Page last updated on April 12, 2023 at 3:09 pm
Each week, Mayor Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Carmichael provide video updates on recent news and key initiatives. Access all of the weekly video updates at bloomington.in.gov/videoupdates.
In today’s weekly video update, Mayor John Hamilton and Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael discuss a new messaging series, “Your City at Work.”
Your City at Work highlights many of the unprecedented series of advancements, awards, and high quality services in Bloomington since 2016.
Check out all of the current Your City at Work posts at: bloomington.in.gov/yourcityatwork
New messages are shared multiple times throughout the week on the City’s social media, City News emails, and at the link above.
Transcript
Mayor John Hamilton:
Hello, I'm Mayor John Hamilton.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
And I'm Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael. And let's talk about another form of communication that we've started.
Mayor John Hamilton:
So YOUR CITY AT WORK is a new effort to just try to help people understand what's going on in Bloomington. And now, before you were deputy mayor, you were a communications director, and then you were the director of public engagement. So you've kind-
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
I just can't keep a job.
Mayor John Hamilton:
There is that. You've been deep in this stuff of how we communicate. So what does this mean to you? What do you think about this?
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
I like this because it's meeting people where they are. We're all consumers of information now, and people have different choices. So some people might like LinkedIn to get information, well, we're there now. Some people might like Facebook, we're there now.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Instagram.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Instagram is another option.
Mayor John Hamilton:
And we've been in many of those, we do press releases and those are all on the website and we know a lot of people do those. We do emails, you can get on an email link to get regular updates from the city. Of course, there's traditional media, there's digital media. The world is really different these days in terms of getting out. But this is an effort to put together two or three times a week, a summary of an issue or a thing that's going on in the city because we're proud of what the city's doing and your city and just to help you know what's going on, I guess.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Contrary to popular belief, it's not shameless self-promotion, we're actually trying to let people know what we're up to in an effort at transparency. And also, we're using their tax dollars and they deserve to know what we're using them for.
Mayor John Hamilton:
I do think it's important to remember government is us. It belongs to us. The more we know about it, the better. I always say that. We want to have an open door and let people know. So this is for an example, these are short segments that have text and video perhaps. One is about parks. And it's just Switchyard Park and what's going on with that. And maybe public safety too, some other areas.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
And it's hard for even people who work at the city to be experts in all these different things. So when you hear the word CALEA, you may not know what that means.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Most of us probably don't.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Most of us wouldn't. So I think these little short videos that we're putting out are enough information. So when you're watching a city council meeting or you hear that or read that somewhere else, you can put it in context and know what that means. So I think it's a good thing.
Mayor John Hamilton:
And by the way, CALEA is the national organization that accredits our police department, which has now been nationally accredited twice. We're really proud of that. Anyway, so it's got a lot of that stuff on it and there's a lot going on, affordable housing now. The 1,400 units that have been produced or in process and where they are and what kind of stuff there is. It's a lot to keep track of.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
It's a lot, yeah.
Mayor John Hamilton:
YOUR CITY AT WORK is a new way to keep track. Thanks for all who helped make that possible. And you can see more information on the screen about it and we welcome you to follow that. Give us your feedback or any other way you want to follow what's happening in the city and give us your feedback.
Deputy Mayor Mary Catherine Carmichael:
Yeah. If there's something you'd like to see, we'd like to know about that too, so great. Thank you.
Mayor John Hamilton:
Thanks for keeping track of your city.