City Plans to Terminate Contract With Metric Marketing

The City of Saline plans to terminate its contract with Metric Marketing.

In April of 2025, Saline City Council approved spending $137,000 to have Metric Marketing, located on North Ann Arbor Street, to assist the city improve its communications and outreach.

The contract called for:

• 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.

There have been questions about the expense since the beginning, although council approved the decision by a 6-1 vote. Councillor Jenn Harmount was the no-vote.

Councillor Janet Dillon has been asking for the council to review the expenditure and program over several meetings.  The topic was discussed briefly at Monday's meeting.

City Manager Dan Swallow said about $50,000 has been paid to Metric Marketing thus far. The company has provided logos and art. In addition, the firm conducted a community survey, which it expects to possess soon. There have also been reports on website and social media analytics.

"We have asked them to provide deliverables so that we can share them with city council," Swallow said.

But Swallow said he didn't think the city should continue the program.

"We're just struggling with what we expected from the contract versus what's been provided thus far," he said.

The contract was recommended by Councillor Nicole Rice when Elle Cole was interim City Manager.

Rice told council she's been "thoroughly disappointed with their work."

"I think we were sold on one thing and actually provided another, so I am fully supportive of breaking that contract," Rice said. 

She said she would like to have a presentation on the gaps that remain if the city is to meet goals for communication in the strategic plan.

"We've met some through adjustments in our communications department through the great work that they've been doing. But I don't think we met any of the goals that we were looking for out of a contract," Rice said.

Councillor Dean Girbach he'd like to give Metric Marketing a chance to share its side of the story.

"I've heard back and forth information from both sides, so I prefer we have a complete understanding of what happened and where we are currently," Girbach said.

Mayor Brian Marl agreed and said he'd welcome Swallow and his team invited Metric Marking to a future meeting to address questions of council members.

Councillor Harmount said she wanted to see data.

"I think one of the things that I would like to request is 'where were we before? Where are we now?' Do they feel they have closed any communication gaps, and I'd like to see how that's measured," Harmount said.

Answering a question from Councillor Janet Dillon, Swallow estimated the city has paid about half of what it agreed do.

Councillor Tramane Halsch said he believed the city was paying too much.

"What Metric Marketing does is my day job, and if I'm being honest, in my professional opinion, we should not pay another penny more than the $50,000 we paid."

Councillor Dillon asked if Swallow would formally terminate the contract prior to having Metric Marketing staff address council's questions.

Councillor Jim Dell'Orco noted that he and Halsch weren't on council when this was approved and asked the city to provide background information on the matter.

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