WESTFORD — The Select Board on Tuesday heard additional details on a request which could strengthen townwide communication in the future.
The request, which would be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, is for a consultant to develop a communications plan and to offer communications support. With current budget constraints, the town would be unable to absorb costs into the FY26 budget.
The town has a remaining ARPA balance of $367,728.48 as of Oct. 22.
As WestfordCAT reported on Monday, Town Manager Kristen Las in a memo to the Select Board noted that there is a need for “a more unified communications strategy” for the town.
At the time of reporting, one example proposal has been submitted by Pierce-Coté, an Osterville-based firm under Regan Communications Group in Boston. The example proposal calls for social media seminars and staff training, social media monitoring and reporting as well as public relations and crisis communications for staff.
A proposal from Capital Strategic Solutions for Jan. 11, 2023 originally submitted to the Town of Hanson was also included in the board’s packet.
Neither proposal could be used as presented, as the town has not formally sought proposals through its bid process at the time of reporting.
“I had phone conversations with those two consulting firms and we talked about some of the things that we would like,” Las said. “They, on their own, sent us a proposal of what that could look like. We anticipate taking the Hanson proposal from CSS and taking the Pierce proposal, melding that in as we see for a vision for Westford and then going back out for bid.”
Board members discuss proposal
Board member John Cunningham questioned the scope of the request.
“This is supposed to help us with our strategic plan. Aren’t we getting a little ahead of that,” he asked. “This is getting specific on something that we’re still talking about on our strategic plan.”
He added, “A lot of this seems to be a PR thing, public relations. I’m concerned about getting involved in trying to promote what we’re doing instead of just explaining what we’re doing.”
Las said the scope is to understand how the town communicates.
“Now, it’s very decentralized. The Police Department could put out their own press release or the Town Manager’s office could put out their own press release or the Town Clerk’s office could do some sort of media. Right now it’s very haphazard,” she said.
Board clerk Chris Barrett said he is “really invested in seeing this forward.”
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to better engage our community. I have a feeling we’re just not getting the message out to the community as a whole,” he said. “If this group can help us with that, it’s worth all the money in the world to me, personally.”
The board will discuss submitting a Request for Proposal at a future meeting. A contract for a proposal must be signed by Dec. 31 to comply with the Department of Treasury’s guidelines.
