Before I left for Thanksgiving break last week I got a call from La Puente Interim City Manager Frank Tripepi.

He informed me that he is now the public information officer for the city. That means all of my calls and questions get fielded through him.

La Puente had a PIO not too long ago, Jeff Schenkel. He mainly wrote press releases for the city and pitched story ideas to this paper. I rarely used him for contacts or information, mostly because I never had any problem just calling City Hall and asking for the department head I needed to talk to.

But Schenkel’s contract was axed due to budget concerns. And now with Tripepi in the PIO seat, that means I can’t call City Hall as liberally as I did before.

At least the council’s not off limits.

******I just got off the phone with Mayor Louie Lujan and he said he was behind the recent move to have Tripepi field all media calls.

Apparently, a conversation came up about the potential concern of staff expressing opinions on items, “when in fact, any opinion should come from the council,” Lujan said. Lujan asked Tripepi how he’s dealt with such situations in the past. The above was his solution.