A new city logo design meant to unify the city has instead divided it, with many arguing that the logo change was unnecessary and financially careless.

After roughly two years since establishing the need to create a consistent logo that Woodland can use for all of its projects and activities, the City Council established a new city logo in January meant to convey an “authentic and unique brand for the city” while unifying its visual identity.

The new logo — a trace of a valley oak leaf from Woodland overlaid on a hexagon — was created by Selbert Perkins Design and cost the city $10,000, which was the sixth lowest price from the 16 quotes the city received.

Although the council agreed that community members needed to be involved in the project and conducted outreach to select a handful of community members to help with providing input and feedback during the process, many locals were unhappy with the finished product and believe the council should have done better at letting the community know about the project.Eric Sharp submitted an email response in addition to attending the council’s meeting last Tuesday to voice his concerns with the logo change.

“During these economic times I would think that a cost analysis would have been first item on the agenda,” Sharp emphasized in his email. “It appears the closest thing to a cost analysis has been that each department will absorb the cost going forward.”

He questioned this decision and called it “fiscally irresponsible in the current economic situation,” arguing that “the $10,000 charge incurred by Perkins design is just the very tip of the iceberg.”

Sharp also argued that the process was “disturbing” and questioned why the bid to create the logo went to a design firm instead of a citizen from Woodland.

“I know there are some very talented folks living here,” he emphasized. “Many people of this community that have lived in Woodland all our lives could do without spending our money on such an optional item. History is what it is and Woodland should always be the city of trees, not oak leaves and bee hives.”

Linda Boyden, a Woodland resident for the past 30 years, argued that the city did not need a new logo.

“Our city of trees logo is a welcoming, gracious symbol of our city,” Boyden argued in an email. “The new logo is sterile, orange is a warning color, we have more than just oak trees…We should have a logo that invites others to our community; who wouldn’t want to settle under a beautiful spreading tree, not a forbidding warning sign that says nothing about us. Please leave our logo alone!”

Several other community members submitted comments arguing similar points, but many agreed that the city should place the decision to change the logo on a ballot to be voted on.

Woodland City Manager Ken Hiatt addressed some of these concerns during last week’s meeting.

“The process really started several years ago through city council goals,” he began. “As part of that goal-setting session, the council identified a need for us to improve the way we engage and communicate with our residents throughout the community.”

After the council tasked the city to develop a communications plan and strategy, the city identified the need to be consistent with how it represents the city graphically in its communications.

“We did an audit of all the communications that we provide and noticed that consistently we have at least four or five logos that are general city logos that we put out… so we had somewhat of a brand soup going on.”

The council approved the creation of a subcommittee that would work with staff to go through a process of soliciting qualifications for design firms — including local firms — to develop the logo.

“We ultimately had 16 respondents,” he said. “The subcommittee narrowed down to two finalists.”

Hiatt said that although one of the finalists was a local design firm, the council selected Selbert Perkins Design — an international design firm based in Los Angeles — because of their “direct experience and their professionalism.”

“We conducted interviews publicly, put out communication to the community through Facebook…so there was definitely an opportunity for the public to engage through that process,” he argued. “We had over 350 respondents to the survey, which is actually pretty good for our community to engage on the topic.”

Hiatt also called the project costs nominal, arguing that the $10,000 used to hire the firm was the majority of the cost.

“Now that we’ve got the logo, implementation is substantially digital,” he highlighted. “So the majority of the costs are really by the staff in making the changes to our graphic formats.”

“There are some eventual hard costs that will be incurred, but regardless of what logo we have, those costs are going to be part of our budget and they’re really inconsequential.”

Hiatt explained that the city has only spent roughly $2,500 since selecting the logo, most of which was spent purchasing decals from a local business to change out vehicle decals.

Councilman Rich Lansburgh responded to comments made by some public commenters that accused the council of meeting in secrecy and excluding the city from this decision process.

“This council never ever meets in secret,” he stressed. “To call what we do a secret is a misunderstanding of what we do… All these meetings, including the subcommittee meetings, are open to the public.”

Councilman Tom Stallard agreed with Lansburgh’s sentiments noting that despite efforts to communicate what the council is doing, he gets asked the same questions repeatedly.

“We’re making decisions every week on these issues and very few people pay much attention to any of it,” he stated. “It’s hard to check in with everybody on every issue and now people have email, Instagram, Facebook and all kinds of things that I don’t even know about, so it’s really hard to reach everybody.”

Stallard encouraged those attending the meeting and anyone who had a problem with the logo to watch the council meetings at 6 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of the month.

“It’s all videoed and our entire packet, not just the agenda, the entire packet in on the website,” he explained. “You are seeing the same reports we see before we cast our votes.”

Mayor Victoria Fernandez, who was the only member with problems with the logo when it was established, said she stands behind the decision to change the logo because she believes the council did everything it could to reach the community.

“The subcommittee made every effort to find a logo that was representative of our city,” she argued. “Until we come up with a more efficient way to get community engagement, I want you to know that we try to listen and to respect your opinions.”

Council meetings and agendas are available by visiting cityofwoodland.org/654/Meetings-Agendas.

Public comments can be submitted by email to councilmeetings@cityofwoodland.org or by attending the meeting in person.