REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 09/06/2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Economic Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH CORONA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOR BUSINESS PROMOTION, MARKETING, AND RETENTION SERVICES
End
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to consider approving a Professional Services Agreement with the Corona Chamber of Commerce for Business Promotion, Marketing, and Retention Services for a total not-to-exceed amount of $60,250.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Approve a Professional Services Agreement with the Corona Chamber of Commerce for Business Promotion, Marketing, and Retention Services for the total not-to exceed amount of $60,250.
b. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute the Professional Services Agreement with the Corona Chamber of Commerce for $60,250.
Body
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The Economic Development Department fosters partnerships with local, regional, state, and federal agencies to enhance the City’s business offerings and resources to more than 12,000 businesses in Corona. Through these partnerships, the City leverages ample resources to address business needs and offers a variety of programs, services, grants, and technical assistance to aid business growth and resiliency.
Existing partnerships range in expertise, from business financing and technical assistance for manufacturers to business start-up and entrepreneurship support with hiring and employee training resources. Among its diverse partnerships, Economic Development collaborates with the U.S. Small Business Administration, California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, SCORE Inland Empire, Riverside County Office of Economic Development, Riverside County Workforce Development, Riverside Community College District, Corona-Norco Unified School District, and the Corona Chamber of Commerce.
The Corona Chamber of Commerce’s mission is to promote business advocacy, community, and economic development, while serving as a catalyst for improving the community’s overall quality of life. The Chamber’s staff and volunteers collaborate with the City of Corona and other local organizations to accomplish its mission and carry out its business programs, services, and events. Historically, the City and Chamber have entered into an annual agreement to enhance business promotion and marketing to support business growth and expansion in Corona.
ANALYSIS:
In anticipation of this year’s proposed Agreement, staff requested the Chamber of Commerce prepare a business proposal highlighting its accomplishments for the past fiscal year and note proposed events, services, and other efforts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The Chamber’s 2022-2023 Year-In-Review Recap and 2023-2024 Business Proposal (Attachment 1) details the Chamber’s accomplishments over the past year including:
• Hosted 13 business seminars, workshops, and events as noted below.
o 6 Coffee with an Entrepreneur sessions
o 2 Business Seminars including a Veteran-Owned and Women-Owned Business Seminar
o 2 Business Workshops with topics including Starting a Home-Based Business and Customer Retention Strategies
o 1 Job Fair
o 1 New Business Reception
o 1 Greater Corona Area Fast Pitch Competition
• Hosted more than 50 ribbon cuttings and grand opening celebrations.
For FY 2023, the Chamber started reporting out on event performance. The Chamber did an exceptional job in providing the required reports within the timeframe specified in the agreement. These reports were used to ensure events were relevant to the needs of the business community and to document ways to enhance or improve events in the future.
For FY 2024, the Chamber has presented an updated Scope of Services that align with the City’s Economic Development Strategic Plan goals. Staff believes the recommended Scope of Services will serve as an enhancement or fulfillment of multiple strategic actions. A new initiative put forth by the Chamber is Manufacturing Month, which will promote the critical industry sector, highlighting Corona-based manufacturers and educating residents, students, and job seekers on the excellent career opportunities in manufacturing. All proposed events and services are described in more detail in the attached Business Proposal.
A few events and promotional efforts were excluded in the Chamber’s Business Proposal and consequently not included in the proposed Agreement’s Scope of Services. Removed items include the Corona Job Fair, Business Workshops, Innovation Month/Fast Pitch Competition, and Live Work Corona Promotion. The Chamber requested that the Job Fair and Live Work Corona promotion be removed from this year’s Agreement because they do not align with the Chamber’s goals to serve businesses and job seekers beyond city boundaries. The goal of Live Work Corona is to connect Corona job seekers with employment opportunities at Corona businesses. As such, Live Work Corona includes a dedicated Live Work Corona website that promotes job opportunities at Corona employment centers and features the Live Work Corona Pledge where Corona businesses “take the pledge” to hire local and grow the local economy. This year, the City and Chamber partnered on the Live Work Corona Job Fair where Corona employers connected with more than 150 Corona job seekers. The Chamber indicated they will hold a separate job fair that is not restricted to participation from Corona employers but support the City in hosting its own Live Work Corona job fair.
Additionally, business workshops and the Innovation Month/Fast Pitch Competition were removed due to low participation from the business community. City staff will evaluate options to supplement or augment participation in Innovation Month. With the removal of these items and addition of Manufacturing Month, the total proposed Agreement compensation is $60,250, a $27,250 reduction from FY 2023’s contractual agreement.
For ease of comparison, staff prepared Table 1 below outlining the Chamber’s FY 2023 services with its proposed services for FY 2024. The table identifies any new proposed scope items that were not included in the Chamber’s Business Proposal but were part of the Agreement for FY 2023. Fees for listed services and events are included in the comparison table below.
Table 1: Comparison of FY 2023 and FY 2024 Scope of Services
|
Scope Items |
FY 23 Contract Scope |
FY 24 Proposed Scope |
|
Seminars ($5,000 each) |
2 ($10,000 total) |
4 ($20,000 total) |
|
New Business Welcome Reception ($4,000) |
1 ($4,000 total) |
1 ($4,000 total) |
|
Good Morning Corona Sponsorship |
3 ($2,500 each, $7,500 total) |
3 ($2,750 each, $8,250 total) |
|
Executive Partner / Customized Marketing |
$15,000 |
$18,000 |
|
Manufacturing Month NEW |
N/A |
$10,000 |
|
Job Fair |
1 ($10,000 total) |
Not included |
|
Business Workshops ($3,000 each) • Coffee with an Entrepreneur (6) • Miscellaneous Topics (2) |
8 ($24,000 total) |
Not included |
|
Innovation Month / Fast Pitch Competition |
$12,000 |
Not included |
|
Live Work Corona Promotion |
$5,000 |
Not included |
|
TOTAL COST |
$87,500 |
$60,250 |
As is the case with previous years, the proposed Agreement is constructed as a fee-for-service model, in which the services rendered are invoiced to the City following completion and not paid in advance. The final approved and executed Agreement’s Scope of Services and total not-to-exceed compensation will be incorporated into the final approved and executed Agreement.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Economic Development Department’s approved FY 2024 budget includes sufficient funds to account for the proposed $60,250 total contract compensation.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action simply approves a formalized agreement between the City and Chamber for Business Promotion, Marketing, and Retention Services and there is no possibility that adopting this action will have a significant effect on the environment.
PREPARED BY: AMANDA WICKER, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR
REVIEWED BY: JESSICA M. GONZALES, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Corona Chamber of Commerce 2022-2023 Year-In-Review Recap and 2023-2024 Business Proposal
2. Exhibit 2 - Professional Services Agreement with the Corona Chamber of Commerce.