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Council approves month-to-month LS2 public-relations contract after 4–3 split
Summary
On July 7 the Muscatine City Council approved a month-to-month contract with LS2 Group for emergency communications linked to the 200 block of East 2nd Street, after a 4–3 vote on whether to pay a reported $10,000 base fee per month while the city’s communications director remains on staff.
The Muscatine City Council on July 7 approved a month-to-month contract with LS2 Group to provide emergency and crisis communications related to the 200 block of East 2nd Street, voting 4–3 to authorize the short-term arrangement.
The contract was described in council discussion as a crisis response engagement that began in mid-June. Council member Brockert said the city already has an in-house communications director and objected to paying an outside firm. “I’m not happy about this at all… It’s $10,000, which in the scheme of things isn’t… but I think that 10,000 could be used better places. And we already have a communications director,” Brockert said.
Jen Rich, identified at the meeting as the LS2 representative, said the $10,000 figure is the base monthly fee and that additional expenses could bring the monthly cost “to just say $10,12, $13,000 a month,” while characterizing the work as crisis-mode support.
City Administrator (name not provided) told the council LS2 was engaged the week of June 16 to help with emergency communications for several downtown buildings and that the contract was intended as a temporary, month-to-month fix while staff stabilized the situation. The administrator said city staff and legal counsel would have access to the information LS2 manages and that staff expected to be “in a much better spot” and likely end the engagement after the initial period.
Council member Osborne and other members pressed for details on funding and the intended duration. The city administrator said funding would be determined and that some money could come from the city administrator's budget; no final funding source was identified during the meeting.
The motion to approve the contract was made by Council member Lewis and seconded by Council member Gordon. The council approved the measure with four ayes and three nays. The administrator told council members he would return with more information about funding and any continuation beyond the initial month.
The contract is month-to-month and, according to discussion at the meeting, was entered into as an emergency communications measure for the downtown block, not as a planned long-term outsourcing of routine communications work.
