Mayor Cohen.com

Hello, everyone. No, I am not Mayor Josh Cohen. I am Phill McGowan, the public information officer for the City of Annapolis. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Josh to bring greater transparency to the city government. One way we hope to achieve that goal is through this blog, to which the mayor has asked me to contribute.

A very quick rundown of my resume: I worked for 10 ½ years as an editor, reporter and social media specialist for The Baltimore Sun. I worked 3 ½ of those years as a reporter in Annapolis covering Anne Arundel County government, growth and development, BRAC … and for a few months, Annapolis government.

Annapolis is a tremendous town, and I am glad to be back.

I’ve spent the past seven months immersed in social media efforts for The Sun and at an interactive Washington PR firm. I am excited about informing and engaging constituents through Web/social media, building on the city’s already robust communications operations.

For example, check out the Annapolis Police Department’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. Or follow the City of Annapolis or Annapolis’ transportation department on Twitter.

We will not abandon traditional forms of communications, such as news releases; on the other hand, we will not be afraid to explore new tools to connect vitally important information to city residents.

As always, we want to get your feedback – on the methods we should use to best inform you and, of course, about the issues of the day.

Be sure to put mayorcohen.com in your RSS feed to keep up with new city initiatives.