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Consultant presents Villagefest branding plan and urges website overhaul; board tables social‑media policy
Summary
Communications consultant Trapey Smith delivered a marketing and website audit to the Village Trust Board, citing accessibility gaps and recommending a site overhaul and consolidated social‑media governance. Board members praised survey results but asked staff to return with legal, budget and governance details before changing account ownership or spending city funds.
Trapey Smith, the communications firm hired to refresh Villagefest’s brand, presented a step‑by‑step marketing plan to the Village Trust Board and urged the city to modernize the event’s website and social‑media governance.
Barbara Ban of Trapey Smith told the board the site is “technically limited and outdated,” lacks accessibility features and in practice pushes users to the city’s Facebook page instead of a unified Villagefest presence. The consultant said a full website overhaul would require a new appropriation, noting a ballpark cost discussed in the meeting of roughly the low five‑figure range. She recommended four seasonal campaigns, a refreshed visual toolkit, improved wayfinding and a newsletter to retain first‑time visitors.
The presentation included survey findings the consultant compiled with local partners: 275 responses showed 72% of attendees rated Villagefest “excellent” overall and 89% said they would return. About one‑third of respondents reported spending $26–50 at vendors and many reported dining at nearby restaurants, reinforcing the event’s economic role for downtown businesses.
Board members and staff welcomed the findings but pressed for specifics before moving ahead. Staff said the current website is more than a decade old, has maintenance and compliance gaps, and lacks the back‑end capacity to host electronic vendor applications and digital mapping. Staff estimated an overhaul would require budget prioritization during the city’s biennial process.
A substantial portion of the discussion focused on social media. Trapey Smith recommended consolidating Villagefest social accounts under city oversight, granting full admin access, and linking those accounts to an analytics and scheduling tool so the city could run paid campaigns and measure impact. Several members and staff said multiple accounts currently exist — some run by volunteers or merchants — and that ownership and Brown Act implications need to be clarified.
The board agreed to table formal adoption of a Villagefest social‑media policy. Members directed staff to convene the marketing/social‑media subcommittee, consult with the city attorney about Brown Act limits for board members’ interactions online, and return with a recommended governance path, a budget estimate for the site overhaul and a phased timeline for implementation.
The consultant said the materials and templates developed for staff — including social templates, a Canva toolkit and sample on‑site branding — are intended to be sustainable and to enable staff to continue the work beyond the contract. Staff said the contract covers the current fiscal year and that continued work would require funding in the next budget cycle.
Next steps: staff will present a summary of options for website funding, a proposed governance plan for social accounts (including legal guidance on Brown Act risk), and a recommended timeline for rolling out the consultant’s prioritized items.
