TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Tom Kisela, City Manager
1. Subject
title
Agreements with Pivotal Strategies for public education and outreach services and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, & Associates for tracking survey services.
body
2. Summary
At the February 27, 2024, City Council meeting, the City Council received and filed a presentation from Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, & Associates on the citywide survey that studied the feasibility of two potential revenue measures and identified budget/service priorities. In discussing the survey results, the City Council directed staff to bring back contracts with a communications firm to provide public education/outreach services as well as tracking survey services to be completed by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, & Associates.
3. Recommended Action
recommendation
1. Approve the agreement with Pivotal Strategies in the amount of $98,500 to provide public education and outreach services; and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City.
2. Approve the agreement with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, & Associates in the amount of $50,000 for tracking survey services; and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute on behalf of the City.
end
4. Fiscal Impact
The expense for these agreements is $148,500 and will be funded through:
100.0000.52001.00000 General Fund Non-Departmental Misc Expenditures
5. Strategic Plan Goals
Goal 4: Provide Outstanding Public Service
e. Obtain, implement, and evaluate public input into our services and programs.
6. Discussion and Background
On October 3, 2023, in a presentation detailing the City’s financial position, the Orange City Council directed staff to bring back an agreement with a professional research firm to study the feasibility of potential revenue measures while identifying budget/service priorities. On October 24, 2023, the City Council approved an agreement with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz, & Associates (FM3) to conduct the survey. The survey results were presented at the February 27, 2024, City Council meeting. After discussing the results, the City Council directed staff to bring back an agreement with FM3 for tracking survey services and an agreement with a professional communications firm.
Although the survey provided a unique insight into the Orange community, the survey underscored the importance of public education and outreach. For example, when asked if “things in the City of Orange are generally headed in the right direction or do you feel that things are off on the wrong track,” over a quarter refused to answer or did not know enough about the City to respond. To assist with public education/outreach, and to prepare for City Council direction, staff contacted professional communication firms (pursuant to Orange Municipal Code Section 3.08.420) and received three proposals from Tripepi Smith, Team CiviX, and Pivotal Strategies. All three firms have experience, but after reviewing the proposals and contacting references, staff determined that Pivotal Strategies is best suited to provide public education/outreach services for the City.
Based out of the Los Angeles area, Pivotal Strategies has provided public education services to Orange County cities that include Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Los Alamitos, and Westminster. Beyond Orange County, Pivotal Strategies has worked with other municipal clients including Burbank, Culver City, Downey, El Monte, El Segundo, Glendale, Montclair, Norwalk, Ontario, and South El Monte. Pivotal Strategies has proposed a work plan that includes strategic counsel, past communication analyses, community/stakeholder engagement, online/social media outreach, city mailer distributions, as well as brand, messaging, and theme development to communicate the City’s story and better connect with Orange residents. The proposed cost provides the best value to the City, and includes three elements - core services and outreach material along with professional Spanish translation services ($65,000), direct mailer development and distribution ($32,500), and other professional translation services ($1,000 per language). Additionally, per City Council’s direction, to measure the City’s outreach efforts, FM3 submitted a proposal to conduct a tracking survey. FM3 listed different amounts dependent on City Council preference (e.g., survey duration and number of potential revenue measures studied) with the highest being $50,000.
Should the City Council move forward with an agreement with Pivotal Strategies and FM3, this will be part of a comprehensive effort to identify and achieve significant goals and milestones over the next five years. The City Council’s direction backdrops efforts to update the City’s Strategic Plan and develop the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 (FY25) budget. Public education and outreach will be important in both matters, and coupled with the recent survey results, help inform future decisions. For reference, provided below is a timeline of the Strategic Plan Update and FY25 Budget processes.
|
March 11th |
March 21st |
April 16th |
April 30th |
May 14th |
June 11th |
|
Strategic Planning Session 1 |
Budget Study Session (General Fund) |
Budget Study Sesson (CIP) |
Strategic Planning Session 2 |
Preliminary Budget Presentation |
Strategic Plan and FY25 Budget Adoption |
Note: The May 14th date is currently tentative and may be moved to May 28th.
7. ATTACHMENTS
• Pivotal Strategies Professoinal Services Agreement and Proposal
• FM3 Professional Services Agreement and Proposal