Politics & Government
UPDATE: City of Half Moon Bay Set to Hire Public Relations Consultant
San Francisco firm charging $4,000/month for services through June, with $60,000 in services to be requested for next fiscal year.
Update 11:44 p.m. The Half Moon Bay City Council voted to approve the contract with Barbary Coast Consulting at tonight's meeting.
Starting this evening, San Francisco firm Barbary Coast Consulting might be handling the city of Half Moon Bay's public relations with media and local residents.
"Given the volume of organizational changes and the shift in staffing levels, providing consistent and proactive communication has been a challenge for the organization," Assistant to the City Manager Katie Crowder wrote in a March 20 city staff report (see PDF document in the media box at right). "The city's goal is to effectively meet the diverse information needs of the community."
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The Half Moon Bay City Council will vote at tonight's meeting on whether to approve the costs for Barbary Coast Consulting to develop a two-part communications plan ($7,675), as well as a $4,000 per month contract through the end of the fiscal year in June to cover services such as developing key messages and talking points for the city, serving as a spokesperson to the media, sending out press releases, handling crisis communications as necessary and developing a quarterly newsletter targeted towards local residents.
$60,000 will be requested in the upcoming fiscal year's budget for the firm's services, according to the staff report.
Find out what's happening in Half Moon Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Headed by president Jaime Rossi, Barbary Coast Consulting was founded in 2003 and has worked with clients such as the city and county of San Francisco, Google, the YMCA, Ralph Lauren and Nielsen Media Research.
According to the firm's website, Barbary Coast Consulting also has specialized experience in land use policy and practice in the Bay Area and has worked with developers as well as schools during campus expansion projects.
The firm beat out four other proposals and was selected by a panel which conducted interviews with three firms, according to the staff report.
The Half Moon Bay City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. tonight at the (535 Kelly St.).
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