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The Duluth City Council voted 8-1 this week to approve a controversial contract with an out-of-state firm to work as the city’s tourism marketer for the next two years.

A review committee scored all 26 applications, recommending the contract be awarded to the top-scoring Madden Media, a national firm headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The two-year contract amounts to $3.6 million, or $1.8 million per year.

Dan Janes, CEO of Madden Media, said that while the firm is based in Tucson, more than half of the 220 people it now employs are located west of the Mississippi, due to its diverse customer base across the nation. Because of the company’s sprawling operations and scale, he said Madden has “massive amounts of data and research at our fingertips.”

Meantime, as