Politics & Government
In Short: City Council Discusses Website Changes
A third party has offered to provide videos for the town's website for free. The council discussed the proposal with a company representative at its work session.
Are the best things in life free? Or is anything worth having worth paying for?
The city council is deciding whether to allow a company to create a video tourbook about College Park at no cost.
CGI Communications produces promotional videos and video tourbooks for areas around the country, including Warminster, Md., and Laurel, Md. In exchange, the town must sign a contract ensuring that the video will be placed on the website. Ads for local businesses will then be placed around the video.
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Three to five municipalities are selected each year for video placement and College Park was one of the choices this year.
“Hopefully it will add pizzazz to what is kind of a horrible site,” Councilman Mark Cook (Dist. 3) said.
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The council considered a similar proposal by a different company about three years ago, but concerns about advertisements prevented the city from taking advantage of the offer, City Manager Joe Nagro said.
“Any time something is presented as free, we start looking for the catch,” Councilwoman Christine Nagle (Dist. 1) said. “I want to make sure [the video] will be unique.”
Amy Curran, a representative from CGI Communications, phoned into the work session on Tuesday to explain the company’s business model and respond to concerns.
She said the company did not allow any advertisements that would prevent a “wholesome” image.
