Jackson council approves RFP for public sustainability‑plan dashboard to track progress

Tanya Anderson, the town’s ecosystem stewardship administrator, asked council on Jan. 20 to approve release of a request for proposals for a digital dashboard that would publicly track progress on the Town of Jackson sustainability plan.

Anderson said a dashboard would allow automatic calculations, searchable public access on the town website and more frequent updates than the current once‑a‑year PDF report. She noted higher upfront professional services costs and possible annual maintenance—staff cited examples of recurring vendor fees up to about $10,000 a year—but said those ongoing costs can be reduced by prioritizing proposals that require little vendor maintenance and by training town staff to update content.

Councilors asked about the RFP scoring rubric and how weightings were chosen; Anderson said the rubric uses 1–10 scores per category with weights multiplied to compute totals and that weights reflected previous review experience and priorities (project approach and budget weighted highest). Council emphasized usability and accessibility for residents who do not attend council meetings.

A member of the public, Catherine Rooker, suggested pitching the project to local nonprofits as a funding alternative to reduce town costs; Anderson said the RFP prioritizes proposals with low ongoing costs but also allows the town to change approach if council prefers a PDF instead. Council voted unanimously to release the RFP.

The RFP release signals the town expects to evaluate proposals using the proposed rubric and to seek a product that balances low ongoing costs with public usability. Staff said final maintenance costs will be clearer once proposals are received.