A committee of the Wauwatosa Common Council on Jan. 20 was divided on a staff request to hire a firm for about $14,000 to create a modern new "design element" that could be incorporated into the city's branding and public identity.
The proposal, which was first discussed last October, was presented to the Government Affairs Committee, but after a brief discussion, the committee voted 3-3, meaning it will not recommend the measure for final approval when the full council convenes on Jan. 27.
Committee members Margaret Arney of District 2, Ernst Franzen of District 4 and Joe Phillips of District 6 voted in favor of the expense, while James Moldenhauer of District 1, Joseph Makhlouf of District 3 and Amanda Fuerst of District 7 voted no. Sean Lowe of District 5 and Jason Wilke of District 8 were absent.
City staff had been careful not to describe the request as a new "logo," and they affirmed that the city's existing logo, a decades-old shield that isn't optimized for digital formats, would remain part of the city's branding.
"It's really an effort to come up with a complementary, flexible element," Communications Manager Eva Ennamorato told the committee in explaining the request before the vote. In particular, the new design element could be incorporated more seamlessly into the city's website re-design that is underway. That website project has come in under budget, she said, meaning that the $14,000 expense for a design element would not require an additional budgetary increase.
Five contractors submitted proposals, and the staff recommended McDaniels Marketing, a firm that has worked extensively on municipal and corporate branding projects across the Midwest. (The McDaniels proposal can be viewed here.)
Arney, who pushed for this branding upgrade last year, said before the vote that she was "delighted" with the choice of McDaniels and the opportunity to create "forward-looking and very professional" elements to represent Wauwatosa.
Fuerst agreed in concept — "I'm sure this logo is going to be gorgeous and better than what we have now" — but she was opposed to the cost, given that the Common Council had spent considerable time during budget deliberations last fall on whether to add or cut expenses with similar values.
Makhlouf said he agreed. If the website came in under budget, "I'd rather have the refund check," he said, than to spend that money on a "design element."
Their "no" votes, combined with Moldenhauer's, were enough to block the committee's recommendation.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
