The city council just appointed a new public-information officer, after the old PIO, former Seattle Weekly writer George Howland, moved three floors down to join the Seattle Channel in the basement of city hall.

Howland's replacement, Kimberly Reason, was a media relations VP at Macy's before joining the council. Although the position is ostensibly temporary—council president Richard Conlin wants to rethink what the job entails, possibly add another employee to deal with community outreach, and "go for more of a community relations sort of approach"—Howland was also a "temporary" hire, and he held the job for two years.

The decision to hire someone from the corporate communications world is unusual, especially in light of Mayor Greg Nickels's appointment of Robert Mak, a longtime reporter for KING 5 TV, at a salary of $160,000 in May. The last three people to serve as media directors for the council came from government or media backgrounds.

That said, the council's communications director has a hell of a job—serving as the public face for nine often-dickering council members who all want their own agendas front and center. Although Conlin says "it will continue to be that kind of a job," he says in the long run, he hopes the council can be "more systematic about the way we relate to the community." That sounds like a strategic goal to better position the council against the mayor; but I'm not sure hiring a former flack for the retail industry is the way to do it.