GAINESVILLE – Gainesville City Manager Bryan Lackey announced at Thursday’s city council meeting the hiring of a new Public Relations Manager for the city.
“I am pleased to tell you that we have filled our vacant Public Relations Manager position,” Lackey said. “Ms. Christina Santee is going to be joining us. She comes to us from the newspaper, ‘The Northeast Georgian’ up in Cornelia. She’s been there for eight years.”
Lackey said Santee would begin her duties November 4th.
“We had over fifty people apply for it…a lot of good interest in it,” Lackey said of the vacancy and the process of choosing the best applicant to fill it. “They made the choice tough.”
In July, Gainesville Communications and Tourism Director, Nikki Perry, stepped down from her role as the city’s public spokesperson. Lackey said at that time he would re-evaluate the organizational structure for public relations and possibly shift some of the responsibilities around.
According to a media release from the city, Santee comes to the City after having served as both a staff writer (since 2011) and editor (since 2015) with the “The Northeast Georgian”.
“I fully believe Christina will be able to guide our Public Relations team in our efforts to increase our digital communication efforts,” Lackey added.
Lackey said Santee will spearhead Gainesville’s effort to revamp the city’s website, maximizing digital content communication opportunities.
“Christina’s experience as a writer and editor will be beneficial as she communicates with local and Atlanta media, and prepares communication materials for myself and the City Council,” Mayor Danny Dunagan said in the media release.
Lackey said revitalizing TV18 would be another project placed under Santee’s leadership. “We have a long ways to go to get back to where we were with TV18 in the past.” Operations at TV18, The Government Channel, ceased at the end of 2018.
“We were impressed by the things that she brought to the table,” Lackey said.
