ISHPEMING, MI— The City of Ishpeming has taken steps to improve communication with its residents.
City Manager Craig Cugini says over the past couple of years, communicating with the public has been a challenge, from figuring out what messages the community wants to hear to what form they want to hear it in. The City Council decided to hire strategic communications company Siren, which Cugini says is building a message capacity the city couldn’t do on its own.
“And I think that the end game is going to be a community that can see, hear, and understand more of what is transpiring within their community, on their behalf, using their dollars.”
Cugini says the attempt to enhance communications started with a survey, asking residents what they wanted to hear about and how. The city will hold listening sessions in the future, and officials will build a final communications strategy with the input.
Cugini ultimately wants residents to feel like they’re part of a neighborhood and to share growing community spirit. He believes good communication will lead to that.
