Sedgwick County spokeswoman asked to resign

Longtime Sedgwick County spokeswoman Kristi Zukovich was recently asked to resign.

Zukovich said she was asked to resign by County Manager Michael Scholes and was told her department was being dissolved. She was the director of communications and community initiatives.

“I have been proud to be a part of this professional organization for 28 years working for the good of our community and telling our stories of service,” Zukovich said Tuesday.

County leaders have recently emphasized their desire to change their public relations strategies with residents.

Scholes wouldn’t comment on personnel matters regarding Zukovich. Starting last week, county news releases have not featured Zukovich’s name.

Scholes, who started in November, wrote in a letter to county commissioners in late January that county government needs to be better at “telling our story.”

“We have tremendous opportunities to help shape the community’s understanding of what we do and why we do it through a more aggressive public information strategy,” the letter said.

Commission Chairman Jim Howell said Sedgwick County has had an image problem since before he was elected to the commission in 2014. He called it “the number one priority at the moment.”

He said the county needs to embrace ideas that new staff members can bring to the table.

“We actually have a lot of opportunities in terms of personnel changes to bring a lot of new vision to Sedgwick County,” Howell said. “This thing with Kristi is just the beginning. There’s a lot of re-engineering and a lot of restructuring that needs to happen in Sedgwick County. And we’re not going to make changes just to make changes. We’re only going to make changes because it makes sense; because it does something good for the community.”

Commissioner Dave Unruh said the commission majority’s direction has caused people “to lose some of their respect for county government.”

“This can’t be blamed on whoever is writing our communications,” said Unruh, who called Zukovich a friend.

Zukovich began working for the county in 1987. She served as emergency medical services public education officer and an assistant to the county manager before becoming communications director in 1998. She also worked as the county’s lobbyist during the 2014 legislative session.

Her yearly salary was $118,539, according to the 2016 county budget.

Jill Tinsley is the current county spokeswoman.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County spokeswoman asked to resign."