Christopher Schwarzen Email & Phone Number

As a private consultant, main duties include offering media, communications and technical writing/editing expertise, especially in the fields of environmental issues (salmon-restoration projects, floodplain protection and water-quality issues), nonprofit communication and literature-based materials.

Duties include: *Assuming lead responsibility of projects as­signed, especially media and communications projects for various departments including the Snohomish County Public Works Department and Paine Field Airport. *Providing coordination among departmental divisions and with external entities while managing communications programs in the departments. *Assuming direct and independent responsibility for special projects identified by the director.*Developing communications for various departments and monitoring their progress.*Reviewing and analyzing various communications plans, objectives, policies and procedures.*Promoting good public relations with other county departments, with outside agencies and customers.Specific projects include work on Snohomish County's Smith Island Restoration Project, Sustainable Lands Strategy, Paine Field marketing and communications and Public Works web design.

Main duties are to oversee communications, internal and external for elected leadership, senior management and departments under the Executive Office. This includes:*Drafting policy papers including speeches on complex issues related to county, state and federal government. *Providing direct advice and consultation to elected leadership and senior management on issues related to government.*Interpreting raw data and information, then developing three to five press releases a week, one weekly newsletter read by nearly 10,000 people and one monthly magazine for various stakeholder groups. *Creating writing/editing guidelines for Executive Office departments.*Overseeing social-media utilization for the Executive Office and its departments. *Editing written materials prepared by others for content, grammar and audience. *Working directly with media, constituents, community groups, other governmental organizations and other elected offices within Snohomish County. *Handling public information during disasters. I am completely familiar with Emergency Management protocols including the National Incident Management System (NIMS).*Effectively handling crisis communications situations.Additional duties include: *Overseeing diversity and tribal issues within Snohomish County.*Acting as the liaison between the Executive Office and Tulalip and Stillaguamish tribes, as well as writing MOUs, contracts and legislation between the groups. *Working directly with the county’s Diversity Council, creating an annual diversity plan, recruitment guide and inclusion opportunities for the workplace, the county’s customers and within the community. Special projects have included:*Planning and overseeing the production of resource fairs for low-income and in-need families.*Working on agricultural issues including an annual Focus on Farming Conference.*Leading policy review and discussion on numerous business issues, including the aerospace and transportation industries.

Coverage focused on political, governmental and environmental issues, mostly within Snohomish County but also at the state and national level. In-depth and analytic work included breaking coverage of the Enron scandal, ecoterrorism in the Northwest and diseases such as West Nile virus. Special projects included how a Canadian polluter had stymied the EPA fro seeking remedies in a Columbia River Superfund investigation. This company has since taken responsibility for environmental cleanup.

Reshaped and expanded The Telegraph’s environmental coverage to produce comprehensive coverage of the three highest-priority issues affecting the community: air quality, water quality and urban development. Special project work included investigative pieces on public-health risks associated with a local mosquito-control program, inadequate controls for sewage treatment and spill prevention, and how the failure of adequate training led to one man’s death at a local water authority. Each led to policy, rule and state law changes.

Master Of Science, Administration

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), English And Political Science (Double Degree)