Valley Transit approves $50,000-a-year marketing contract with Affirm Agency

The Valley Transit Commission unanimously approved authorization to execute a contract with the Affirm Agency for public relations and marketing services, with the arrangement budgeted at $50,000 per year and an effective start date of Jan. 1, 2026. The motion was moved, seconded, and carried by voice vote.

A Valley Transit staff member identified in the record as Ron said the agency selection followed a request for proposals in which the commission established a $50,000 annual budget and asked proposers to describe services for that amount. "We set that at $50,000 and all of the proposers recognized that we were gonna pay them $50,000 a year for services and then they had to provide us what they were gonna provide us for services for that $50,000," Ron said. The evaluation committee interviewed top candidates and selected the Affirm Agency.

Commissioners asked whether there was wide variation among proposals and whether Valley Transit would have a single dedicated contact at the firm. Ron said the procurement used an RFP rather than a sealed bid and that the agency will assign a primary contact backed by an in-house team so operations are covered if one person is unavailable. "They have in-house creative. They have a huge team to take care of us," he said.

The contract was described as budgeted in the current fiscal plan. The commission recorded the motion as carrying unanimously; individual roll-call votes were not recorded in the meeting minutes.

Next steps: staff will finalize the contract with Affirm Agency and return any necessary execution documents per administrative procedures.