The city’s relationship with its lobbyist will be finished by Thanksgiving.
At Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears’ urging, the council voted 4-0 during a Wednesday work session at City Hall to issue Jackson-based Worth Thomas Consultants notice that its contract with the city would be terminated in 15 days.
Worth Thomas began working with the city in 2022, providing lobbying services on the federal and state level at a cost of $72,000 annually – which the city pays in $6,000 monthly installments.
Vice Mayor Ethel Stewart of Ward 1 was filling in for Mayor Stephen Jones after he left the work session early for another engagement. Roderick Smith, who had attended part of the work session by phone up to that point, was not on the line when the vote was taken.
The issue came to a head Wednesday when Spears asked the council to convene a meeting between the city council and Columbus’ legislative delegation to begin forming a list of realistic priorities for the next legislative session, which begins in January.
Jammie Garrett, the city’s chief operating officer, said she had already contacted Worth Thomas Consultants to get available dates for firm representatives to meet with the council.
In response, Spears moved to fire the lobbying firm.
“The contract ends in December anyway,” Spears said. “I would like to just move forward, get our delegation together … and move away from (Worth Thomas) Consultants.”
Spears began in October questioning whether the firm’s services were worth the cost of the contract, citing a lack of communication between the firm and the council in the first 100 days of the new term, which began July 1.
Saleem Baird, with the Worth Thomas government affairs team, appeared before the council last month, defending the firm’s results for the city over the years. During that appearance, Baird said the firm had been sending emails to the mayor that weren’t being forwarded to the council. Mayor Stephen Jones said he thought council members were blind-carbon-copied. Baird added he thought previous mayor Keith Gaskin was forwarding the firm’s emails to the council but later learned that wasn’t happening.
Since Baird’s appearance, Spears said he had met with Worth Thomas team members, including Thomas himself, via Zoom.
“Since that meeting, I’ve sent two other emails requesting information that they have yet to provide,” Spears said Wednesday.
That request included copies of the emails Baird claimed he had sent Gaskin last term.
“Crickets,” Spears said.
Stewart, who has consistently supported keeping Worth Thomas on contract, asked Spears if he truly could not see the value of the firm’s work.
“Apparently, you do believe in having consultants because you requested consultants when you were with the last firm you were with,” she said.
Spears confirmed that Stewart was referring to his time on the city-council appointed Columbus Redevelopment Authority, which hired separate lobbyists to seek federal and state funds toward redeveloping Burns Bottom. He said the CRA terminated its contract with the state lobbyist Beth Clay after her specific work was complete.
“You want to put in a notice to terminate the contract because they did not get back with you?” Stewart then asked.
“This is a pattern that they are not representing the city in the capacity we are paying them for,” Spears responded.
Before seconding the motion, Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene asked if Spears wanted to wait until Tuesday’s regular council meeting, since Stewart couldn’t vote and Smith was not present. Spears advocated for pushing forward with the vote Wednesday, since waiting would push the contract’s required 15-day notice period into December.
Lavonne Harris of Ward 4 and Gary Jefferson of Ward 5 voted along with Spears and Greene.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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