NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Contacting your city council member could soon be a lot faster in Newport News as city leaders look into hiring assistants for council members.
Mayor Phillip Jones said running a city is a busy job and city council members could use an extra hand to get things done.
“Right now we have a floor salary for all individuals in Newport News. For these -- I don’t want to say the word ‘assistant,' I like ‘constituent services representative,’ I think that flows better off the tongue -- but right now we’re allocating about $15 an hour, up to 30 hours per week," Jones said.
City leaders are already working to allocate money in the upcoming city budget for the new support staff. How much it will cost and where the money comes from, are all under discussion.
“I think we’ve allocated $170,000. We can probably cut that down and start to remove some of the office space, laptops, et cetera," Jones said. "I like to operate a business in a very lean manner so I’m trying to ensure that we have the most efficient internal process for the least amount of money.”
According to Jones, job duties for these CSRs include answering e-mails and phone calls from people in the community and researching policy for council members.
“By having these CSRs by having an individual that can respond immediately, you’re not going to see the backlog of, ‘Hey I sent my city council person an e-mail. It took me four weeks to respond.’ Well, they get dozens to hundreds of e-mails and this is going to help us streamline it so we can function in a more efficient manner," he said.
“At the end of the day, I just want everyone to feel supported. Everyone to have the ability to have someone to do research that you can reach out and talk to your council member and I think this position will be very paramount to that.”
The mayor said the most important thing for city council members is to engage with citizens, and having this new role on hand will make communication between the community and city leaders faster, easier, and more direct.
Hiring support staff is something Jones said he campaigned on and something that city council members have asked for.
"I don’t think it’s a lot on our plate. I think if we want the city to function in the most efficient manner, we’re going to have to streamline certain things," Jones said.
He said the assistants would be optional for council members and of course, the public will get a chance to weigh in on the idea during public hearings on the budget.
Jones said if the constituent services representative roles in the budget are approved, the hiring process wouldn’t start until the second or third quarter. So the assistants would likely come on board in the summer.