DALTON, Ga. — After just 15 months on the job, Brooke Bennett is leaving her position as the first-ever communications director serving both Dalton and Whitfield County.
She’s moving back to her native Michigan because of an illness in her family.
Ms. Bennett has a broadcast journalism background. And, as a the city/county spokeswoman, she struck up a friendly relationship with the press while coaxing sometimes shy government employees to speak to the media.
Last week, she spoke to the Chattanooga Times Free Press about the challenges and rewards she found in the position.
Q: What were some of the benefits of having the same communications person for the city and the county?
A: Most of my issues are joint issues. We talked about the SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) projects ... ( and) the joint comprehensive plan that’s going on right now.
Q: What were some of the challenges of working in both of those worlds?
A: Some of the challenges came from within. The city previously had a communications person, but they had had a lapse of about nine to 10 months, so it was retraining your department heads to think, “OK, this is a story. I need to let Brooke know.”
The county had never had a (communications) person ... Everybody has stepped up to the plate whenever I’ve asked them for story ideas or told them that they needed to talk to the media.
Sometimes they shy away, but you’ve just got to talk them into it.
Q: You mentioned earlier that you encourage people to always return the media’s phone calls.
A: I always say, ‘Don’t let them print or say that you weren’t available for a comment.’
Q: You seem to have a really friendly relationship with the press. Is that one of the ways that you feel like you’ve gained the press’s respect?
A: It helps that I was on the other side of the spectrum. I know what it takes when you have no story ...
Some days, you have nothing. To see it progress and be a story, to see it progress and be on the 6 o’clock news — and see it be on the front page of the North Georgia section — I think that’s pretty awesome.
Q: What are you going to miss about the job?
A: Honestly, the people. I always say Dalton is very inviting ... It’s been fun.
And everybody always asking me, ‘Where are you from?’
Q: Was there something that surprised you about the job?
A: I guess how easy it was to be a joint person. You’re always a little bit hesitant. You know you can accommodate one set of bosses. (But) I always said I had 100,000 bosses. Really, all of the citizens in Whitfield County were my bosses ...
A lot of these things are public education, public awareness. If we have nobody at a joint comprehensive plan (meeting), I always take that as a little bit of my fault. What could I have done differently?
Q: So, it’s your job to be accessible not just to the media, but also to the public?
A: Yes.
Q: That sounds like a lot of work.
A: It is. And, I think there’s been talks about the city and county separating.
Not because it was a bad position, but ... because there really is enough going on in this community to have two full-time people.
Q: What were some of the more difficult issues that you had to communicate to the public?
A: People are always a little wary when you ask for more money. I knew that the last SPLOST failed. I would say that SPLOST is probably one of the hardest projects that I was put on.
I think the last SPLOST failed because it was too long of a SPLOST. It did not focus on one project ...
We have to educate ... We had to go to all of the civic organizations. Plus, to tell the man on the street, ‘This is why we’re proposing the SPLOST again, even though it failed the last time.’
Q: Did your job change much after the new city administration?
A: It didn’t actually. I always say I was very fortunate. We’ve always had elected officials that have been media savvy. They all think along the same lines that I do: You cannot ignore the press. The old mayor and the old council thought that, and the new mayor and the new council think that.
Q: Even though the mayors were two different people the fact that they were so accessible made your role the same?
A: It’s always hard when you have a retired mayor and a mayor who has a full-time job and is running an insurance business. But, he’s still downtown, and he always calls the media back or lets the media know that they can come right to his office.
Q: It seemed like even though you’re often referred to as the spokesperson, your job was to put the media in touch with the right people.
A: I never wanted to be the talking head for Dalton and Whitfield County ...
My thinking is, these people are elected for a reason ... Taxpayers elected them because they put their trust in their hands; they put their dollars in their hands. Let’s let the media see who’s actually working here ... That’s who the taxpayers and the media want to see. They don’t want to just see a talking head.
