The Eureka City Council has decided that Humboldt Made will not be awarded a marketing services contract with the city. During a closed session meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to direct the city manager to negotiate a $370,000 marketing contract with Virginia-based company Eddy Alexander.

Deciding to end the Eureka’s longstanding relationship with the Humboldt Visitors Bureau, the City put out a request for marketing proposals back in February. Of the applicants, Eddy Alexander and Humboldt Made were the top two finalists. Eureka city staff recommended that council award the contract to Humboldt Made.

But, a review of Humboldt Made’s proposal showed that staff had misrepresented information about the document.

During a May 21 City Council meeting, some council members questioned whether Humboldt Made was given an unfair advantage in the bidding process. Shortly before the meeting, the Outpost had published an article that made public texts between Eureka Development Services Director Rob Holmlund and Humboldt Made Executive Director Alanna Powell. One issue that was brought forward was the fact that Humboldt Made had not submitted the correct printed copy of their proposal by the April 5 deadline and were permitted to submit another version on April 8.

When asked about this during the May 21 council meeting, staff said that there was only one change to the document — that Humboldt Made’s first submission contained a duplicate page and the new version replaced that page with the one that was meant to be there. However, after the meeting, city administration staff reviewed the two documents further and determined other changes had been made to the document including “correction of spelling, typos, new and revised sentences and word edits.”

Because of this new information and the amount of the contract, city council needed to determine if those changes were insignificant enough to waive the late submission.

City Attorney Robert Black reported out from the closed council session, stating that council voted to direct staff to bring forward a resolution stating that Humboldt Made should not be granted a waiver — and, in a separate vote, directed the city manager to negotiate a contract with Eddy Alexander.

The council will vote on the resolution and the contract approval at its next meeting on June 18.

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PREVIOUSLY:

• As Eureka’s $370,000 Contract for ‘Marketing Services’ is About to Be Awarded, Text Messages Released by City Show Close Relationship Between City Official and Finalist
• FOLLOW-UP: Citing Work of Review Panel, Staff Recommends City Council Award $370,000 Marketing Services Contract to Eureka Visitors Center
• ‘The Trust Has Been Broken’: Eureka City Council Votes to Interview Finalists for $370,000 Marketing Contract Again, With New Set of Panelists
• EUREKA MARKETING CONTRACT: Contrary to Previous Statements, the Humboldt Made Proposal was Received Late; City Vows Reforms to ‘Restore Public Trust’