Byron board hires consultant to help with levy

EDITOR
With the search for a new superintendent behind them, the Byron School Board turned its attention to passage of a levy referendum this fall with a discussion on the costs of the election and the advantages of hiring a public relations firm help with marketing at Monday night’s meeting.
Supt. Dr. Mike Neubeck explained that this November’s levy referendum will be different from last year’s in that it will be a special election, not part of the general election.
A general election, he said, also includes national, state, and county elections and is organized by the county with several polling places. A school district, he said, sends the election information to the county. In a special election there is only a question regarding the school referendum, the district organizes the election and there is only one polling place at the Byron Middle School.
Since the entire election is the responsibility of the school district, all the costs are also the district’s responsibility.
Last November’s referendum cost the district $15,863. That cost included postage, mailings and legal services. Those costs will also be involved in this fall’s vote, but additional costs will include the election judges, county election services, increased legal service costs and district administration support. The district is estimated that will raise the cost of the election to $25,785. The cost is approximate, Neubeck said, because it needs to also take into account inflation and increased postage costs.
The district has already established a Referendum Steering Committee that has been meeting to plan the campaign. Committee members include Alisha Eiken, Abe Rodemeyer, Jen Hegna, Justin Blom, Brit Avant and Neubeck. Others participating in the committee have include Board Chair Jeremy Aagard, Acting Finance Director Dan Pyan and most recently, incoming superintendent Nate Walbruch.
The committee also recently met with Jeff Dehler of Dehler PR which works with school districts on community engagement and referendum marketing efforts. Dehler PR was founded in 2011 to deliver caring and committed public relations and marketing to clients in the public sector, according to its website.
Dehler would provide such services as meeting strategy, agendas, notes and post meeting reports, publicity, invitations and reporting to the community, communications deliverables including slide presentations, handouts, website content, news releases and feedback methods, including paper or online collection of data. The firm would also develop a schedule from now through election day.
The proposal submitted by Dehler PR would cost the district $31,500, Neubeck said.
Actual costs of the election, Neubeck said, plus the assistance of Dehler, would mean a minimum total cost of $60,000.
The Steering Committee, Neubeck said, recommended the hiring of Dehler PR.
The rationale for hiring a marketing consultant, Neubeck said, is that unlike larger districts, Byron does not have a full-time communications department.
Eiken said that Dehler PR is a small company that goes “above and beyond” in helping their clients. Walbruch, she said, has worked with the firm in getting a levy approved in his current district and speaks highly of them.
“It became clear during the meeting that we need help with the referendum,” she said.
Aagard said that initially he found it hard to accept the cost of hiring a consultant. But, he said, the district cannot keep reducing its’ way out of the financial situation and that referendum passage is needed.
Other board members agreed that the district must pass the referendum as it cannot continue to make cuts as it has over the past two years. That means, they agreed, the district must get this right and get the story out to the voters.
Board members also understood that costs could vary between now and election day based on inflation or postage costs and if they decided they needed additional assistance from Dehler PR with add-on costs.
In the end, they voted unanimously to retain the services of Dehler PR.