The Riverview City Council awarded the city’s land preserve survey bid to Cobalt Community Research.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Sunday Times Newspapers
RIVERVIEW — The City Council unanimously agreed to award the bid to survey Riverview residents on the city’s land preserve expansion options to Cobalt Community Research.
Cobalt, which bid $16,374, would send out a survey questionnaire to every registered voter in the city, with a postage paid return addressed envelope; tally the responses returned to them; and present the results to the City Council.
Funds for the survey are available in the land preserve budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
With its Feb. 22 vote, the council waived the bidding process, as the city’s purchasing and finance department searched the Michigan Inter-governmental Trade Network BidNet for public opinion surveys and community engagement, where two bids were found for the city of Midland in 2018 and the Charter Township of Shelby in 2021.
All of the bidders from Michigan were identified and were emailed a brief description of the proposed project.
Two companies responded: Cobalt Community Research Inc. and EPIC-MRA, both of which were the two lowest bidders for the Midland Community Engagement Bid of 2018.
Cobalt, which had the lowest bid, $16,374, was awarded the job. EPIC-MRA’s quote was for $54,950, which was significantly more due to its proposed project staffing.
At the meeting, resident James Hayes asked questions about the survey.
“You had the opportunity to put this very question on the landfill expansion on the ballot last November but failed to do so,” he said. “Has anyone even checked with the state or county on the legalities of this? As of last meeting no one had bothered to check.
“How are we planning to ensure transparency without leaving the city open to a court case? Who is phrasing these questions to be asked? Are we depending on the U.S. post office alone?”
No response was given to Hayes’ questions.
During a Feb. 14 study session, the council members spoke about a registered voter survey instead of the ballot question approved by the council last August.
A special election was not scheduled for Riverview in May, so the cost would have been $20,000, and the results would not be ready in time to meet the council’s decision deadline.
“I would think the biggest reason we want to do this is because of the timing when we have get the request in for the expansion, and we need to have this take place long before that,” Mayor Andrew Swift said at the study session.
If the deadline is not met, the city might have to submit a new application, which requires a $10,000 to $15,000 fee in addition to the election cost.
Swift asked if a house with multiple registered voters would be mailed more than one survey, and City Manager Douglas Drysdale said it would. Riverview will provide the addresses of its registered voters to Cobalt.
The council also rescinded its Feb. 7 resolution to place an advisory question about the land preserve on the next available election ballot.
In August 2021, the city council discussed an option to offset the potential loss of revenue from the Riverview Land Preserve if it were to close. The council unanimously passed the resolution, but because the vote took place at a study session and not a meeting it was not official.
The county’s deadline to add the ballot language to the Nov. 2, 2021, ballot was by 4 p.m. Aug. 10. Swift called a special council meeting for noon Aug. 11, where the council voted again to approve the language, but the Wayne County Clerk did not accept the city’s application for the advisory question.
That move by the council came after the Wayne County Solid Waste Planning Division and Facility Inclusion Committee voted to hold off on approving the expansion of the landfill following a lengthy discussion and consideration of public input.
The city plans to provide educational and informational details on its website and use a public relations firm and local media outlets so residents understand the survey purpose.
Drysdale said a lot of the material is already compiled, but he did not know its cost.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)