Walworth County staff told the Transportation Coordinating Committee on July 7 they plan to use about $10,000 of unexpected state revenue to expand the county’s planned rebrand and marketing rollout for the Share‑By‑Taxi program and will proceed with the same marketing vendor already selected to complete artwork, radio and print advertising.

The additional spend shifts the marketing plan toward a blend of items from the county’s $25,000 and $50,000 options without adding billboards, staff said. The county expects to have materials and vehicle decals ready in time for a kickoff in mid to late September.

County staff described the change as driven by a state notice of higher grant revenue. Mark Liberta, a Walworth County staff member participating by phone, said, “we're getting about $25,000 more, a little bit more than that in revenue from the state this year…so it's my intent to use about 10,000 of that to add to what we had for the marketing plan.” Liberta and staff said they asked the vendor to prepare final creative and that they will request a waiver of competition to keep the same marketing company for the artwork and coordination with print and radio outlets.

Committee members reviewed mockups that move the program phone number and URL on vehicle graphics and discussed whether to include QR codes. Eric Russo asked whether QR codes would appear on vehicle signage; county staff said QR codes will be included in the rider guide and on the program webpage (Walworth Connect) rather than on vehicle side panels because users must first register with the vendor to use the scheduling app.

Staff said they sent a request for quotes (RFQ) for vehicle decal production to 17 vendors in southeast Wisconsin; four firms submitted bids by the noon deadline, nine did not respond and four declined to bid. One vendor cited an inability to meet the county’s basic insurance requirements. Purchasing staff will meet to review quotes; decals are required to be installed by Sept. 5 to meet the launch timeline.

The county also provided committee materials showing business‑card sized driver handouts, a wallet card, and window cling concepts; staff said those pieces may be adjusted during final print production. The marketing vendor will also help populate a dedicated county web page for the service.

Next steps: purchasing staff and the county administrator will review the four RFQ responses and work with the chosen decal vendor on any final tweaks. Staff said they expect to use the vendor to complete radio, print and rider‑guide artwork in time for a late‑September kickoff.