By SHERRY KOONCE

Longview residents together with local public relations and advertising firms will play a major role in the city's continued efforts to complete its branding campaign, while North Star Destination Strategies will not.

North Star's contract will be terminated, Mayor Jay Dean announced Thursday. The decision to fire the Tennessee-based firm hired to develop Longview's marketing campaign was the recommendation from the newly-formed Branding Process Review Committee.

"It is the opinion of the committee that North Star will be unable to regain the level of confidence from the Longview citizens necessary to deliver the branding product results we intended from the beginning," Dean said.