Proposal would cost $600 per month, maintain city presence in marketplace
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted in favor of engaging ICI Commercial Corporation to enter an agreement for marketing services for the city.
According to a memo from City Administrator Sam Tapson, contact was originally made with NAI/MLG – who previously handled marketing services for the city – seeking an extension of the city’s listing agreement subject to a 30-day cancelation clause. However, because the city did not receive a response, the agreement between the city and NAI/MLG expired on Feb. 28.
With an economic development market study in the works that could alter the city’s approach to marketing, Tapson said the city contacted Stu Rosenberg of ICI to see if a short-term agreement between the two entities could ensure the city doesn’t lose coverage in the marketplace during the transition.
In a Finance and Judicial Committee meeting prior to Monday’s council meeting, Tapson said the proposed marketing from ICI costs $600 each month. Previously with NAI/MLG, the city did not pay a monthly fee, according to Tapson, though payment was commission based.
Tapson said when they contacted ICI, they looked to see if ICI would be willing to lower back-end commission fees in exchange for a retainer fee. Additionally, he said under the proposal, ICI would be providing more than just marketing services, working with the Elkhorn Economic Development Alliance for example.
Tapson said with the end of the NAI/MLG agreement, the city is no longer listed on the company’s websites.
“So, there’s nothing out there to indicate our presence and our interest in businesses coming to the community except on our own website,” she said.
According to documents provided to the committee, the proposal calls for an eight-month agreement between the two, allowing for either party to cancel with 30-days written notice.
“It’s really basically a month-to-month,” Tapson said.
Tapson said Rosenberg had worked with the city previously to provide marketing services, though it was unfortunately a time when the city’s economic development entity was withering and the council at the time wasn’t looking to invest a lot in marketing.
“The finance committee then, no blame, no dispersions, they just didn’t see that it was important enough to, at that particular time, to spend additional dollars on some of the things he was proposing,” he said.
At that time, Tapson said Rosenberg had brought through a few prospects that unfortunately wouldn’t have worked under the plan commission.
Additionally, Finance Committee Chairman Scott McClory said the timing couldn’t have been worse for Rosenberg at that time with the nation being in a recession after the market crash.
“Nobody was buying anything and weren’t building anything,” he said.
“It was the prefect storm, in a negative way,” Tapson said.
Tapson said he suggested the city take the funds to cover the cost of the agreement from the city’s community development fund, which has an estimated reserve balance of $360,000.
“So, to spend, to Tom’s [Myrin] point, $7,000 to give this a whirl for a seven or eight months, or much shorter if we’re unsatisfied immediately, I think it’s a no-brainer, we should do it,” McClory said.
McClory said with Rosenberg offering “internet ‘blast’ marketing,” which would reach 7,000 brokers nationally, it could bear “huge fruit” for the city.
“What he put together outclasses anything I’ve seen from a lot of people,” Alderman Tom Myrin said.
Tapson said Rosenberg is a hard-worker when it comes to marketing the city and when he previously was with the city, brought numerous prospects to the city, selling “half a dozen” lots.
With a motion to approve on the table, McClory said before a vote, he wanted to make sure the city would reserve some kind of progress report from Rosenberg to see what he’s doing to market the city.
“I want to know two months from now if I want to pull the plug on the next $1,200,” he said. “Maybe we give him two months, and by the third month, we get kind of an update on where our first $1,200 went.”
McClory said he just wants some type of measurement, a “barometer,” that’s on going and when it starts is up for discussion later when drafting an official agreement.
The committee voted in favor of pursuing an agreement, with the council later following suit.
