Comments on: Decatur’s Plans for a New City Website

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:59:03 +0000

I really glad they got a Decatur design firm Lampe-Farley to do the design who btw did the original Decatur website according to their website. They also did the Decatur Metro logo. So props for that.

Did the design part go out for bid too.

TIA

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:49:03 +0000

You could request all of that info under a open records request. I suggest you do.

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:27:26 +0000

I appreciate the response but I would rather keep the discussion in a public forum.
I don’t really understand some companies not wanting to work with an outside designer. We do it all the time. Was there a question of competence or did they just want to use in house assets?

Also is there some way to find out what firms were contacted for bid. In addition a link to the completed contract would be helpful.

TIA

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:02:26 +0000

If the city had blatantly ignored a vast number of local firms who would do the work in favor of one from CA for particular reason, then yes I would be pissed. But we don’t know that. We don’t even know, of the 10 firms that submitted RFPs, how many were from the city.

We have to make a LOT of assumptions to get to the point where we can be pissed that the city is choosing not to employ local businesses for the work. And in my experience, that is not the city’s MO.

Linda’s explanation below gives us a bit more info, but if you’re truly taken back by this, I’d suggest getting the full story from Linda before going around saying that the city doesn’t support local businesses.

As a new Decatur business owner myself – and someone that has a good deal of contact with business owners in Decatur – that seems to be about the furthest thing from the truth. And I WILL assume that a lot of other local business owners will back me up on that statement.

By: karass

karass — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:58:57 +0000

Nice response from a city official, especially the offer to talk directly. If only CSD would respond this way to concerns and questions. It doesn’t take a whole new position in Central Office just a shift in attitude and responsiveness.

By: Linda Harris

Linda Harris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:51:11 +0000

David,
I agree with you – we would definitely prefer to hire a local City of Decatur website developer if possible. In this case, we put the RFP out to every City of Decatur website business we knew of and every member of the Decatur Business Association. We also asked folks to forward it to anyone else local that might be interested. We posted it on the website, sent it to local media and bloggers, put it on our blog, facebook, and twitter pages. We were asking for a complete re-development of the foundation not just a re-design of the site. After the pre-bid meeting to explain the details, several Decatur firms called and told us they were not capable of handling such an extensive site redevelopment project and others did not want to use our specified Decatur graphics company. I will be glad to discuss all the details about this and anything else if you are interested. My direct line is 678-553-6512.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:43:25 +0000

I agree wholehartedely, David.

Next time you buy a bike, I would suggest buying it online or at Wal-Mart or Target.

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:55:24 +0000

DM aren’t you a little upset at this too. You’re one of the biggest local boosters around.
I mean Boykin basically gave the Watergate defense, ie, my staff handles that, so what kind of response do you think I’d get from Harris? I’m sure every t was crossed and every i was dotted and every but was covered but it still stinks!