Committee recommends Blue Ridge Creative Marketing as top scorer, notes two other close contenders

The selection committee voted to recommend Blue Ridge Creative Marketing as its top scorer in a marketing-services request for proposals and agreed to flag two other closely ranked firms for City Council consideration.

The committee moved to forward Blue Ridge Creative Marketing as the recommended firm after members said scoring showed a clear first-place entry but a narrow margin among the next two finalists. Chair (S2) asked for the motion to send the recommendation to Council; committee members approved it by voice vote ('All in favor').

Committee members debated whether to submit only a single recommended name or to note multiple strong candidates. Committee member (S5) flagged a discrepancy in how rankings appeared in one table and asked why a firm listed second there would be omitted from the packet. Staff member (S1) recommended including a short explanatory note in the packet that described the committee's process and noted that two firms also scored highly.

"We ended up with two very high scoring candidates. The higher of the two by our scoring was, you know, this firm. So that's our recommended firm," Staff member (S1) said, urging that the packet explain the selection method. Several members said the local firm’s long-standing relationship with the committee weighed into how Council might view recommendations, with one member warning of a 'curse of the incumbent' effect.

Participants also flagged public misunderstanding about the rebranding effort and emphasized the need for staff to correct the record once Council reviews the recommendation. The committee directed staff to include the explanatory note in the upcoming Council packet; there was no recorded roll-call vote, only the voice vote approving the recommendation.

The committee did not set a final contract at this meeting; the recommendation will go to City Council for its consideration and any further action.