The City of St. Albert wants to do a better job of marketing itself, but council and administration are having trouble getting on the same page.
Last fall, council approved funding for a new marketing manager position, pending a detailed plan from administration, which came down on June 27.
Coun. Malcolm Parker, who championed the need for the marketing manager, didn’t like the plan at all because the position didn’t carry enough responsibility.
“I think administration completely missed the intent of this position,” he said. “There’s a mix-up in what we’re trying to do here.”
Administration pitched the need for the position because it felt the city’s current marketing efforts are fragmented. The new position was to provide marketing leadership for the entire organization and stimulate collaboration among departments. This would enable the city to better market its programs and services to its residents and the community as a whole throughout the region and beyond.
Such a position would allow the city to move forward on social media and video technology, administration felt.
To fund the position, administration had proposed an annual budget of $113,300, which would have provided an annual salary of about $93,000 plus $20,000 worth of benefit.
Council approved the concept but, in an effort to save money, decreased the annual budget to $84,800, which is only enough to pay for a lower-level co-ordinator, say city administrators.
“To some degree, the budget is driving the position,” explained city manager Bill Holtby.
Council suggested that one of the jobs of the marketing person would be to spread the message that St. Albert is “open for business.”
However, city administration stated that attracting business is already the mandate of the city’s business and tourism development branch.
Staff proposed a marketing co-ordinator to tie together marketing efforts within the organization and focus on community and residential marketing.
Parker insisted that, for the position to be meaningful, it would have to be a high-level person who reports directly to Holtby, and who moves freely within the upper echelon of city administration and the business community.
“In my opinion, in this case, the budget can’t drive the position,” Parker said. “We won’t get the results we’re after by having a co-ordinator take on this role.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead noted that administration originally had a higher amount in the budget but council knocked it down in an effort to save money.
“We’ve been giving mixed messages to our administration,” he said. “If we’re saying to them we don’t like the marketing [co-ordinator] as proposed, then we shouldn’t have reduced the money associated with it.”
Council rejected administration’s plan and will instead have Coun. Roger Lemieux craft a new motion for later consideration.
