manager), who Milissa directly reports to,

and a monthly newsletter for

employees.

In addition to supervising the Community Relations Officer, Milissa also supervises the

employees of the cable television department, who are responsible for broadcasting public

meetings within the city. Milissa also manages and monitors the city’s website and appearance

concerning public information. Milissa serves as the city’s spokesperson for media contacts,

conducts television, radio and newspaper interviews, writes and issues press releases, responds to

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media requests for information and coordinates the handling of high profile or sensitive projects.

After Milissa assumed her duties with the city of Franklin,

she developed a media policy and guidelines for all

employees with emphasis for department directors and

supervisors who may speak to the media in certain

situations such as when the communications manager is

unavailable. The purpose of the policy is to help assist

employees in providing timely, consistent information to

the public while preserving a positive image for the city. Milissa says media interactions can be

one of the strongest tools available to the city for communicating our work to the public. The

media policy also features steps an employee should take if contacted by the media, frequently

asked questions that a reporter may ask, media interview tips, press release requests by a

department and fire/police media protocol/policy since both departments have their own

spokespersons to handle routine media inquiries.

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 One of the approaches in communications that Milissa has found successful is the need for an

organization to have one voice that speaks for the entire organization. She has found this to be a

necessity at both the state level and since coming onboard with the city of Franklin.

Prior to the position of communications manager,

the city spokesperson was usually the city administrator, a

department head or both. Milissa said this could put the

city in a negative light with the media because reporters

may receive two different stories about a situation or event,

which may cast doubt on all parties involved. She said it is imperative for an organization or

company to utilize a communications specialist for media contacts that will continue to cast a

positive image of the organization to the stakeholders. Milissa said that with her previous

employment has a television reporter that it gives her an advantage in that she knows what

reporters are looking for and that helps once again to present the city in a positive light to

businesses and city. The most important objective of organizational communication and public

relations is to portray the organization as one that consistently strives for excellence, innovation,

teamwork, integrity and action-oriented.

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 The target audiences for the city of Franklin’s communication department are the

citizens of Franklin, businesses who utilize the city’s services, city of Franklin employees, media

and opinion leaders such as council members, legislators and community organizations. While

interviewing Milissa she was constantly being emailed by the local media seeking information

on the sudden death of a city employee. She said although her work schedule is Monday through

Friday, sometimes it could be seven days a week, around the clock, due to different situations

that may occur such as public safety, a water main issue or an event at night or on the weekend.

Another important fact I learned about organizational communication is the need for a

person such as Milissa to provide one voice for the entire organization so the information will be

accurate and factual. As a city employee, I find it very important that our communication has

improved significantly since Milissa accepted the job as communication manager and has

established a weekly news brief by the city administrator along with a monthly employee

newsletter. I feel that the creation of the communications manager position has been positive for

the city from not only a citizen standpoint, but an employee as well.

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Works Cited

Reierson, Milissa. Personal interview. 12 Sept. 2009.

City of Franklin. City of Franklin Media Policy and Guidelines. 2009. Print.
City of Franklin. City of Franklin Communications Strategy. Reierson. 2009. Print.