Maryville Momentum 2045 — a guide to the city’s 20-year vision — was approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission March 19. In alignment with this, the Maryville City Council took a step to rebrand the city’s image at its April 13 meeting.
City Manager Ryan Heiland said it has been about 15 years since the city was last rebranded. He said the new look will establish a clear, consistent and modern visual identity that reflects the community’s values and future vision.
“Our current branding is actually more of a seal and is based on a design that may be recognized in Kansas City, at some banking institute down there, and so moving forward, with a different seal and a different logo, it was recommended as part of the comprehensive plan process,” Heiland said.
The goal of the rebrand is to improve the clarity and credibility of the city’s communications, make information easier to find and increase engagement with the public. Heiland said it will also strengthen the community by supporting economic development efforts.
The city released a request for proposals for a new comprehensive rebranding package; by Feb. 12, it had received 22 proposals. Heiland said a review committee was formed to evaluate each one to see which ones had the community in mind.
“When you look at some of the lower items, lower bids that we received, they were really just more of a design services package,” Heiland said. “When you get to these middle to the higher-end ones, that was where we really got (those) community outreach pieces to it, and that’s what we were looking for, and that was what was included in that RFP process.”
The city ultimately decided to partner with St. Louis-based Locality Studio for this initiative. Heiland said Locality Studio has proposed a six-to-eight-month project timeline and expects to have it complete by December of this year.
He said Locality Studio has proposed a method for this rebrand; a group of 10 individuals who represent key institutions and groups throughout the community will come together to work on the project. Additionally, the city will conduct online surveys and host open-houses to increase community involvement and voice in the rebranding process.
The Fiscal Year 2026 General Fund budget includes $20,000 for this initiative. The contract with Locality Studio is not to exceed $16,500; however, this does not include reimbursements for Locality Studio’s travel and mileage costs. Heiland said only one or two trips will be necessary, so the costs aren’t expected to be significant or exceed $20,000.
Also during this meeting, Councilman John McBride was appointed mayor of Maryville, rotating positions with Mayor Dannen Merrill.
“I’d just like to thank the Council and thank Dannen for his two years serving as mayor,” McBride said. “I just pray I can not let these guys down and do an adequate job running these meetings and working with Council and city moving forward.”
Following elections, Council isn’t changing much; Benjamin Lipiec was elected to the sole two-year position, and Bryan Williams and Erin Allen were elected to serve three-year terms.
Merrill concluded his time as mayor with a thank-you message.
“It was a good two years — it was a tumultuous two years, we had a lot happen,” Merrill said. “(Former City Manager) Greg (McDanel) resigned, our finance director retired, but we backfilled both of those positions with a great team and had a lot of good projects get underway and get approved, so I’m happy to get all that done, but also look forward to the good work John (will) continue to do.”
This story is brought to KXCV-KRNW by The Northwest Missourian, the campus newspaper of Northwest Missouri State University.