A Free Lesson in PR.

There was an article in the Bay City Times this week about the Bay City paying a consultant $30,000 to “find ways to get a positive message out to residents regarding the city’s water and wastewater systems.”

I sat at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast a few months ago where city officials were pleading poverty as to why we can’t repair the streets of Bay City. We can’t afford to fix our roads but we have money to invest in making us feel better about our sewers?

This isn’t the first time that Bay City has used outside experts who came with a high price tag. I don’t have anything against using outside experts when the situation calls for it, but $30,000 to get a positive message out about the sewer?? Really? Really? Sometimes I am not sure if the people running the day-to-day operations of our city are capable of making good decisions. I wouldn’t let them run a bake sale and they’re in charge of the city budget.

Our city is falling apart and I am not speaking figuratively–the streets are actually crumbling. Is this really the best use of $30,000 out of an already overtaxed city budget? I don’t care if the money wasn’t earmarked for street repairs, we don’t need a PR campaign to make the sewer warm and fuzzy. It’s the sewer! If you have thirty grand to throw at a consultant, that’s thirty grand that could go to street repair. Or whatever…just not a PR campaign for the sewer.

Want a free lesson in public relations? A lot of PR comes at little or no cost–newspapers, tv, town hall meetings, etc. I have nothing against using consultants/experts when it makes sense, but Bay City is too quick to turn to consultants because there is a very low level of expertise when it comes to dealing with PR/advertising. Just look at the city logo that came out a couple of years ago–that monstrosity cost the city nearly $50,000. There are at least ten designers in Bay City who could have done a better job at a fraction of the cost. Hell, there are probably ten fifth graders who could have done a better job.

Sometimes, Bay City government seems more concerned with looking good than doing good. And that’s a problem. Good public relations come from sound decisions. Spending $30,000 for a consultant's ideas is not a sound decision in the current economic environment. Quit trying to look good and just fix the city.