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Longmont council directs staff to study costs of bringing public media in-house
Summary
Councilor Yarbrough pushed for the city to evaluate operating public media internally rather than contracting it out; council voted 6–1 to ask staff for a cost comparison to the pending RFP.
The Longmont City Council voted to direct staff to analyze the cost of bringing the city’s public media operations in-house, rather than continuing under the planned request for proposals process. Councilor Dena Yarbrough made the request after attending a Colorado Municipal League session that highlighted municipalities running their own media services.
The change-of-course request aims to compare the expense of contracting services under the RFP the city plans to issue with the cost of establishing and running a city-operated media function. "I wanted to see how much it would cost for us to have public media within our own in house compared to the RFP that people will be presenting to us," Yarbrough told the council.
Proponents said an in-house platform could centralize the city’s social and streaming communications and expand visibility for local government information on screens throughout the city. Opponents raised concerns about timing and fairness to prospective vendors; Councilor McCoy recorded the lone vote against the direction. The measure passed 6–1.
The council did not adopt any ordinance or funding at the meeting; staff were asked to report back with cost estimates and operational implications before any procurement or structural changes are pursued. The matter will be folded into the forthcoming RFP timeline so elected officials can weigh the comparative costs and service models before taking further action.
