A marketing firm is assisting with public engagement as Boone County works on updating its comprehensive plan.
“One of the things I wanted to do was expand our public outreach, awareness and participation,” Boone County Planning Commission Executive Director Kevin Costello said. “We sent out an RFP (request for proposal) to hire a firm. Three firms submitted proposals. The range was $27,550 to $125,000.”
Norwood, Ohio-based Rasor Marketing Communications will be on board from this month through June 30, 2024, and will be paid $41,928, officials said.Â
“The bulk of the work is going to be in the remaining months of this fiscal year,” Costello said. “They’re a very good firm and will be coming up with a design for a specific website for the plan. They’ll be doing a lot of social media, publishing newsletters and fact sheets to get the word out about the comprehensive plan.”
A prime focus of the comprehensive plan is to flesh out goals and objectives that will be adopted by Boone County, and the cities of Florence, Union and Walton, with regard to the direction of future development, officials said.
A strong public agency work history makes Rasor an asset, Costello said.
“They worked on the Brent Spence (bridge) project,” Costello said. “They’re also the full time media consultant for Mason, Ohio and have worked with OKI (Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.). We feel very good using a firm like that. They’ll also do (public) survey work and educational videos on the comprehensive plan.”
Boone County Community Development Services Director Jenna LeCount and Boone County Preservation Planner Bridget Striker will be working directly with Raso.
“Jenna was really excited and thought that was the best choice,” Boone County Planning Commission Long Range Planning/Comprehensive Plan Committee Chairman Bob Schwenke said. “I take a lot of stock in what she thinks about it. I think it’ll be good.”
The comprehensive plan update is progressing, Costello said.
“We’re going through that process, hoping to come up with the new draft copy of the goals and objectives,” Costello said. “At some point soon we will have a draft and obviously that will be published and will be on our website. We have to hold a public hearing, the staff presents the goals and objectives and ultimately the full board has to adopt those.”
The estimated completion of the goals and objectives draft copy is the end of this year or early 2024.
“We’ll then pass it on to the three cities and the county – and then they adopt it,” Costello said.