4-22-2025 11:05pm

Council Approves Spending $137,000 for Communications Partner

Saline City Council voted 6-1 to approve spending $137,550 on an agreement with Metric Marketing to improve and modernize the city's communication strategy.

Mayor Brian Marl said a more cohesive and strategic communications plan is enumerated as a priority in the city's strategic plan.

A committee comprised Acting City Manager Elle Cole, city councillors Jack Ceo and Nicole Rice, PR Generalist Sarah Massey, Danica Katnick, in community development, and former assistant treasurer Chastity Gray made the recommendation.

"From conversations I've been privy to, all city staff are really excited. All are on board," Rice told council.

Ceo said he is continually baffled that we live in an information age yet it's so difficult to get information to the public.

"I'm excited to see this take place," Ceo said. "Secondly, I am excited that it's a local company."

Metric Marketing is located on North Ann Arbor Street, behind Dan's Downtown Tavern.

Among other things, Metric Marketing promises:

A preliminary engagement report.
Brand guidelines and files.
Configuration of internal platforms like Slack.
Finalizing the outside platforms.
Staff training documentation.
Updated website branding.
Updated communication platform branding.
Website and social media guidelines
Communication templates.
Training and documentation for city staff.
Community communication campaign.

Notably, the firm does not promise a new website, although several council members said the existing website is out of date.

Metric Marketing will work 100 for $16,275 a month for eight months. In months 9 and 10, they'll work 20 hours for $3,675.

Councillor Jenn Harmount was the lone "no" vote. She said she supported a comprehensive communications plan for the city.

"I want to make the comment that $145,200 is pretty significant," Harmount said.

She said she asked for a comprehensive return on investment and measurable key performance indicators.

"I'm not really convinced that I'm seeing what I am looking for," Harmount said. "Specifically, I'd like to see what some of the measurables are."

Acting City Manager Cole said a dashboard will allow the city council to get data about email policy, social media engagement and website traffic.

Councillor Janet Dillon said she didn't think the city had enough staff to benefit from the partnership.

"We have an outdated website and an outdated reporting system. Until we are willing to implement the time and staff hours into that, I don't know what we're going to do with this information that they give us," Dillon said.

Dillon motioned to reduce the payment to Metric Marketing from $145000 to $137,000. Instead of paying a contingency up front, she said Metric Marketing could ask for more if the costs rise. The motion to amend the motion passed by a 6-1 vote, and the amended motion passed by a 6-1 vote.

Cole said the city has a handshake agreement that the work can be canceled.

There were cheaper bids, Cole said, but they didn't pledge what the city sought.