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Concord advisory committee plans short-term outreach hire, readies stakeholder letter as RFP work continues
Summary
A Town of Concord advisory committee agreed to pursue a short-term local consultant to support outreach and website updates, review an RFP being transferred to the town for master-planning procurement, and prepare an introductory letter to about 104 stakeholders to be distributed electronically by town staff.
The Town of Concord advisory committee agreed Thursday to pursue near-term local help for outreach and to move forward on a draft introductory letter to more than 100 stakeholders while the town prepares a formal RFP for a master-planning consultant.
Speaker 1 opened the meeting by outlining procurement guidance he said he received from Chris Carmody: "as long as the total value is less than $10,000 then, it doesn't need to go through a complicated bidding process," and the town manager must sign any contract undertaken by the town. Based on that threshold, committee members supported hiring a short-term consultant—roughly 10 hours a week for about three months—to keep outreach and the project website current until a selected master consultant takes over.
Speaker 4 reported that an RFP draft previously prepared by DCAM (the transcript also refers to it as "DKAM") has been transferred to the town and circulated for review. Speaker 4 and others said the RFP process and selection will likely take a couple of months after the document is released, and that town staff will be involved in final procurement steps.
The committee reviewed a stakeholder spreadsheet Speaker 1 shared that lists about 104 organizations and contacts. Speaker 1 proposed assigning each stakeholder to whichever committee should lead outreach (community outreach, legal & government affairs, or land use planning) and asked town staff to help populate contact information. Speaker 6 (town staff) said the town can help compile contact information and handle electronic distribution; "once I start looking at that spreadsheet of stakeholders again...there likely will be some people that we might have to snail mail it to," Speaker 6 said.
Speaker 4 described the draft introductory letter as informational and not initiating active engagement: it will introduce the advisory committee, outline the process, and provide contact information for feedback. The group agreed the committee will finalize the draft and then have town staff send it electronically to stakeholders once the contact list is complete. Speaker 1 volunteered to reach out to a potential local consultant (referred to in the meeting as Laura Davis) and report back in two weeks.
The committee also briefly discussed the DCAM questionnaire results distributed by town staff. Speaker 2 described the responses as an interesting data point but said no specific committee action was requested at this time. Members discussed preparing a short slide deck for an upcoming League of Women Voters meeting to summarize the committee's role and timeline, with a plan to meet beforehand to finalize slides.
During public comment, Speaker 7, who identified herself as a resident, urged the committee to ensure outreach reaches older residents who do not use typical channels. Speaker 8, representing the New England Velodrome and Sports Complex (a charitable organization), introduced the group's interest in Concord as a potential location for a 250-meter indoor cycling facility and asked to stay engaged with the committee.
The committee confirmed its tentative biweekly meeting schedule and adjourned with no further business.
Next steps: Speaker 1 will contact the proposed short-term consultant and report back in two weeks; committee members will review and finalize the draft introductory letter; town staff will help fill contact details and distribute the letter electronically when ready.
