AGENDA #2k(3)

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM: Kathryn Spatz, Parks & Recreation Director

SUBJECT: Greenways Brochure Design Project

DATE: May 3, 2000

REISSUED MAY 17, 2000

This is in response to a recent question regarding the cost and scope of the Greenways brochure design project.

Upon completion, this would be the third full-color Greenways brochure produced by the Town since the inception of the Greenways program in 1985. The Greenways brochures have been very popular over the years. We receive requests for these brochures almost daily.

The first two Greenways brochures served us for about 4 years per edition. Rather than reprint the current brochure, which is severely out of date, we decided to design a new brochure, which would include all new trails. The new design will also include trails that are likely to be built in the near future. We anticipate using the new design for at least 4-5 years. Upon completion of a significant number of new trails we would investigate the need to update and revise the brochure.

We worked closely with the Greenways Commission to determine the style and content of each brochure. The Commission recommended full-color for the past two brochures and continued to recommend full-color for the current design process.

We also note that it is not unusual for municipalities to use a professional full-color brochure to provide maps for users and to promote greenway and open space programs. In this area Durham, Cary, and Raleigh have produced similar brochures for use by their citizens. We have seen similar brochures for trail and open space programs throughout the country.

The decision to produce a professional, full-color brochure is the main factor behind the cost of design. The price includes:

• Researching trail locations, trail heads, parking locations, etc.
• Designing the brochure
• Creating and revising numerous maps
• Attending as many meetings as is required to get consensus agreement on the look and content of the brochure
• Handling printing bids
• Coordinating with the printer to ensure proper setup of electronic files for printing
• Delivering electronic files and hard copies of the brochure to the Parks and Recreation Department so that we can handle future printings ourselves

I believe that $6,800 is a fair price for the type of product we will produce, the printing coordination, plus the amount of review that is typical for a Town project of this type. This is especially true if you consider the number of revisions that have already been made to the design. Our vendor reports that if we had paid for the design on an hourly basis, rather than as a lump sum, the fees would have been much higher.

With regard to the consultant selection process, for most projects expected to cost $5,000 to $30,000 we contact at least 3 vendors (usually more). In the case of the brochure project most of the vendors we contacted did not respond to our request for proposals. Lappas + Haevener gave us the best proposal of the three who did submit prices.