UPDATE: Michele tweets, City of GSO paid $1K to add header/widgets to default WP theme for Google site? And in Firefox, it looks, umm... She's got a screencap of umm. 

I disagree with the comment saying no expenditure was necessary for the marketing/PR project, and I'm holding out hope that there's more to the web presence than what we've seen so far...END UPDATE

Roch critiques the City's contract with RLF, saying we're paying $10K for "a 'web site' that is a blog -- and it is a Word Press blog to boot, not even a Google-powered blog."

To be fair, it seems to be a $3K blog, with the other $7K going for other services, and much of the $3K going to management of the web presence. 

Ryan looks at the itemized bill and says, "I'm a bit shocked that the City paid $1,000 for that Web site. It's a simple Wordpress theme that has a custom header/navigation, a few widgets and a custom border."

More from Roch:

The City's blog allows people to make comments on posts. Other than that, it is unclear what kind of unfettered access it provides to social media or what kind of special experience in unfettered access public-meeting-boycotting RLF Communications brings to the table. The City's blog has nothing like the unfettered aggregation of blogs posts, videos and links at Google4Greensboro.com -- up and running since prior to the City's public meeting about the Google initiative ten days ago.

As I said this morning, the site looks a bit off in Firefox. I'm assuming that the site will be much more richly populated with links and features in the very near future, and that this first iteration does not represent the end of the design for which the taxpayers are paying $1,000. If I'm wrong, and RFI really just charged us $1K for setting up a blog, well, that would suck.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

I'm diggin' that $2k for "managing and updating" web content for the month of March.

[A. Bulluck]

The government is wasting the taxpayer's money? I'm shocked.

[triadwatch]

if this wasn't so serious it would be laughable on the part of the city, amazing waste of government money to give to rlf where the local bloggers were doing this all for free.

[triadwatch]

Overall Strategy, Ideas & Action Plan Creation: $2,000
Website Design & Copywriting: $1,000
Website Management & Updating of Content in March: $2,000
Promotion & Management of Contests: $4,000
Reporting, Tracking & Strategy Meetings: $1000
TOTAL $10,000

Here goes what it should look like
overall strategy, ideas action plan = o

web site design = 0
blogspots are free

website management = 0
local bloggers have been doing the work for free up to this point

promotion and management of contest = 0
don't need contest it is a application not a contest

reporting , tracking, and strategy meetings =0
these are free

so in reality this $10,000 should = 0

so let's count this as a local candidate for a award from the citizens against government waste.

[Ryan Shell]

Keith, your notion of $0 took me back to something I said on this post, http://greensboropolitics.com/google-meeting-and-various-notes-on-the-project-thus-far.

"This isn’t meant to be a dig towards the City (Action has been quite swift thus far), but for a project of this nature they need to develop a quick action “Google for Greensboro” marketing plan… and I just don’t know that they’ve ever had to do something like that before. Or maybe I should be clearer and define it as a Web 2.0 era marketing plan. If the City were fully prepared for this type of deal, yesterday’s post (video specifically) about Wilson, NC would have seemed like old news, but it wasn’t."

The City should be prepared to handle projects of this nature, and they aren't (or at least that is how it's perceived). We should desire to have a council that understands the need for these abilities as marketing Greensboro should fall in the economic development category.

[Ryan Shell]

Sorry for leaving another comment, but this was worth pointing out.

I appreciate branding, but with nearly 1,400+ Twitter followers on the City of Greensboro's Twitter account (http://twitter.com/greensborocity)... I would not have suggested starting a new account for the Google initiative.

[Monty Hagler]

I appreciate all of the comments that folks are making about the effort by the City of Greensboro to land the Google Fiber project. The role of the googlegreensboro.com website is not to replace all of the great efforts that are already taking place; it is to help organize and better channel efforts. The City needs an official site where it can:

- Provide a hub where information can be officially communicated and updates quickly posted from the City

- Promote various contests and fun ways to engage citizens who want to support the City’s efforts to land Google

-Keep an accurate track of how many Greensboro citizens (or others who support Greensboro) take the time to fill out the Community Application that Google has posted.

As best we can tell, the Google selection will come down to 3 driving factors:

1. The data and information in the official application that each community is preparing, and which the Greensboro city staff is working on extremely hard.
2. The number and quality of responses to the Community Application that Google has posted for citizens to support their communities
3. The overall support and enthusiasm that communities demonstrate to Google and get on their radar screen.

The City of Greensboro is working hard on all of these fronts, as is my agency and many individuals throughout the community. We are creating contests, working with news media (such as today's great article in the N&R about the benefits of fiber optic), holding events and engaging citizens throughout the city. The website is one small part of an overall engagement effort.

We welcome everyone’s efforts to help Greensboro land Google, and we’ll continue to improve our efforts each and every day.

Monty Hagler
President
RLF Communications

[Ed Cone]

Monty,

Thanks for commenting. Can you address the specific concerns about the page you've set up, in terms of cost, content, and functionality?

