Sam Fry became the first marketing and communications coordinator for Hillsdale’s Board of Public Utilities last May.
Since then, the longtime Hillsdale resident and former journalist has been working to create digital content and provide direct customer service for the BPU, the town’s municipally owned provider of water, electricity, and waste water services.
According to City Manager David Mackie the position was created to promote public awareness for BPU projects and services.
“What we’ve found over the last several years is that a lot of the positive accomplishments made for residents weren’t getting out to the public,” Mackie said. “We would present tham at city council meetings and sometimes we would get stories written on them, but to push the positive stories out, we wanted to bring someone in to focus on facebook posts and social media.”
Fry, who spent two years as a journalist in Hillsdale, knows the city better than most. After majoring in political science at Andrews University in Berrien Spring, Michigan in 2019, Fry worked as a staff reporter for Hillsdale Daily News before working for the Herald Republican Newspaper in Angola, Indiana.
“Where Sam thrived was covering City Hall and political events like elections,” said Corey Murray, Fry’s former colleague at The Hillsdale Daily News. “He had a general working relationship with city staff and the city council’s, so I think it probably helped transition into what he’s doing now for the city.”
Fry, who grew up in Hillsdale, said he is thrilled to be working for his hometown.
“It wasn’t until I went away for college that I realized just how much Hillsdale has to offer,” Fry said. “For a town of our size, we have so much to do, whether it’s recreational opportunities or visiting the farmers market and local business. I think things are looking really up for Hillsdale; it’s a good time to be a resident of the city.”
According to Fry, most of his duties as BPU’s marketing and communication director consist of writing press releases, creating content for different social media channels, and managing content on the BPU’s webpage. He hopes to use this position in public relations to give residents a behind-the-scenes look at how the city is run.
“There’s a lot that goes into local government, and not all of that is apparent from surface level,” Fry said. “One of the things that I like most about this current position working for the city is that I can make sure residents have the information that they need to go about their lives and to have a better understanding of where their tax dollars are going.”
Fry is also interested in using his position to connect constituents with their government.
“We have a lot of really great staff members in the city who are working very diligently to keep the city running and to provide essential services.” Fry said. “One of the things that we’re going to try to do a lot more of is to introduce residents of Hillsdale to the people that actually work for the city and focus on the human aspects of government.”
Fry emphasized that the new position is not about himself, but the town.
“There are a lot of positive projects happening in Hillsdale,” Fry said. “The airport is expanding, and I think we’re on track this year to have reconstructed 10 different streets. We want to use this new position as a kind of tool for economic development to advertise what our community has to offer and why it’s such a great place to live.”