Communications Department Design
From Fragmented Output to a Working System
When I stepped into the role of Communications Director for the City of Cleveland Heights, communication was already happening across the city.
Press inquiries, council decisions, project updates, resident questions—none of it was new. What was missing was a structure that could hold it.
Information moved. It just didn’t move together.
Residents were expected to piece things together themselves—watch full meetings, interpret technical language, and track updates across multiple channels.
Most don’t.
I rebuilt the communications function as a connected system—designed to reduce friction between what the city does and what residents can actually understand and access.
What was built
A department structured around two directions of flow:
outward communication (what the city needs to say)
inbound community relations (what residents are asking and experiencing)
One publishes.
One receives.
Together, they close the loop.
Core functions
Media & Public Information — releases, advisories, Q&A, corrections
Government TV — live meetings, captions, searchable archive
Social & City News — structured updates and feedback loop
Design & Accessibility — consistent, readable, standards-based materials
Community Relations (MAC) — intake, routing, tracking, and follow-through
Each role was defined to operate as part of a system rather than independently.
System behavior
weekly City News cadence as a single source of public updates
a new website as the primary source of truth
social and email pointing back to the same information
intake tracked, routed, and closed through a centralized process
approvals structured to prevent conflicting or incomplete messaging
City News — System in Practice
Supporting structure
These established expectations for response, routing, and consistency across departments.
The department did not start with hiring.
It started with defining how communication works.
Once the structure existed, the roles followed.
Once the roles were filled, the system could operate.
I am no longer with the organization.
The team built during that period remains in place.