Mayor Martin O'Malley has hired a private consultant to help restructure his communications office and evaluate how the rest of city government gets its message out to the public and press.

Michael Cryor, who is being paid $125 an hour, started work for the city about three weeks ago and expects to stay on until the end of the year.

"Michael is a very talented guy," O'Malley said yesterday. "He has a very keen sense for the importance of communication, and I'm hoping that he'll be able to help us as we restructure my office and work to improve the communications function throughout city government."

At least two dozen city employees work in communications - four in the mayor's office and the rest in large agencies such as police, fire, housing, transportation, parks and public works. O'Malley said the staff needs to get its message across more effectively.

"I think it just could be done better," he said. "Unfortunately, where we did a lot of cutting coming in [to office] was in communications, and over the years we've started to suffer because of that. A lot of problems that appear as operational problems are sometimes communications problems. And communicating with the public about what their local government is doing, ... is trying to accomplish and needs their help to accomplish, is a very, very important function."

Cryor, who heads Comply America, a business consulting firm, said he wants to help City Hall convey a more consistent message.

The hourly rate he is charging is one-third of his usual fee, Cryor said. He also said that he is billing the city for a maximum of 35 hours a week, although he has been working about 45 to 55 hours a week.