{"id":2453120,"date":"2020-01-10T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T04:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/crown-mountain-park-board-in-el-jebel-wrestles-with-public-relations-issues\/"},"modified":"2020-01-10T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T04:44:00","slug":"crown-mountain-park-board-in-el-jebel-wrestles-with-public-relations-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/crown-mountain-park-board-in-el-jebel-wrestles-with-public-relations-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Crown Mountain Park board in El Jebel wrestles with public relations issues"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Crown Mountain Park is a popular destination in the El Jebel area. A property tax hike approved in 2018 is allowing more improvements.<\/strong>
Aspen Times file<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Crown Mountain Park and Recreation District\u2019s board of directors decided Wednesday night not to alter a media and public relations policy to designate the executive director as the official spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The policy will remain as it has been since 2003, that the board chair will be the spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The board voted 4-0 to keep the current policy with little discussion and after meeting with the park and rec district\u2019s contract attorney in a closed session.<\/p>\n

The policy change was proposed in December after some members of the staff and board became upset that board member Jennifer Riffle talked to the media about a district spending issue. They were concerned that Riffle expressed personal views that didn\u2019t represent the official district position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need what happened in the articles,\u201d Crown Mountain executive director Becky Wagner said at the Dec. 11 meeting. \u201cThose articles could have been avoided with proper information. I think a PR policy will help with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed policy said, \u201cAny media inquiries received will be referred to the (public information officer) for response.\u201d It also stated that if any board members spoke to the media, they must note they were expressing their personal opinion, not the official district line.<\/p>\n

Aspen Times Editor David Krause objected to the proposed change because he claimed it would prevent the public from learning how elected representatives stood on issues. The policy would have a chilling effect on board members speaking to the media, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsuring that the people who are elected to sit on a board represent those who put them there is best demonstrated through transparent conversation; attempting to censor board members who don\u2019t speak the company line is disgraceful,\u201d Krause said at the Dec. 11 meeting.<\/p>\n

Wagner said the policy wasn\u2019t meant to gag board members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives the media the person with all the information to provide district info and official positions to the media,\u201d she wrote in an email to The Aspen Times. \u201cIt does not at all say that individual board members can\u2019t talk to the media, just clarifies that in doing so they are speaking personally not as the district official.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riffle objected to the proposed policy change at the Dec. 11 meeting. She said she viewed it as a violation of her First Amendment rights to free speech. A vote was tabled in December until the January meeting, when the district\u2019s attorney, Mary Elizabeth Geiger, attended. Riffle made the motion to keep the policy the same. Board members Robert Hubbell, Tim Power Smith and Kirk Schneider supported the motion. Board member Bonnie Scott couldn\u2019t attend.<\/p>\n

In another public relations matter, the district is considering hiring a public relations consultant to improve communications with park users, partners, local businesses and residents of the special taxing district. The board voted in December to earmark extra funds in the 2020 budget for public relation consulting.<\/p>\n

In a special meeting Thursday, the board will consider hiring b2, inc., whose managing partner is midvalley resident Tim Braun.<\/p>\n

Braun\u2019s draft proposal said, \u201cFrom a conversation with CMP staff, we believe integrating a formal, long-term communication plan is vital to achieving a broad and clear understanding of the organization\u2019s mission, vision and value. This is not intended to conceal or \u2018spin\u2019 information, but establish a roadmap for communicating with the public and media \u2014 formally and informally \u2014 in a way that is accurate, timely and cohesive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed contract for a comprehensive plan is for $1,850 per month, \u201ccontingent on specific objectives and a final scope of work,\u201d b2, inc.\u2019s proposal said. It can be pared down to project-specific work on an hourly basis, the proposal continued.<\/p>\n

Riffle suggested the district solicit a bid from another firm in the interest of \u201cgood business practices\u201d for the district. Other board members said b2, inc. was highly recommended and they wanted to get a consultant in place as soon as possible. Consideration of the issue is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. at the El Jebel Community Building.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crown Mountain Park is a popular destination in the El Jebel area. A property tax hike approved in 2018 is allowing more improvements.Aspen Times file Crown Mountain Park and Recreation District\u2019s board of directors decided Wednesday night not to alter a media and public relations policy to designate the executive director as the official spokesperson. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 21:29:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}