City Hall community relations specialist Sally Spaulding is leaving for a six-week job exchange in Ireland next week.
The Rotary International-sponsored program is taking four people from Colorado on a professional development tour that will hit multiple cities on the Emerald Isle. Spaulding will study the community relations departments in Irish city halls. She will also focus on how Irish communities have preserved their heritage.
“Every city hall I go to, I feel like I’ll pick something up,” Spaulding said. “It will make me much better at my position when I get back.”
Rebecca Hodgson, who serves as an assistant in the city manager’s office, will handle Spaulding’s duties while she is gone, while a temp takes over for Hodgson in the interim. As community relations specialist, Spaulding’s duties include writing most city press releases, coordinating City Hall advertising, producing city television spots and working on special events.
Rotary is paying all of Spaulding’s travel, lodging and program expenses. She will continue to collect her annual city salary of $72,000 while she is gone, although she is using two weeks of vacation time for the trip. The city is counting the balance of her time in Ireland as training.