Also, are you saying your firm played a specific role in today's N&R package? If so, what was that role? What else can we expect from your firm?

All: please be courteous, we've got company. The idea is to improve the process, not to attack people, impugn motives, work out rage issues, etc.

[Roch101]

Thanks for taking note of this, Ed.

The problem is that the City paid for what they could have done in-house for free in literally minutes; did not pay for (and have not received) the kind of enhanced web functions they need and say they want; and were delayed by close to two weeks to accommodate Action Greensboro's and RLF's meager efforts. (You could throw in stepping on grassroots enthusiasm as a bonus. see Ryan above.)

You ask some very good questions above Ed. Another I would add is when did Action Greensboro's proposal to insert RLF into the process go from "We'll pay for it," to "You pay for it" and why?

[Roch101]

A reminder: Ed set up this blog for the City to use on February 17th on GOOGLE's blogging platform.

I do not know why it did not get used as, to quote Monty, "a hub where information can be officially communicated and updates quickly posted from the City." Instead, we waited sixteen days for a different blog, one with the important distinction of costing lots of money and NOT being on Google's blog host.

[Ross Myers]

Being miffed about there not being an open RFP on the Website Services for the City's Google efforts is a legitimate point to everyone particularity to those who are in the business of providing those services.

Those in the biz know that a site is more then tech..its about creativity and maintenance. I see around the clock coming on this one.

So far it may seem we haven't received the best bang for our buck but perceived value for something that hasn't played all the way out yet is speculative at best.

For instance,if we make the site work and we draw a potential $500 million dollar investment into our community's communication infrastructure what would the cost/benefit ratio of that be?

The site hopefully will become more then technology...hopefully it will be about people...ideas ....community....what we want for our future. We will see.

I suspect at the end of the project when the numbers are solid Mr. Hagler and his team will find they will have done more for love of Community then for their bottom lines.

If not.....I'm sure there will be those that will let them know.

[sean coon]

not that the RLF site is anything special, but blogger is the biggest afterthought in google's acquisition list. NOT using blogger would get more brownie points from google folk than using it, if you actually think they care about such a thing.

$10k is relatively fair market price for a gig that includes consulting with AG/the city, designing and developing the web site and managing the effort moving forward, especially if they include tag feed pulls and twitter hashmark feeds like roch's site is doing, as well other creative ideas to expose the excitement in the community about the potential partnership.

not sure what the issue is.

[John Robinson]

I'm not aware of any role RLF had in our package of stories about Google I'm also unaware of any contact the company has had with with the news department about Google Fiber.

[triadwatch]

Jr below is from amanda's article out today

“Google is basically raising the bar,” said Javier Gomez, CEO of Greensboro-based Dynamic Quest, a local Internet service company.

now this is from the rlf web site

Outreach Tactics

Over the next three weeks, the city will launch an aggressive outreach effort to build community support for the Google initiative and persuade the company to pick Greensboro. Those efforts will include:

» Media relations
» Google AdWords and radio ads (donated by Dynamic Quest)
» Online contests and promotions
» Tracking and measurement of this work

is this a coincidence?

[John Robinson]

Is what a coincidence? That we talked to an Internet company about Google and that same company is involved in the effort to get Google to pick Greensboro? No, it's not a coincidence. They are experts and we interviewed them. They want Google to come and they've donated whatever to the cause.

Did Amanda know that Dynamic was involved with the Google initiative. I don't know but I'd be surprised if she didn't.

[Marshall]

Roch,

Why did you not get this deal from the city? You are easily qualified.

thanks,

[Spag]

And people think lawyers charge too much.

[Michele Forrest]

Good news: The GoogleGreensboro site now renders correctly in Firefox.

Bad news: It's still the default (free) WordPress theme with a modified header and some widgets. :/

[John Robinson]

Oops. Correction to the above. Amanda tells me she talked with Hagler and Denise Turner, but that the only information that ended up in the story -- a story that was conceived 3 weeks ago -- was the Web site URL.

[Roch101]

Marshall,

Thanks for the kind words. I sent an email to Assistant City Manager Denise Turner after I heard that the city was thinking of hiring somebody to handle the web portions of this project. In it, I acknowledged that time was too limited to prepare a RFP and I suggested that the City simply solicit recommendations from local web design companies. I said that I could deliver such a proposal in half a day. That email went unanswered.

I am certain that what I would have delivered would have been superior and, as I indicated in my email to the City, I was willing to compete for the chance. But that is almost moot now. The real question is, if the city was going to end up with a blog as their site, why did they not simply use the free one Ed created for them on February 17th instead of waiting two weeks to pay for one? And why did it become a paid one when Action Greensboro originally offered to cover the cost?

[Roch101]

"I'm not aware of any role RLF had in our package of stories about Google I'm also unaware of any contact the company has had with with the news department about Google Fiber." -- JR

Have you asked?

[triadwatch]

jr,

It sure does look like Jeri Rowe's puff piece today on google has rlf written all over it. Coincidence?