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Tourism council OKs one-time contract to replace website services, board waives bidding rule
Summary
Jackson County's Tourist Development Council and staff recommended moving from an annual web-services contract to a one-time replacement by Kerrigan Web Marketing; commissioners waived the $15,000 bidding threshold to avoid service gaps during peak tourism season.
The Jackson County Tourist Development Council-supported request to replace ongoing web services was approved after staff asked the board to waive the county's purchasing policy to avoid a service gap on visitjacksoncountyflorida.com.
Staff said the existing ITI Digital contract expires in October and has been billed annually at about $20,000. Kerrigan Web Marketing presented a one-time replacement offering to replicate existing site functions for a one-time fee the county estimated at $15,000 to $18,000, which staff said would ultimately save money compared with the annual ITI fee.
County staff asked for a waiver of the $15,000 bid threshold so the work could proceed before Kerrigan's contract with the county ended in October; commissioners approved the waiver. Staff said three quotes would be solicited where required and that local preference (3 percent) would still be followed for purchases.
The website services include an events calendar, places listings and itineraries; staff emphasized the importance of avoiding losing half the site during peak tourism season and said the TDC marketing committee supports the switch. Commissioners asked for quarterly updates on marketing and advertising activity, and staff agreed to provide those updates.
Commissioners and other speakers discussed how the site supports event promotion and how TDC event funding dollars are sometimes paired with paid social advertising and Google ads; staff said they plan a general-event ad featuring multiple events that would link to the events calendar rather than single-event ads that could duplicate existing event funding advertising.
Ending: The board approved the waiver and allowed staff to proceed with replacing ITI with Kerrigan services on a one-time fee basis; staff will follow up with quarterly marketing reports to the board.
