Former Inquirer reporter named to city role

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Former Galion Inquirer reporter Matt Echelberry has been named communications director for the city of Galion.

Echelberry was announced during a press conference Friday afternoon at Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary’s office and will begin in his new position on Feb. 22.

Echelberry worked for the newspaper from 2012-2015 and covered city government as well as other news assignments during his time here.

“One of my challenges as a reporter was that I couldn’t get involved in meetings, events or discussions,” Echelberry said. “I want to be more involved and this position will allow me to do that.”

An example Echelberry cites is the new splash park opening at East Park slated this summer.

“I want to make that a special and memorable event for families,” Echelberry said.

Echelberry, who was born in Galion and is a 2008 graduate of Colonel Crawford, has most recently worked with Lifetouch in Galion as a digital retoucher/quality control.

He was selected for the position over on original field which included an editor for the Media Network of Central Ohio in Mansfield, a Marion Star reporter, a former Galion Inquirer editor, a writer for the Richland Source, a program coordinator for the First Call for Help in Tiffin, a freelance writer and book editor and a cashier and processor at Goodwill and a cashier at Save-A-Lot in Mansfield.

O’Leary said there were several components to the interview process and that Echelberry brought some unique ideas to the table.

“We want more feedback from citizens on a variety of topics. Matt’s ideas for polling people and obtaining information through surveys and social media were very good,” O’Leary said. “We want to know what we are doing well and not so well.”

Echelberry will be paid $13.50 per hour, 35 hours per week to handle an array of tasks for the city including web content management, research, documentation, preparation and distribution of written and oral communications to the media and responses to public record requests and creating and managing a Facebook page for the city.

He will be supervised by O’Leary. The role was created to maintain positive relations between the public and the city using both written and oral communication.

Matt Echelberry
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2016/02/web1_Matt-Echelberry2016212144134278.jpgMatt Echelberry

By Kimberly Gasuras

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