‘A new, information-dependent world’: Expanded Pitkin County communication team reflects on post-COVID roles

Globally, it’s more than seven million. Nationally, it’s more than 1.2 million.

In Pitkin County? Figures show seven people died from COVID-19, plus thousands more Roaring Fork locals contracting the virus, according to usafacts.org.

Abbie Cheney remembers it distinctly. Brought on as a Pitkin County communications coordinator, she was in a constant state of connecting quarantined or homebound residents to vaccination clinic updates.

“Every week, something was changing, and I think through that the county in general set a new precedent for residents and people who are here in the county on where they’re getting their information and how much of it,” she said. “I mean, we’re in a new, information-dependent world.”

Despite the pandemic’s harrowing reality, it spurred an opportunity for the Pitkin County Community Relations Department to enhance, which was formerly overseen by one person for decades — Pat Bingham. In addition to Cheney, it brought on Rosa Saucedo as a bilingual communications specialist.

Saucedo immediately took to translating materials to Spanish and improving outreach to the Latino community, which encompasses more than 30% of the entire Roaring Fork Valley population. She also used infolines to better connect with its Spanish-speaking seniors.

“Building those relationships, I think, is where they lacked a bit,” she said of Pitkin County reaching more of the Latino community. “And I came in and kind of bridged it.”

Her role also helps communication among Spanish-speaking Pitkin County employees and department heads.

“It’s not just translating something,” she added. “It’s making more of a connection with that community member.” 

Alycin Bektesh, who recently took over as Pitkin County’s communications manager after working as a public affairs manager for the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, acknowledged Saucedo not only using various online and broadcast mediums to better connect with the community but, more imperatively, bringing a human element to better communicate dialect and lingo. 

“This is why we need a cultural explanation to what is happening,” she said. “Not just a Google translate.”

But it’s not just better bridging Pitkin County with its own community. Bolstering communications helps amplify the voices within every department, according to Becktesh, Saucedo, and Cheney. Every sector of a government body has a story to tell, and an expanded communications department gives them a better chance to do it.

For instance, Aspen woke up to about 7 inches of snowfall on Aspen Mountain on Tuesday morning, as temperatures hovered in the frigid 10-degree range. Cheney, who’s done ride alongs with forest rangers and plow drivers in her role, was quick to tell the story of Pitkin County’s Winter Maintenance crew.

“I just think of the people who are waking up at 3 a.m. to get here at 4, 4:30 a.m. to plow our roads,” she said. “Just thinking about our experience this morning, getting in and having a safe drive.”

Expansion of its communications team also helps amplify the Pitkin County Vision 2050 project, a comprehensive plan seeking to combat climate change, balance its economy, preserve its rural integrity, and further support its equity and affordability. Vision 2050 is the public’s opportunity to shape the long-term sense of place for the county. A survey is currently live.

Moving forward, the full team will assist Pitkin County’s 30-plus departments in their marketing, public information campaigns, and community outreach measures, including large-scale community collaborations such as Vision 2050.

Using social media, developing press releases, and, in turn, closing this communication gap helps create a better relationship with the community, Cheney said.

“I think it changes the community’s view of the county for better,” she said, adding, “But it’s also pivoting constantly and responding to any sort of emergencies that happen within the county.”

Saucedo and Cheney are locals. Cheney is a graduate of Glenwood Springs High School while Saucedo is a Basalt High School alum. They both live in New Castle, and they’re both coming up on their first full year as full-time communications specialists with the county.

The two valley locals have greatly contributed to the Community Relations and emergency management efforts of the department and earned accolades and recognitions, including the 2021 Award for Excellence in promoting Health Equity from the state of Colorado for Spanish language efforts through the pandemic, according to the communications department.

Becktesh — who has a background of government reporting for both Aspen Public Radio and the Aspen Daily News and most recently represented ACRA’s 750 business members in policy discussions and community outreach as its public affairs manager — said Saucedo and Cheney are “our most senior, experienced communicators.” She also underscored the major benefit of having them provide a human, holistic approach to interacting internally and externally with their colleagues and the community. 

“To me, the way you feel like you belong in any community is knowing about it — and being known,” she said. “So, I think, hopefully with my tenure and moving forward, I want everyone who lives here and experiences this place to feel like they belong.”

Ray K. Erku can be reached at (970) 429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.