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Keaton Named Communications Manager

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - After nearly a year in the interim position, Eric Keaton has been named Pasco County's public communications manager.

Keaton, 40, was selected among 95 qualified applicants and a handful of finalists, Personnel Director Barbara De Simone said. He officially begins his new position Monday, with a starting salary of $53,013.

The public communications manager is charged with monitoring and expanding content on the government cable channel and promoting Pasco as a tourist destination, specifically for sporting events. Keaton also will step in as the county's spokesman, updating the media and handling calls from the public during major storms and crises.

'We're going to be putting a really good emphasis on county programs and utilizing Channel 19,' he said. 'We have a lot of good programs, but we don't have a lot of our own to put a face on' county departments.

Keaton was hired in November as a public communications specialist but moved temporarily to the leadership role a month later, after the former manager, Diane Jones, resigned for a job in the private sector.

As the liaison between the county commission and its Tourist Development Council, Keaton has helped develop a sports marketing plan as Pasco leaders seek to expand beyond festivals and attract tournaments. He also convinced the county commission to also become a sports commission, so it is eligible for national grants.

Before joining the county, Keaton was sports director for Bright House Networks' Catch 47, a sports program he helped expand from 300,000 viewers to more than a million viewers, according to his resume. He managed day-to-day operations and supervised seven employees. Previously, he was an associate producer for WFLA, which is owned by The Tampa Tribune's parent company, Media General.

For six years before that, he was a senior military police investigator with the U.S. Army, serving in the Persian Gulf during wartime and in Panama. Keaton has a bachelor's degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

He and his wife, Maria, live in Palm Harbor with their two children, Evan, 3, and Emma, 1. In his spare time, Keaton competes in triathlons.

Director of Management and Budget Michael Nurrenbrock, Keaton's supervisor, said his broadcast experience and a trial run as county spokesman in April propelled him as a candidate. Pasco officials were inundated with calls from national and local media as well as from the public after two 911 dispatchers failed to assist a caller in the Heimlich maneuver as a woman choked to death.

'He assisted us with coordinating the media,' Nurrenbrock said. 'He had some very good insight on that.'

Nurrenbrock is turning over the tourism reins to Chief Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker as the county prepares to design and build a $7.9 million tennis stadium next to Saddlebrook Resort. The project is to be paid for with proceeds from a 2 percent 'bed tax' on hotels and short-term rentals. The stadium will be run by the nonprofit Saddlebrook Foundation.

Plans also are under consideration to build a multipurpose sports complex, a proposal the Tourist Development Council is to consider Monday.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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