Communications

Communications

Use social media, video, newsletters, press releases, and more to help residents stay informed about things like construction projects and summer camps. Provide clear and accurate information about important events happening in your city.

Kelly Kuntz, communications coordinator, Moorhead

Why she shows up: I truly love doing what I do. Sometimes I joke that it’s just fun to be one of the first people to know what’s going on around town. But the real reason I do what I do is because I love helping people. I love being the one who gets to hear information, absorb that information, and then think to myself, ‘OK, how do I communicate this to a teenager, a 40 year old, and an 80 year old?’ and deciding what’s the best platform or technology to get our message to them.

I’m just really proud of the work that our city does.

The benefit of working for a city is you get to work with so many groups of people—including city staff and people in the community. It’s nice to have that flexibility in the role and be able to work with so many different people.

City jobs provide a lot of security, too. Benefits might sound boring to younger people, but benefits are great. Job security is really good, too. Plus, you’re not just lining someone’s pocket, and you’re helping your community. I think helping your community grow is really important and impactful, meaningful work. That’s something I get to look forward to every day.

I just really enjoy helping people, and with a city, you’re making an impact on people’s day-to-day lives. I just feel like this is my calling.

How she got the job (and how you could, too): I graduated from St. Cloud State and Bemidji State with a degree in mass communications and a minor in communication studies.

I think I just enjoyed the creativity of it. I took a lot of art classes in high school, and I knew I wanted to do something creative. Art wasn’t necessarily my thing, but creativity was. I learned that I could do a lot of creative work in communications and be really flexible with what I could do with a communications degree. I can do so many things in this job; I’m not just doing one thing all day. I could be doing an event, I could be out taking pictures, I could be writing. I get to use so many parts of my brain, and I really love that.

I started at Target Headquarters in the Twin Cities and worked there for three years and have worked in the non-profit world ever since then. I really enjoy non-profit, government work.

My first non-profit role was at Special Olympics, and I’ve done a lot of event planning for non-profits. I finally got to use my degree when I worked in marketing at United Way.

My first job in government was working for Fargo Parks at the Fargo Park District. After that, I was like, ‘Yep, this is it. This is my thing.’ Working for the City of Moorhead has definitely been my favorite role that I’ve ever had.

Things are always changing in communications. When I first started, social media wasn’t a thing. Then halfway through one of my roles, Facebook became a thing. Then came Instagram, and TikTok, and Twitter, which is now X. All of these platforms have been created, and Facebook changes every day, so I’ve had to learn new things along the way.

I would just say for any young person coming into this role, don’t be afraid of any of the technology. You might think you know it all now, but it’s going to change. The job is always evolving and always changing, but that’s what’s exciting about it. You always get to learn something new. Just always keep up with what’s going on in the world, and you’ll be great!

What is the job like? This morning we got to go and smash our pool! We are remodeling and demoing our old pool, so we took photos and videos of the demolition.

We have a lot of construction going on, so we’re sending out messages on construction projects. I do social media every day.

The election is coming up, so I’m working on a lot of election messaging. We are also meeting with people running for city council and going through what each department of the city does and how they function, so that when the potential council members go and speak on their platform they have a little more knowledge about how the city is working.

We have a big event at our culture center here in town, so I’m working on some talking points for our elected officials to share at that event.

We are also in the process of moving our city hall, so I’ve been working through communication and signage and developing all of that as well.

It’s always a busy day, but there’s always something new, and it’s always fun and exciting to see what’s going on around town.

Are you interested in learning more about a city career? One great way to get advice is to contact someone in your own city or a city nearby. You can ask questions about the job and learn more about training programs that may be available. Connect to city websites and city contact information through the League of Minnesota Cities.