Link to Pittsburg Public Information Officer job listing
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: It's Morning Edition on KRPS. I'm Fred Fletcher- Fierro. Last week I was scrolling through jobs on a well-known job search app. Not that I'm looking to leave KRPS. However, you can tell a lot about what's going on in society by buying current job listings and their salaries.
One of the employment listings piqued my interest because it's a very public job, especially here in Pittsburg. Kansas. Public Information Officer Sarah Runyon joins us this morning. Thank you for your time.
SARAH RUNYON: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: And for those who don't know what a PIO is, it's the primary media contact on behalf of the city. You've held that position now for about 6 1/2 years. First, thank you for your service to Pittsburg.
And second, could you walk me through a day in the life of a public information officer? Are any two days the same?
SARAH RUNYON: Well, first you're, you know, thank you so much. And you're welcome. It's been a pleasure serving Pittsburg. Being in this community is such a pleasure.
And I love what I do and what I've done for the last six and last few years. It's been so fun.
There aren't two days that are the same in the city. Really. You kind of have to be prepared for the unexpected all the time. Because we do so much. And then we do such a wide variety of different things and the services that we provide. So it's very exciting in that way.
But if I could sum up what a normal quote-un-quote day would be, it would be strategic communications monitoring, and social media, putting out information. To the public to let them know what their city government is up to and how they can become involved.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: And I do want to mention that this job is currently listed on the city's website at pittks.org. I understand too it's a 24-hour 7-day week on-call position.
SARAH RUNYON: Yes, like a lot of jobs for the city government on the executive level it is a 24/7 on-call opportunity We have to be prepared in the event of any kind of crisis.
Whether that's a PR crisis or an actual crisis.
Things like tornadoes, things like water main breaks, things like things that come up that are unexpected, that happen, and they kind of need to stay close to the phone and be ready to respond if something happens.
It's a little bit different. From a communication standpoint, it is for a firefighter or police officer, but it's just as important in terms of letting the community know what's going on.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: And of course, you have to follow city government. Do you have to attend any City Council meetings?
SARAH RUNYON: I do monitor the City Council meetings, I don't always have to attend them in person but I got to know what's going on, I got to know what's being talked about.
I have also made it my job to let the community know what's been approved and what is under discussion. I write City Commission meeting recaps that I tried to do after each Commission meeting just letting the public know what their governing body is voting on and the decisions that they're making.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: So, what are one or two aspects of a PIO's job that go you know go unseen to the public that you only figured out once you were in the position for a while?
SARAH RUNYON: Oh that's a hard question. Unexpected things, I think would probably be the crisis communications aspect of it. You know I participated in and helped with the community a few years ago, I believe it was the 2019 tornado that happened south of town. That's not something that I thought when in the initial application process, when I was considering this position, that would be my job. And then when I got into it, I was like, oh, wow, just the gravity of that. It's surprising, but also you know you think about the kinds of things that we had to put out to the public during the COVID pandemic.
So, you know you are called to in the city government role and especially in a communications role like mine, you are called to be a part of a much bigger broader effort. When something like that happens, and of course, none of us could have predicted 2020 or COVID or anything like that, but certainly threw us for a loop and kind of turned my job upside down for about a year and a half. Two years of just OK, this is now part of my job.
Now I am sharing; you know data from COVID numbers. I am putting out public health information. This is now my role. Those kinds of things were, I would say, there were aspects of it that I enjoyed that I found rewarding. There are certain aspects of it that I did not enjoy, altogether it was a positive experience for me.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: Yeah you brought up the COVID pandemic sometimes I even forget we went through that you know the post-COVID world, and I can only imagine the kind of pressure that I put on you know a small community like Pittsburg where yeah I mean how many people are on the communications team with that city?
SARAH RUNYON: So, we have now we didn't we didn't a few years ago, but we do have two full-time positions. My position is public information manager and then we have multimedia production specialist which is a full-time position that we added a short time ago. I would say I think in 2021, was around the COVID era when the majority of the communicating we did was on you know, and I've got to be honest, I'm not the greatest with video production.
And so, I struggled for a little while. This was the basic knowledge that I knew, and it was very, very, very apparent to us in that time frame that we needed somebody really good. To turn around video communications, PSA’S, those kinds of things we added that part-time, and then it ended up being a full-time position with the amount of stuff that we do in our office. And then we also have a part-time intern marketing intern. That's been with us. So, it's three of us here at the city.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: Yeah, reflecting on your time as Pittsburg Public Information Officer, you know what are some of the city's accomplishments that you were involved in that you worked on?
Maybe some of the people you work with that you know, maybe not right now, maybe already now that you're going to look back on and go wow, you know, I was proud to be a part of that.
SARAH RUNYON: I am proud of being a part of many initiatives here at the city, certainly proud of what we did through the pandemic and how we worked to communicate to the public. Just figuring out day-to-day what we were doing, but also, I think about even before that the Imagine Pittsburg initiative where we were doing a lot of Community engagement.
We’re getting the community's feedback on major projects that are in the pipeline and things that they wanted to see, ways that they want to get involved. I'd love to be a part of that Imagine Pittsburg Group and we continue to be engaged in that.
I think another couple of other things that I'm proud of was being a part of a small part of the communication efforts to pass the public safety sales tax, which we were able to renew this past year in 2023 for another 10 years. So, we have funding for our, you know, a firefighter apparatus.
We have funding to help us with more equipment and training for firefighters and police officers, body cameras, you know, critical things that help us serve the community better and keep people safe. Very proud of being a part of that.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: Yeah, whoever replaces you is going to have their hands full. Because PIO it's such a dynamic position because what you described is just one position.
Yet you've had your hands in so many things, like the public safety sales tax. Imagine Pittsburg, like the COVID response. I mean that is just a lot to take on, a lot to be involved in.
SARAH RUNYON: Yeah. And it's very rewarding, especially when you see the results of your work, a lot of things that we do in city government, it takes a very long time to see things to fruition because a lot of things we do are strategic in their long-term planning projects.
But when you see a few years, you can look back a few years. And say, hey, I have a small piece of that I, you know, participated in that. It is incredibly rewarding.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: We'll close with this, so have you taken a new job are you moving away from southeast Kansas?
SARAH RUNYON: I am you know what I'm hooked on Pittsburg, I caught the bug early on and I love city government so I'm sticking around the city and I'm taking the position of Community Development Specialist, I’ll be working on community engagement; I'm going to be working on grant writing and board development and coordinating some special events but also marketing our city to new businesses which is exciting.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: I can't think of anybody better to do that for the city of Pittsburg than you. Sarah Runyon is currently the Public Information Officer for Pittsburg.
Good luck in your new role and of course thank you for your time.
SARAH RUNYON: Thanks Fred, I appreciate it.
FRED FLETCHER-FIERRO: It's Morning Edition on KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher Fierro.
(Interview transcription was edited for clarity)
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