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 On the voting agenda was a motion to approve hiring DCC Marketing
of Decatur to create a Brand and Marketing Strategy for the City.
The motion had been tabled since April 6th, but this week aldermen
took it off of the table and entertained the motion.
The item had been tabled due to concerns voiced by Lincoln resident
Tracy Welch, who felt DCC had not done the best of jobs for the
Tourism Bureau. He also expressed concern that a local businessman,
David Doolin had not been considered for Tourism or the City, either
one.
At that time, Marty Neitzel asked that the council table the vote
for further consideration. On April 20th, she requested that the
item remain tabled until Doolin was offered the opportunity to
present his project to the city. On that night, four aldermen were
in favor of her request and four voted against it. Because there was
no sitting mayor to break the tie, the issue remained tabled by
default.
On April 28, Neitzel reported that she had talked to Doolin first
hand, and he had indicated that he was not available to take on the
scope of work the city was wanting to do. She said then that she
would drop her opposition to DCC Marketing and vote in favor of
hiring the firm.
The motion to approve DCC was made by Todd Mourning and seconded by
Michelle Bauer. During the discussion prior to the vote, the city’s
newest alderman, Steve Parrott, had several questions regarding how
the city chose DCC Marketing in particular.
Parrott said that he understood that DCC Marketing was chosen by the
city because the firm had completed work with the Logan County
Tourism Bureau and had been recommended by the Logan County
Alliance. He wondered why tourism chose DCC?
Andi Hake, Executive Director of the Logan County Alliance, was in
the chamber. Marty Neitzel asked Hake to join in the discussion.
Hake came forward and said that when the Bureau hired DCC, she was
serving on that board, so she was well versed in how the decision
was made. When the Bureau decided to look for a marketing firm, six
companies were contacted with RFP (Request for Proposal) letters.
Of the six, three responded, and the Bureau chose to hear from two,
Semintel of Peoria, and DCC Marketing of Decatur. Hake said that
when the two firms gave their presentations to the Bureau, DCC stood
out. She said that DCC had the best plan and package. Once hired,
they were consistently available to the Board and continued with
their support of the Bureau helping when needed.
She also noted that the price was right with DCC Marketing and that
also influenced the decision.
Parrott asked what the firm did, was their primary responsibility
the new website? Hake said that the website was only a small portion
of the job, that DCC marketing had been hired to do a “whole
package.” That package included the website design, but also the
branding and logo, and marketing research. Parrott wanted to know
if anyone local received the RFP. Hake said no one was approached
because no one locally could do the scope of work that the Bureau
needed. Parrott asked if anyone local came forward wanting to be
included? Hake said no one had come forward.
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Parrott said he was concerned that the firms were solicited via RFP instead of
through a bidding process. Hake said the reason it had been done that way was
that the Bureau board was concerned that no one would reply to a bid proposal.
She noted that Lincoln Daily News had reported about the discussion to seek out
a marketing firm and that no one voluntarily came forward expressing interest in
the job.
Hake also explained that when the Logan County Alliance came to the city with
the proposal to hire DCC Marketing on the city’s behalf, it was because DCC had
worked with the Tourism Bureau, and already had experience with the community.
She added that having the same firm would add continuity to the finished product
because DCC could tie tourism and city together and make the two marketing plans
complement one another.
Jonie Tibbs brought up a topic from a past meeting regarding the Railsplitter
Covered Wagon and Postville Courthouse. She said the wagon was still not on the
Tourism website. Hake said that it was on the website, and always had been.
Tibbs said there was a link to click on beside the wagon on the website. When
clicked it came up that there was nothing there.
Hake said that was because the Wagon doesn’t have a separate website. The same
is true with Postville Courthouse. The issue there is that the link needs to be
removed. Hake said that the issue there had nothing to do with DCC Marketing.
She said the content of the website was the responsibility of the Tourism
Bureau. She added that the Bureau’s newly hired executive director, Maggie
McMurtrey, has been working on fine tuning the website and correcting any errors
it may contain. (Note from editor: Checking the website on May 6th, that link is
now gone and is also gone on the Postville Courthouse.)
To clarify what the city would be requiring of DCC Marketing, Michelle Bauer
read excerpts from the proposed agreement between the city and the marketing
firm. The firm is to create a brand for the city, help assess the city’s needs;
“who we are, what we need,” and set goals. They will create a marketing playbook
and will work with the city’s new Strategic Plan to help that program move
forward. Bauer said that while some of the work done by DCC will have an effect
on the website, the firm will not be creating a new website for the city.
As the discussion on the subject came to a close, Neitzel called for the vote.
When the roll call was done, Bauer, Cooper, Mourning, and Neitzel voted “yes.”
Parrott hesitated for a moment, but in the end also voted “yes.” Kathy Horn and
Tibbs voted “no”.
[Nila Smith] |
