[lifeguard]

Hiring a freelance website designer can work well if you know what you like and have a tightly scoped plan. I assume you just want something that doesn't look bad as opposed to something awesome, because awesome is very expensive.

I like to use the template method. Give the designer 2 - 3 generic wire-frames that mirror your site's major "views" or function. Also request a generic template for 'leaf' or low level pages to use in the future for new content pages. Deliverables should be valid PNG/HTML/CSS/js files. Next map these new templates to the various pages in your site, and put the content and navigation together. This is old school webmaster work and any staff person with HTML skills should be able to do it.

I prefer the above method to giving designers free reign. But the decision makers must do their part: commit to a design and not allow feature creep. It also ensures that you can maintain the site going forward yourself or with just an HTML hacker.

Contact a local university or use craigslist.