The City of Niagara Falls is looking for some professional public relations help in the new year.
A request for quotations for professional communications consultants has been posted to the city’s website with a requirement that all interested parties have their proposals submitted to Mayor Robert Restaino’s office by no later than Jan. 6.
The city’s solicitation seeks proposals from “qualified professional communications consultants to provide comprehensive public relations, media relations and social media management for city government operations.
The list of required duties includes media relations and publicity management, police and public safety communications support, crisis communications and reputation management, strategic communications planning and issues management, community relations coalition building and grassroots outreach, state and local government affairs and legislative tracking and media training for city officials.
The preferred consultant will be expected to conduct weekly remote planning meetings and maintain and update a project tracking document to monitor city initiatives, policies and communication activities.
The preferred consultant will also be expected to act as a liaison between the city government and the news media, draft and issue press releases, prepare city officials for media interviews and draft and submit quarterly opinion pieces or letters to the editor highlighting city initiatives, as well as pitch “positive” stories to local and regional media outlets.
The job also includes handling the city’s social media, including the city’s official Facebook page.
Councilman Jim Perry said he has been encouraging the mayor to pursue the hiring of a professional public relations team for almost a year because it seems the city gets more negative coverage than it does credit for everything being done in terms of rebuilding the value of the city.
Perry said he has discussed with the mayor the possibility of contracting the work out because it would cost less than hiring a full-time public relations staff member, as the administration has done in the past.
“We have so many projects in the works, but most of the media have a tendency to report negative publicity,” he said. “As I encouraged the mayor to do this, I support the move 100%.”