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Home My WebLink About1975-11-24 Memo RE: Advertising Campaign..... • • MEMORANDUM TO: City Manager Mccown FROM: D. A. Romans, Acting Director of Community Development DATE: November 24, 1975 SUBJECT: Course of Action for G.O. Bond Election With less than one month to go now to prepare for the G. O. Bond e l ection on December 23rd, I am of the opinion that we need to or ga nize a very concentrated campaign at once. It is too late to register persons to vote, as you know, so much of our "grass roots" efforts will be directed only at persons who are registered to voteQ Incidentally, we have a printout of all of those persons registered to vote in the November 4th election and will get the final printout for the December 23rd election in about two weeks. We do not anticipate a large number of additional voters, however • In order to g et as much support as possible for the election, we will not limit our activities to the registered voters. Even persons who cannot vote because they are not registered or because they do not live in the City should be informed in order that they can answer questions or discuss the issue accurately if the occasion arises. To reach as many people as possible, it is suggested that we utilize the following basic campaign techniques: 1. Speakers Bureau a. Speakers should be thoroughly familiar with the project and it is suggested that members of the City Council and the Housing Authority serve on this committee with the City Manager, Assistant City Manager and Mr. Johnson acting as back-up speakers or resource persons. b. All service clubs should be contacted at once in order to arrange for a speaker to attend meetings scheduled prior to the day of the election. Incidentallyj the Chamber of Commerce meets at noon on December fifth and Mr. Olson will make arrangements for us to have a speaker at that meeting •. Mr. Batchelor will be pre- senting the program that day and we can coordinate the two subjects, the 104-unit project and the senior citizen center, quite nicely. If Mr. Olson can be called tomorrow, Tuesday the 25th, he vi.ill include this i n the bulletin which will be sent out prior to the me eting . • • • City Manager Mccown November 24, 1975 Pag e -2- c. Churches should also be a great resource and each Church should be contacted to see if a speaker could attend a service or meetings of the different Church groups. 2 . News releases. a. News releases should be made only by designated persons such as the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Mayor or Chairman of the Housing Authority. b. Multiple releases* should be made to the radio and TV stations as well as to the Herald-Sentinal, ·Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News. The Citizen will carry inf ormation on the election and will be distributed prior to the election. 3. Visual Aids • a . Posters. To be displayed in stores, the Post Office, if per- mitted, and in the various City facilities. b" Flyers. Could be inserted in Church bulletins and distributed at coffees, and by block workers. Flyers should also be available for Senior Surrey riders and again, at the several City buildings. 4. Telephone Calls. Calls will be made at the precinct or block level, and will supplement neighborhood coffees and serve as reminders to vote" Callers will also arrang e rides to the polls. 5. Voter Rides. Several cars should be available in each District to take voters to the polls. This service will be coordinated with the telephone committee. * New releases each week • • • • City Manager Mccown November 24, 1975 Page -3- 6. Neighborhood Coffees. This technique would be at the precinct or block level and would primarily involve registered voters. A speaker and resource person should be available, and printed in- formation should be available for handouts. 7. Neighbor-to-Neighbor visitations. This, again, would .involve only registered voters. Hand- outs should be available to leave with the person and it should be determined if the person will need a ride to the polls. If the coffee covers everyone who is registered in the block or precinct, this step would not be needed. 8. All persons whose names are on the "waiting list" for the 104 units should be sent a letter as soon as possible to explain the procedure we are following. The purpose would be to allay their fears and to solicit their help in calling, if they would be willing and able to do so • 9 . A meeting or meetings should be held involving all City employees to explain the purpose of the election. This should be arranged as soon as possible. In order to coordinate the campaign, a Steering Committee shOl .ld be appointed. This Committee should be small enough that the persons can be contacted easily, probably seven to nine persons, and it should be representative of all elements (ag e g roups, interests, etc.) in the City with at least one key person from each of the Councilmatic Districts. Co-Chairmen of the committee would be suggested, choosin~ from persons such as Marten Lathrop, Herbert Hosanna, Colbert Cushing, Maud Coffey, or Cecil Barron. Within each District,. then, a "Captain" should be appointed and in each precinct, a precinct leader would be designated; if possible, a worker should be appointed in each block to host a coffee or to make visitations and to make calls. This sounds like a lot of work, but when we are talking only about contacting registered voters at this level, it results in less work for each participant than in most campaigns. Key organizations which should be contacted would appear to include I.C.E ., A.A.R.P., Grey Panthers, Senior Women's Club, League of Women Voters, Various Nel.gTiliorhoo-cf"Associations, Chamber of Commerce, Ministerial Alliance, Grandmothers Club and the service clubs such as Lions, Rotary, Kiw~nis, Sertoma, Business and Professional Women's Club, Elks, VJ_.JV., American , . • • • • City Manager Mccown November 24, 1975 Pa g e -4- Le g ion, a nd the Masons. Most of the men's organizations have a women s aux1 ary and they should be contacted also. The City groups, such as the Employees Association, Police and Firefighter groups, should not be overlooked, either, as mentioned above. An endorsement by all of these groups should be sought. As soon as the Campaign Steering Committee is appointed, a meeting should be set to make assignments. The Housing Authority and City Council should work closely with the Committee through- out the campaign and should be at this meeting. The assignments should be divided up in order that no one person has such a larg e responsibility that he gets discouraged. This will, however, require a person to keep close tabs on the workers to be sure they are following through and to get them assistance when it is needed. A meeting of all workers may be a good idea also, in a couple of weeks. We need to designate persons immediately to: 1. Select and contact ' Steering Committee members. 2. Write the outlines of text which will be used by the speakers and to prepare visual aids for the speakers' use. 3 . Prepare posters. 4. Prepare flyers. 5. Prepare news releases. 6. Contact service organizations, Churches, etc. 7. Coordinate the car pools. 8. Write a letter to be sent to persons on the list ·for the 104-unit project. We need to determine sources of funds for the flyers, posters, etc., and to determine the extent of staff particip~tion. One matter which I believe should be considered very carefully by the City Council, is the effect the E.C.B.C. campaign to raise funds for the Senior Citizen Center may have if it is carried on at the same time we are preparing for the G. O. Bond election. Politically, it may not be wise to carry on both of these "drives" at the same time, and possibly the Council should meet with the E.C.B.C. Committee to consider the best strategy. Possibly the advance gifts campaign could be carried on by the E.C.B.C. during December and the calls to citizens delayed until after the election . .. c • • • City Manager Mccown November 24, 1975 Page -5- This reflects the way I feel the campaign for the election should be carried out. It will involve a lot of time on the part of a few people to see that all of the other people carry out their assignments; but it should require a lesser amount of time on the part of many people. Please let me know what I can do to help out. g w