Erie Hires Director of Communications
and Community Engagement

The Town of Erie would like to announce the addition of a Director of Communications & Community Engagement to the organization. This position was approved and funded by the Board of Trustees with the 2021 budget. The position was posted for one month on October 13, 2020, and has been filled by Gabi Rae as of Feb. 1, 2021. 
 
Rae, known formerly as Gabi Boerkircher, is coming to the Town of Erie after eight years working in communications with the Boulder County Commissioners’ Office. She worked on many comprehensive communication and engagement projects, including flood response and recovery, recreational sport shooting, fire response, and recovery, updating organizational guiding values, and most recently, coronavirus response.
 
“Erie is a rapidly growing community with so much change and optimism in its future,” Rae said. “I can’t wait to work with the incredible staff at the Town to engage with residents and share ideas for how we can all grow and succeed together.”
 
Adding to her local government experience, Rae previously worked as a News Designer for Prairie Mountain Publishing (which includes the Boulder Daily Camera, Longmont Times-Call, and Loveland Reporter). She earned her M.S. degree in Organizational Leadership and her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from CU Boulder, and her Master’s Certificate in Publishing from the University of Denver.

As Director of Communications & Community Engagement, Rae will work closely with Town staff to expand and improve Erie’s communication and engagement strategies, both internally and externally. In 2021, among the engagement efforts, she will lead are auditing existing communications and engagement to identify ways to improve, updating the comprehensive plan, evaluating trash, recycling, and composting options, among many other priorities.

To fill this new position the Town used a rigorous process and an evaluation team consisting of department directors and other senior staff, staff from departments with heavy public interactions, and representatives from other local governments. Seventy-five people submitted applications for the position and Director Rae rose to the top based on the strength of her application materials and on the evaluation team’s assessment of her performance during a traditional panel interview, a mock press conference, a timed writing assignment, and a one-on-one interview with the Town Administrator, all conducted virtually.

“Having run the evaluation gauntlet with professionalism, style, poise, and demonstrated expertise, I am sure Gabi will be a tremendous asset to the Town,” said Town Administrator Malcolm Fleming.