Guilford County Manager Mike Halford is on a quest to turn Guilford County into a top-notch county that people think of as on par with – or even more important than – Wake County and Mecklenburg County whenever they think about North Carolina.
Halford wants the county to have the highest paid employees and the best school system in the state, and he also wants Guilford County to invest in a new public relations department director who’ll make the county look – well, professional, and one who will also put a positive spin on any problems the county government encounters or creates.
To that end, Halford has created a large Guilford County Public Relations Department where, a few years ago, there was no department at all.
Currently, Halford is acting as the director of the PR department, which was created in 2021 to improve the county’s “communications and branding.”
The department “is responsible for coordinating external communications including managing and coordinating Guilford County’s various social media and county websites; partnering with County departments and local entities to provide timely information to residents regarding natural disasters, changes in policies and new county programs; public relations and brand management; and all marketing public relations.”
In short, the county is looking for a new communications and public relations director who’ll have a starting salary of between $111,500 and $199,467 annually, in addition to a slew of great perks, benefits and the attractive vacation and time-off packages that all Guilford County employees now enjoy.
In the help wanted ad, Guilford County is described as “a high-performing local government organization that maintains a culture of embracing diversity, striving for equality, and inspiring individual and organizational excellence.”
The position is described in this way: “Dedicated to internal and external communication strategy that is aligned with the County’s purpose and core values, the Communications and Public Relations Director will oversee Guilford County’s comprehensive public relations and communications activities, working closely with County Administration to build strong internal and external communications partnerships, strengthen the County’s communication and public relations presence and practices, maximize media value, and cultivate community engagement and high visibility for the County with a consistent voice.”
It used to be the case, 15 years ago, that Guilford County’s public relations matters were handled by the Clerk to the Board of Commissioners and her lone assistant clerk. In the first decade of this century, probably the biggest move in Guilford County public relations was when former Guilford County Manager David McNeill found a podium adorned with the Guilford County seal in the back of a storage room, pulled it out and had staff dust it off for the commissioners use.
After that, whenever a county commissioner was making a public statement or holding a news conference, the county projected an air of importance because, after all, the speakers were standing behind a nice-looking podium made of fine wood with an official-looking county seal.
That move also had the virtue of being completely cost-free.
Cut to fiscal year 2023-2024, the 12-month period the county just closed the books on on June 30. The county now has a full-fledged Public Relations Department that includes five full-time positions and cost over $1.3 million to run in the last fiscal year – and that doesn’t include the time and staff effort put in by the ever-growing Clerk to the Board’s Office. It does include several hundreds of thousands of dollars that the county spent redesigning the county’s website during that fiscal year.
Early in 2024, the previous director of the Guilford County Public Relations Department departed iNow the county is advertising to fill that position that Halford has been handling for months.
The director of the Communications and Public Relations Department reports to Halford and works closely with the assistant county managers and department heads. The director supervises three positions in the department: the marketing and outreach manager, the multimedia communications and public relations manager, and the internal communications manager.
The description for the director’s job reads as follows, “The Communications and Public Relations Director is responsible for creating and providing oversight for Guilford County’s Communications and Public Relations strategy, efficiently disseminating information on County services and initiatives to the public and employees. Internal communications are a high priority, and the Communications and Public Relations Director will lead the strategic plan around unifying Guilford County employees through integration and collaboration. The Director will coordinate external communication needs to support and enhance varied department goals.”
The job duties include – with the support of the department’s staff – writing and editing newsletters and news releases and various annual reports, as well as posting on the county’s website and social media pages.
It also includes creating and managing community relations and public information campaigns on behalf of Guilford County and its various departments. The director is the county’s point person for the media, and he or she shares information with community partners and residents.
The director also leads Guilford County’s communication efforts during times of crisis and emergencies.
