Joliet Pays Chicago PR Company To Handle Social Media At City Hall

JOLIET — A Chicago-based public relations firm that has been doing business with the city of Joliet in recent months is now on the Joliet City Council agenda for Tuesday night's meeting for a social media services contract.

The $63,250 contract for Exclusive Public Relations for at least 11 months of work is up for Council vote. The proposed contract indicates Exclusive Public Relations will help Joliet's City Hall with social media including Facebook posts, announcements, plus photos and videos of downtown Joliet businesses, according to the details posted in advance of the Council meeting.

The four-page proposed contract with Exclusive Public Relations did not contain any mention of where the company is located, and no information of key people affiliated with the company.

In preparation for this story, Joliet Patch found Exclusive Public Relations is based in Chicago and Samantha Frontera is identified on the company's website as "the CEO and founder of Exclusive PR, a boutique public relations agency in Chicago."

"She works with numerous local Chicago clients in: healthcare, technology, social impact, published authors, restaurants, fashion/retail, and more," her website proclaims.

Also, the proposed contract posted on the Council website indicates Exclusive Public Relations has already been working with Joliet.

"The city of Joliet has been working with Exclusive Public Relations for the last four months for assistance on daily social media activities and live posting. Additionally, the EPR team interviewed different departments to see what their social media needs and goals are for 2025," the City Council packet noted. "Overall, the EPR team will assist the communications department with specific marketing tasks and duties including posting on all social media sites approved by the city of Joliet. We also plan to do a photo/video shoot with local business owners in the downtown area to highlight their services and help them attract new customers."

On Friday, Joliet Patch reached out to Rosemaria DiBenedetto, who became Joliet City Hall's new Media Engagement & Communications Director last May. The total of the three invoices for Exclusive Public Relations were $7,500 over the course of three months, according to DiBenedetto. She noted that EPR has an office in Chicago and also operates in Orland Park. They are a Women Business Certified-company and a minority owned business. They also offer bilingual services.

According to DiBenedetto, the city employee who handles the social media for Joliet was on a leave of absence for several months prompting the need to get a company to handle social media for the city and staff.

"As you know, we are only a two-person department," DiBenedetto explained.

As for the Council agenda, the social media contract for Exclusive Public Relations noted that the company will assist Joliet in five different areas: "Bicentennial Park, Emergency Management Services, Joliet Fire Department, Economic Development and the Joliet overarching brand."

The proposed $63,250 contract with Exclusive Public Relations comes less than one year after former city of Chicago official Beth Beatty, now Joliet's city manager, hired DiBenedetto as Joliet's new media engagement and communications director at a starting salary of $159,900.

Before that, DiBenedetto served as president and founder of Newsmakers Inc., a public relations agency. Newsmakers Inc. was paid $17,500 by the campaign to elect D'Arcy, according to the Illinois Sunshine website.