Marshfield Aldermen Will Decide on Communications Coordinator Position Next Week
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018 -- 8:53 AM
(WDLB) -Marshfield aldermen will be asked again next week to move ahead with hiring a full-time Communications Coordinator to oversee the city's online presence, all press releases and the public access cable T.V. channels.With Chairman Peter Hendler and Vice-Chairman Jason Zaleski absent, the city's Finance, Budget and Personnel Committee made that recommendation last night, on a vote of 2-to-1. Rebecca Spiros voted "no".
"We need to make sure that two people are going to be able to do this job like what is being proposed. That is my biggest concern. That we're going to get down the road in 3, 4, 5 months and it is not going to be able to be performed by two people. And at that point, you're not going to be saving any money. You'll be spending more than what you're spending now."
The original recommendation for the position came from a special Communication Committee assembled by Mayor Bob McManus, who sited a projected savings of more than 70-thousand dollars over the current system of contracting with a private media group to operate Marshfield Community Television, or M-C-T-V--while adding services like city Facebook Administrator, webmaster, writing, editing and distributing news releases, and creating a marketing and advertising campaign for the city using print, radio and billboard platforms.
"All communications will answer the following questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. Bringing it in house with two full time employees would go to $203,850 thereby saving about $72,000, which is significant savings. Even if we were just going to do exactly what we're currently doing, that would be enormous savings. But adding things, that's a significant amount. So, saving about 26%."
The current cable television coordinator is Tri-Media, and that contract--plus facility rental and other operating expenses--will cost the city 276-thousand dollars this year. The Mayor's Communication Committee came back with an estimated price tag of just under 204-thousand for a two-person Communications Department.
"All of our surrounding cities do this very well. One of them actually does it with one. One of them, I believe, has three. And the other one has two. So, we're very confident that this can be done. Because, one thing to remember, is going to be that the people that are doing this, it's going to be a sole purpose. They're not going to be taken off in different directions with different assignments. They're going to be solely in communications for the City of Marshfield. So, I think that will be a benefit."
The position would not be funded with tax dollars. Instead it would utilize the current franchise fee paid to the city by Charter Spectrum, which currently goes to Tri-Media to operate M-C-T-V. That amount is roughly 225-thousand dollars per year. The full Common Council will consider the Finance and Budget Committee's recommendation next week Tuesday evening.
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