Heon defends $2 million, 3-year deal for tourism marketing and advertising | News

BROOKSVILLE — An agreement with a marketing company won approval at the Nov. 18 County Commission meeting, but only after a debate over the cost of slightly more than $2 million and a question about why such a deal was needed.

Tourism Development Manager Tammy Heon defended the request.

County Commissioner Steve Champion was the dissenter in a 3-1 vote to approve the deal.

County Commissioner John Allocco left the meeting to attend another one.

The county’s Procurement Department issued request for proposals May 14 for marketing and advertising services for Florida’s Adventure Coast Visitors’ Bureau. The solicitation drew 24 submissions from among 133 vendors who downloaded the documents

The award is for a three-year contract at $2.04 million, with two, one-year unilateral renewals. 

This year’s expense is included in the approved budget; subsequent years will be budgeted accordingly. All expenses will be paid with 5% Bed Tax revenue.

“It just seems like a lot of money for three years,” Champion said. “Is it necessary, and I’m sure you guys are going to say, ‘Yes.’”

Florida already is good at bringing people to the state, he added, and he said he needed to be convinced that the $2 million is worth it.

Heon said it’s been a long process to get to this point, and there are a variety of reasons for hiring an agency.

It’s a lot of work, Heon told the commission after the item was pulled from the Consent Agenda for discussion. She said she doesn’t have the time or the skills — and the staff doesn’t either — to do the work Miles Partnership can do.

It would be an efficient process, she said, and the county currently is using Miles and getting good results. The company’s buying power will help bring even more efficiency.

One plan is to put information in every rental vacation home to educate visitors on the proper behavior on the Weeki Wachee River.

“I can’t do that if I’m having to figure out how to purchase media most efficiently,” Heon said.

An agency can react efficiently and quickly to a natural disaster and bring them to a higher level of tourism marketing, she said.

The goal is to grow the destination, Heon said.

Commissioner Brian Hawkins said he understood Champion’s concerns, and said he wanted to see what the other two top three vendors were offering.

Heon said Miles outperformed the other two vendors in media recommendations, strategic recommendations around marketing and in their “creative.”

Commission Chairman Jerry Campbell said maybe the other agencies could be used to save money.

Heon said she needed to put an agency to work for the county “today.”

Commissioner Ryan Amsler said he hasn’t always been a big fan of spending money in this area, but it’s over three years and he said she has a lot of trust in this company.

They should evaluate the performance at the end of the first year, and Heon said that all of their contracts have performance measures.

Champion said it’s hard to determine what works. It’s business’s job to educate people on the river, he said, said just because the money is there, should they spend it? Prove, he said, that if they spend $2 million they’ll get more than $2 million back.

“I want to see return on investment,” he said.

Also, some people don’t want more people coming to the county, he said.

Moving chairs

It was reorganization day for the County Commission. 

Commissioner Jerry Campbell replaced Commissioner Brian Hawkins as chairman, and Commissioner Ryan Amsler was elected vice chairman.

Champion was elected to be second vice chairman.

In other action

Patrick DeMore of Florida Department of Health Hernando spoke about diabetes prevention and education.

The next County Commission meeting will be a land use meeting at 9 a.m., in the John Law Ayers County Commission Chambers, Room 160. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, beginning at 9 a.m., in the chambers.