Agenda - Council Work Session - 07/09/2019

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per week in the Administrative Services Department. Opening up more time in the Administrative Clerk's schedule would help off -set some of this reduction. By outsourcing the design work, combined with condensing the number of publications and the number of pages per publication, the City can cut its annual newsletter expenditures to an estimated $32,500. By taking these steps, it would also allow the Administrative Department to accomplish more tasks with its existing staff. Previous Meeting Questions/Concerns At the May 14 Work Session, the Council brought up concerns about the paper quality and design of the example presented and the current Ramsey Resident newsletter. Regardless of the design vendor chosen, staff has the flexibility to work with the designer to see that the adopt our current design and match paper quality. A question was also asked about the City's control or copyrights over the newsletter. If the newsletter is outsourced, designers will work with us on proofing and we will still own the copyrights to the newsletter. It should be noted that, with other vendors the City would be responsible for copy editing content. With PRIME, their design team would copy edit our material. Lastly, a question was also asked about alternative vendors, other than PRIME, that have the same scope of services. In your packet you will find a table outlining which vendors staff contacted, their scope of services and how much they charge for those services. Please note that, while PRIME's numbers appear to be the highest, their scope of services is greater than any other design and printing company staff found. Advantages to Outsourcing To reduce costs and staff time spent dedicated to the newsletter, staff is recommending a combination of the options by outsourcing the newsletter, as follows: Four quarterly newsletters, PRIME's Annual Community Guide and at least one Ramsey Recycler, for the following reasons: 1) The Community Resource Guide is an economic development marketing tool designed to promote Ramsey business and market Ramsey to other businesses looking to locate in the area. The Guide would serve as a helpful tool for the City to retain and draw retail to Ramsey - an important issue for Ramsey residents as outlined in the latest Citizen Survey. 2) The Ramsey Recycler would serve as a dual purpose document - it would also be reimbursed by SCORE funding and also help the City meet its Charter requirements. The City currently publishes the Recycler in addition to its newsletter. Please note, in order to be reimbursed by SCORE funds, the City is required to educate the public about the changes in global recycling trends via a print publication. 3) Condensing from six issues to four, this would amount to less dollars spent on printing and postage and also a drop in staff time. Staff Recommendation Of the six options listed above, it is staffs recommendation to use a combination approach, as follows: outsource the Ramsey Resident, the Community Resource Guide and at least one 4-page Ramsey Recycler to PRIME Advertising. This would then meet our requirements via City Charter. Staff also plans to make a concerted effort to reduce article length, in turn, reducing the number of pages to help reduce printing costs. This would save both staff time and overall publication cost.This would account for an approximate 25 percent cost reduction. Another scenario that would save annual costs and only slightly reduce staff time spent on the newsletter is to convert from a bi-monthly (6) to a quarterly (4) Ramsey Resident Newsletter and at least one Ramsey Recycler in house and outsource the Community Resource Guide to PRIME. This would meet our City Charter requirements and amount to an estimated 40 percent cost reduction. Whatever the outcome, City staff retains copyrights and remains in full ownership of the Ramsey Resident Newsletter. 16-Page in house $32,095 16-page PRIME $36,664