ITEM:		ACTION ITEM
2.	CONSIDER SELECTION OF A PUBLIC OUTREACH CONSULTANT
Meeting Date:			July 31, 2020	Budgeted:	Yes
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	Professional Fees
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Stephanie Locke	Cost Estimate:	TBD
General Counsel Review: N/A
CEQA Compliance: This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378.

SUMMARY:  For the past seven years, the District has contracted with a public relations/marketing firm to manage the District’s branding and key message development to ensure strategic communications that are consistent, accurate, and on-point. In addition, the consultant has been responsible for developing and procuring newsletters, press releases, handouts, and managing and coordinating events/workshops and the media in collaboration with staff and the Public Outreach Committee. Other responsibilities include managing the District’s social media and websites, email/mailing lists. The previous consultant worked on a monthly retainer, with expenses related to project design, printing, advertising, mailing, etc. billed separately.

At the direction of the Public Outreach Committee, staff sent Requests for Proposals to eight local public relations/marketing firms (Exhibit 2-A). Three responses were received. Qualification and proposals were received from Terry Feinberg (previously with Moxxy Marketing) (Exhibit 2-B), TMD Creative (Exhibit 2-C), and WellmanAd (Exhibit 2-D).

The following is a brief summary of the highlights and cost for each of the proposals:

Terry Feinberg: Co-founder of Moxxy Marketing. Former publisher of Salinas Californian that recognizes importance of our goal to "instill trust and confidence." Clients include TAMC, Hartnell College, Monterey County Ag Commission, County of Monterey Housing Development. Appears to have a more casual style and appears to be one-person company. Proposed to work approximately 36-37 hours with a $3,500/month retainer.

Website: https://strategymarketingplanning.com.

TMD Creative: Well-developed proposal. Work is done in-house using a large team, including bi-lingual capabilities. Strategy based. Goal would be to create templates up front that can be changed as the message changes. Strong website/internet/media. Current clients include Monterey County (Covid-19 Response), Monterey County Housing Corporation, Community Foundation, Taylor Farms, and Hartnell College Alumni. TMD is more expensive than the others but has a large and talented in-house team. Proposal is approximately $5,500/month. First month to include up to 40 consulting hours and 30 design/multi-media production hours; following two months to include (per month) up to 25 consulting hours, 60 production hours; on-going month-to-month work (per month): 10 consulting hours, up to 12 hours of production work. Websites: https://www.tmdcreative.com, https://www.rootedinag.com, www.tmdtechsolutions.com and a Vimeo channel at https://vimeo.com/themarketingdepartment.

WellmanAd: Local (Peninsula-based) agency with clear understanding of local issues relative to MPWMD. Clients include Monterey Jazz Festival, Sierra Instruments, City of Marina, MST, various political campaigns (Measure J, George Riley, Adam Scow, Bruce Delgado). Team of five people, including video. Proposal: $3,000 (22 hours) to $4,000 (30 hours), with outside services billed separately (printing, mailing, advertising placement, etc.). Website: https://www.wellmanad.com/.

RECOMMENDATION: The Board should determine which consultant should be retained by the District for the remainder of the fiscal year. Alternatively, the Board may postpone a decision and refer the proposals to an ad hoc committee for further investigation or reopen the Request for Qualifications.

EXHIBITS

2-A Request for Qualifications

2-B Response from Terry Feinberg

2-C Response from TMD Creative

2-D Response from WellmanAd

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