Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Local Elections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves RFP for election/ballot services after rejecting amendment to narrow scope
Summary
Council approved an RFP seeking election/ballot services for a potential revenue measure after debating whether the procurement should be structured as a broad scope or a narrow, retainer-style contract; an amendment to narrow wording failed and the full RFP was approved.
Duvall — The City Council voted to approve an RFP to solicit consulting services for election and ballot work related to possible revenue measures. Council members debated whether the RFP should specify a broad, multi-stage scope or be written to permit a narrower, retainer-style contract.
Council member McHenry moved to approve agenda bill 25-12, which requests authority to advertise a request for proposals for election and ballot services. Council member Naplin raised a motion to amend the RFP language so the contract could be structured more like a retainer with staged work; that amendment was seconded but failed on a roll-call vote. After discussion about legal limits on staff work for ballot measures and the need for an outside consultant for public-engagement and compliance tasks, the council voted to approve the RFP as written.
City Administrator noted the RFP was intentionally drafted to list the full five‑stage possible scope (community engagement, research, drafting measures, campaign logistics, and implementation) so that proposers could bid on the full set of services and council could later contract only for the pieces it wanted. Several council members said they were concerned about asking staff to spend taxpayer resources to support a tax measure but accepted the legal reality that much of the outreach and ballot work must be done by external consultants or volunteer groups to avoid state restrictions on staff political activity.
Ending — The RFP will be advertised; responses will be evaluated and any proposed contract(s) will be brought back to council for approval before work begins.
