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Communication goal of county’s PR firm: council

BY Laurie Watt, STAFF February 04, 2010 06:02

SIMCOE COUNTY - Just to set the record straight: the $250,000 for a specialized communications firm isn’t for polishing Simcoe County’s tarnished image, say some county councillors.

It’s to increase communication – and hopefully understanding – of the county’s position in the wake of this summer’s Site 41 protests, which garnered national attention.

“A lot of the money was spent for in-house training for staff,” said Severn Mayor Phil Sled. “It was not $250,000 to do PR for Site 41. I’m upset to hear that all the time and it’s not true.”

Former Warden Tony Guergis agreed the misconception was giving the county a bad name.

“I’m tired of the language,” he said. “The resolution was increasing communication. Let’s not have another lousy comment in the paper.”

The PR contract included seminars for county councillors, as well as staff. At a Dec. 15 training, attendees were given a 26-page Key Messages guide, half of which focused on Site 41, including its history, “the sound science” and “moving past Site 41.”

County council approved hiring Fleishman-Hillard – the company that helped Maple Leaf Foods through its tainted-meat troubles – Aug. 25, in private session, after an intense day of discussions that resulted finally in a one-year moratorium on the dump construction. The wording of the resolution authorizing the expenditure was never made public, although its consequences were pointed out to The Advance. Many councillors then read about the PR consultant.

The next month, councillors went on to nix Site 41 permanently. And they endorsed the decision on the consultant just more than half of them made very late on that August day.

“We were in a very bad state,” Tiny Township Mayor Peggy Breckenridge told her council colleagues in September. “There was a lot of negativism out there. We had to do something.

“Having worked with a PR firm in the past, (I know) you work with them when you’re in a crisis mode. Like Maple Leaf, when they had trouble with their meats. We’re in the same boat.”

The $250,000 cost was confirmed in September, after Oro-Medonte Mayor Harry Hughes asked the county CAO. At the time, Hughes also commented the Site 41 would always taint the expense.
“It will always be associated with Site 41. Timing is everything,” Hughes said that September Tuesday.

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