After Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles made the decision to fire Police Chief RaShall Brackney, just 10 days after signing off on a press release showing full support for the Chief, he realized he had a communications crisis on his hands. Boyles and his team then enlisted the help of Highland Poe, a DC public relations firm, to help them craft an Op-Ed in the Daily Progress and a statement as he prepared to face questions from City Council on September 20. Keep in mind, the City has a Communication/PR department, headed by Brian Wheeler, but Boyles chose to work with the DC firm and even discussed appropriating City funds to engage with them on this and on a long-term basis. Former City Manager Tarron Richardson also dealt with a number of difficult public relations issues during his time as City Manager, but it’s not hard to imagine what the fallout might have been if he had engaged a DC public relations firm to deal with them. Of course, Highland Poe’s se…
