HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – In the short term, the management of the Holland Farmers’ Market will be handled by an outside firm.
The City of Holland has issued a “request for proposals” for firms to compete for the contract to operate the 8th Street Marketplace, which includes the Farmer’s Market, for the 2017 season, “with the possibility to renew for the 2018 season,” according to the document. After huddling last month on the matter once they were made aware of the impending retirement of Market Master Candy Todd and Market Assistant Judy Laidler at the end of the current market season, City Council members decided to contract out operational management instead of making a direct hire to replace them or to assign their duties to current staffers.
According to the document, “The chosen contractor will be solely responsible for managing and assisting vendors while providing excellent customer service to patrons while the Civic Center is under construction. The annual existing cost of staffing services to operate the market is approximately 75 thousand dollars.”
Proposals will be accepted through next Tuesday morning, with evaluations to be made over the following three weeks before City Council hopes to select a Farmer’s Market Contractor on October 5th.
A link to the Request for Proposals on this matter is here.
