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Albany County approves one-year extension with media firm for Shaker Place recruitment and census marketing
Summary
The county approved a one-year extension of a media and marketing contract for Shaker Place Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to shift part of the vendor's work toward staff recruitment while maintaining census marketing; the extension was presented by Executive Director Mark Ralston and approved by the board.
Albany County approved a one-year extension of a media and marketing contract for Shaker Place Rehabilitation and Nursing Center to continue census marketing and shift more work toward recruiting staff.
Executive Director Mark Ralston presented the proposal, saying the county was "looking to exercise the second, year extension on the contract" and described it as "a 1 year extension, hundred and $1,000." Ralston said the vendor handles the facility's website, social media, search-engine optimization and video production and that a new recruitment video for the nurse aide training program is scheduled to be shot next month.
The presentation said the vendor was originally brought on when Shaker Place was rebuilt and rebranded. Ralston told the board the vendor has been "very successful with the census building" and recommended keeping both census outreach and recruitment work in the final year. He described the proposed split of work as roughly 50/50 between census development and recruiting in the extended year and said much of the fee covers website services.
Board members asked several operational and financial questions during discussion. A member asked whether the vendor does direct recruiting or only marketing; Ralston replied the vendor performs marketing to support recruitment and that the county had moved to an in-house recruiting model about a year ago after previously using a separate recruiter named ExLego. Ralston said the vendor funnels applications to the county careers page so candidates complete a short online form rather than a long application.
Ralston also told the board Shaker Place is generally at or near its licensed capacity of 250 beds and that the facility's Medicaid reimbursement credits are phased in over roughly two years. He said the county is not "artificially closing beds" and that filling to capacity may increase future Medicaid payments.
Ralston and board members discussed the county's options after the contract ends: whether to re-bid, continue the vendor, or bring services in-house. Ralston said this December will be the contract's final year and that the county would reassess midyear.
Motion: a board member moved and another seconded the extension; the board voted in favor and the measure passed.
The record uses multiple spellings for the vendor's name (appearing in the transcript as "Broad Media," "Bridal Media," and "Braun Media"). The meeting materials identify the agenda item as a media- and marketing-services contract for the Shaker Place Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and the presentation identified Mark Ralston as the presenter.
