Joliet considers outside contractor to expand PR operations

The city of Joliet is considering a contract with an outside firm to expand a communications office that was created less than a year ago.

The $63,250 contract with the company exclusive+PR was pulled off the agenda at the City Council meeting Tuesday because city officials are considering expanding it.

The company would be hired to improve the city’s presence on social media.

Council member Sherri Reardon, who is chairwoman of the Communications Technology and Information Systems Committee, on Tuesday called the hiring of exclusive+PR an “exciting” prospect but said the contract was being delayed for “adjustments.”

“We have since had more departments express interest, so it may need to be tweaked,” Reardon said at Tuesday’s meeting.

The city did not have anyone assigned to communications or public relations until Rosemaria DiBenedetto was hired in May at a salary of $159,900 to be the city’s media engagement and communications director.

In the summer, DiBenedetto said an employee already working for the city on website management and other duties was assigned to work with DiBenedetto as a multimedia communications specialist.

After that employee went on leave in October, the city contracted with Chicago-based exclusive+PR to provide social media services, according to a city memo on the contract proposal.

Now that the employee is back, city staff is proposing keeping exclusive+PR on contract through the remainder of 2025.

DiBenedetto said exclusive+PR would help the city build its social media presence and provide more information to the public, including during emergency situations.

“We want to be able to grow our audience so we can reach our residents more quickly,” she said.

The exclusive+PR contract would be almost as much as the $68,245 salary of multimedia communications specialist Jenny Garcia.

Garcia’s duties include social media engagement, content communications and marketing for digital purposes, among other things, DiBenedetto said.

The contractor, exclusive+PR, would “assist us by creating and producing engaging content across current and future social media platforms, covering at least five different areas of the city,” DiBenedetto said in an email.

DiBenedetto in a written statement noted that people increasingly “turn to social media platforms for information, which highlights the need to enhance and expand our social media outreach.”

The city plans to create content that will foster “civic engagement” as well as “promote local culture and businesses, provide real-time updates during emergencies, support economic development, and keep residents informed at a moment’s notice,” DiBenedetto said.