Columbus governments spent thousands on marketing and tours

During their trip to Brazil, Columbus officials toured Curitiba’s famous public transportation system and visited attractions such as Copacabana Beach and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Columbus-area officials have earmarked $725,000 for marketing and at least $56,000 for research trips, including to Brazil, as part of the LinkUS program, which aims to modernize the region’s transportation system through a sales tax.

Columbus, the Central Ohio Transit Authority, Franklin County and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission have spent thousands of dollars on the project over the past few years, according to public records obtained by The Dispatch.

The city, COTA and county spent $44,000 to send elected and high-ranking officials to Brazil for a week last year to study Curitiba’s world-famous transit system. Meanwhile, government planners and engineers have traveled to Indianapolis and Minneapolis on short trips in recent years to study the transit systems.

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, which advocates for government transparency, said officials can learn a lot from other cities but should be transparent about how they spend money and what they learn on the road.

“There is a difference between civil engineering personnel going to the Twin Cities to look at their infrastructure and a delegation going to Brazil. And it is not necessarily a fine line between a good research trip and a tourist trip,” Turcer said.

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COTA is seeking a permanent half-cent (0.5%) sales tax increase to fund construction of bus rapid transit lines, increased bus service, and sidewalks and bike lanes.

Elected officials told The Dispatch the travel and marketing expenses are worth the effort to create a modern transportation system.

“By learning from the best, we are helping to ensure LinkUS is a well-planned, efficient and effective transit system that will meet the needs of our community for decades to come,” Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley said in a statement to The Dispatch.

How officials spent their trip to Brazil

The city, county and COTA sent delegates to Curitiba in southern Brazil, Columbus’s partner city since 2014, and to Rio de Janeiro for a week in January 2023.

Crawley, Columbus City Council Speaker Shannon Hardin and Councilwoman Lourdes Barroso de Padilla all took part in the trip, all of whom told The Dispatch that the trip provided them with invaluable insights.

“Curitiba built one of the world’s first bus rapid transit systems and is considered one of the most successful examples of transit-oriented development,” Hardin said.

Also on the trip to Brazil were COTA Board of Trustees Chairman Marlon Moore, COTA Senior Director of Development Kimberly Sharp, COTA Director of Local Government Kelsey Ellingsen, Senior County Policy Analyst Autumn Mitchell and Hardin’s then-legislative assistant Zachary Davidson (who left the city less than six months later).

In addition to researching the rapid transit system, the stated goals of the trip also included learning about Curitiba’s progress in reducing infant mortality, establishing business relationships with Brazilian companies and strengthening relations with its sister city. According to a schedule obtained by The Dispatch, the trip included more than a dozen official meetings, including with the mayor of Curitiba, the city’s health secretary, the company that operates Curitiba’s bus stations and Volvo, which makes buses.

The tour program also included a visit to the Botanical Gardens in Curitiba and the Panoramic Tower.

As planned, the group spent six nights in four-star hotels: five nights in Curitiba and one night in Rio de Janeiro, in a hotel across the street from Copacabana Beach.

Delegates had one official meeting in Rio with a bank on their schedule. Participants also spent time in Rio soaking up the culture: they watched a samba performance by a local dance troupe, saw the famous Christ the Redeemer statue and watched the sunset on Sugarloaf Mountain. They held a group farewell dinner on the beach on schedule.

During the trip and in the weeks after, Hardin and Barroso de Padilla did not post about their trip to Brazil on their public Facebook or Instagram accounts. Crawley posted a video on Instagram a week after the trip and wrote in the caption, “We learned a lot and brought back some best practices!”

Officials did not provide any expense reports for the Brazil trip and provided invoices for $5,500 per participant paid to Greater Columbus Sister Cities International. Spokespeople for the city, COTA and county said the nonprofit planned and purchased everything.

Greater Columbus Sister Cities International receives most of its funding from the city and county, according to the group’s tax forms. As of 2021, the City Council awarded Sister Cities $740,000 in grants, and Franklin County commissioners gave the nonprofit $375,000. Their total annual revenue was $418,000 in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

Government workers went to Indianapolis and Minneapolis

To study a bus rapid transit system in a U.S. city, Columbus, COTA and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission also spent about $11,600 to send a dozen workers to Minneapolis for two days in 2022. The Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) already have three bus rapid transit lines.

Unlike the Brazil trip, the Minnesota trip involved COTA engineers and MORPC planners, not elected officials. Only one person who went to Brazil also went to Minneapolis: Sharp, COTA’s senior director of development.

COTA and Columbus also sent employees on a day trip to Indianapolis in 2019, and Columbus sent employees on another day trip to Indianapolis in 2022 to explore the city’s first bus rapid transit line: the Red Line. The city and COTA did not provide any information about expenses for those trips, saying the employees paid for their meals and the only cost was gas, as the employees used COTA and city vehicles to travel back and forth that same day.

$725,000 in marketing for LinkUS

For the past two years, Columbus has had a contract with Hunter Marketing for “communications, outreach and engagement” on the LinkUS transportation plan. Hunter Marketing subcontracts 10% of ArtFluential’s contract for design services and 35% of The Saunders PR Group’s contract for engagement, outreach and media relations, according to owner Gayle Saunders.

The cost of the contract is being split between LinkUS’s four government partners. Columbus spent $250,000, COTA spent $250,000, Franklin County spent $175,000 and MORPC spent $50,000, according to City Council spokesman José Rodríguez.

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“As with other major infrastructure projects in the city of Columbus, education and community engagement are key components,” Rodríguez said in a statement.

For example, the city paid Hunter Marketing $750,000 over the past few years for a campaign to teach drivers how to pay for on-street parking using kiosks or a phone app, which have replaced parking meters in most of the city. And in 2021, the city awarded The Saunders PR Group a $1 million contract for “Vision Zero,” a campaign to reduce traffic fatalities involving vehicles and pedestrians.

Saunders said some of the LinkUS campaign’s successes include about 7,600 social media followers and 23,000 visitors to the LinkUS website in July. Saunders’ group has scheduled several public town meetings where residents can learn more about LinkUS from a panel of city officials, COTA and MORPC. A town meeting in August, held at IMPACT Community Action on the South Side and attended by a Dispatch reporter, drew fewer than a dozen people.

COTA and other government entities are not legally allowed to spend money on the ballot tax campaign. A separate “yes” campaign is being funded by local businesses and run by Alex Baker, former executive director of the Franklin County Democratic Party.

[email protected]

@LairdWrite

Columbus governments spent thousands on marketing and tours

During their trip to Brazil, Columbus officials toured Curitiba’s famous public transportation system and visited attractions such as Copacabana Beach and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

How officials spent their trip to Brazil

Government workers went to Indianapolis and Minneapolis

$725,000 in marketing for LinkUS

By meerna

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Columbus governments spent thousands on marketing and tours

During their trip to Brazil, Columbus officials toured Curitiba’s famous public transportation system and visited attractions such as Copacabana Beach and the Christ the Redeemer statue.

How officials spent their trip to Brazil

Government workers went to Indianapolis and Minneapolis

$725,000 in marketing for LinkUS

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Cooper Kupp shows he’s still got talent on ‘Sunday Night Football’

Gaudreau brothers to be honored by family, friends and grieving teammates at funeral – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

You Missed

Montgomery’s 1-yard run in overtime gives Goff, Lions 26-20 win over Rams – Marin Independent Journal

Cooper Kupp shows he’s still got talent on ‘Sunday Night Football’

Gaudreau brothers to be honored by family, friends and grieving teammates at funeral – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

SANAA founders Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa were awarded Le Prix Charlotte Perriand 2025