Good article Scott. I had to chuckle as Guilford County will never be on par with Wake or Mecklenburg County. My employer had me living in all 3 counties during my career and I retired here in Guilford. This county will continue to follow and finish in 3rd place of the three listed in your article. The big difference I see is the extent of how racially divided this area is. It comes from both county and city ” leadership” placing personal pet projects in front of tax payers needs and wants and what they can afford. I will soon be moving to our chosen retirement location with a happy wife and children who are pleased we are leaving. I will say none of my 3 children and their spouses decided to stay in this area after they graduated. I can only hope things will be better but with the current structured ” leadership”, I don’t think anything will change for all the citizens but only for the chosen few.
We’ll believe it when we don’t have to read your endless whining comments here everyday. Go chase that greener grass pal.
Name something our govt does well.
looks like skip is going to raise taxes again. needs to hire people just to hire people and make his government grow. we need new independent thinking
Ever expanding government. The best public relations strategy is a well-run government with quality employees who are hired based on merit. It appears that this department was created to relieve other county employees of work and responsibility. The Communications and Public Relations Department is a fluffy department that is not needed in Guilford County. If Guilford County Manager Mike Halford wants to make Guilford County on par with Wake County and Mecklenburg County, he is wasting his time. My blood boils each time I look at my property tax bill and consider that county commissioners are responsible for higher and higher property taxes, that goals of the County Manager is to increase the pay of county employees regardless of merit, create departments out of whole cloth, and to make Guilford County schools the best, translating that to mean more money for failing schools and hence higher property taxes. These goals are the same goals as Skip Alston’s goals. Halford is trying to secure his job and salary.
Public Relations Department (for Government): Codespeak for Spin-Doctors & Disinformation. Think this current Board of Commissioners should remain in power?
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A propagandist for the parasites.
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Sounds a lot like Pravda.
WHAT???? They want to pay someone up to $200,000 a year of tax payers money (and that’s just the guy they want to be in charge) to try to attract businesses here. Don’t forget to figure in the rest of the salaries/wages for the rest of the soon to be created department. Can you say $1,000,000+ minimum more a year in the county budget? I knew you could. Oh, and who pays those salaries and wages?
And before you start with the Toyota plant remember that’s in Randolph County. They preferred a lower tax rate.
We can’t pay LEOs (city and county) enough to stay here for any length of time. We can’t pay teachers (in spite of the war chest the school board is sitting on) to stay, we have to have outrageous taxes and equally outrageous budgets to get basic services.
They don’t want to talk about the fact that a city smaller then Greensboro has one of the largest tire factories, an Amazon distribution center, a number of other facilities and businesses, and is getting a titanium plant. How did they do that? Here’s a hint, I bet they don’t take tax payer funded junkets to Florida, but I could be wrong.
Does the county need something like this? I think so. Does the county need a department head being paid nearly $200,000 a year starting before proving they can show returns? I don’t think so.
Oh, and BTW, if you insist on this, I know where you can find $1.7 million of tax payer money that’s being given away.
Yep!
Why the hell would they need to pay anyone else anything to do this job? Don’t we already have Halford plus 3, III, yes THREE Asistant County Managers, a Clerk, several assistants there and a Communications Director and or a couple cronies there too?
Absolutely absurd! Hold on to your knickers boys, looks like Skip is trying to pull a fast one again. Who’s he recommending? Sharise Fuller?
Quit predictable. Leftist dems always have a highly paid spin doctor to “message”. Also known as gaslighting and in the extreme, plain old propaganda. Why ? Because the every day voter cant understand the magical work that these activists are doing, so they have to have professional snake oil salesmen tell them what to think.
I see the job description does include “coordinate” and “collaborate”, two key gobbledygook action verbs, as well as the much less common “integrate” but curiously does not include the critically important “facilitate.” Perhaps the position writers should be offered advanced training in effective bureaucratese.
I think it’s called putting lipstick on a pig…
Exactly!
The voters are responsible for all this. Free lunch for the faithful.
Everyone remember all this bull**** when the next local election rolls around! Time for totally different city and county leadership!
After reading this very informative article, I could not help but imagine a obese, smelly, muddy pig strolling up to the counter of a cosmetics shop asking for a selection of lipstick.
The first thing that comes to mind is doctor who would travel selling ointments that did not work. They would spin the truth to lure people to by their stuff that the doc knew did not work. Fake!