If the city’s lobbyist firm wants a new contract for a fourth year, it will first have to prove its value.
In what looked like a routine item toward the end of Tuesday’s meeting agenda, the city council seemed poised to renew Jackson-based Worth Thomas Consulting’s annual contract for lobbying services for $72,000. Then Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene chimed in.
“Is there any paperwork, discussion, proof (for) what we have gotten for hiring these consultants?” he asked.
Ward 5 Stephen Jones noted the $1 million the city received for amphitheater improvements during the 2024 state legislative session.
“That wasn’t them,” Greene said, dismissively.
“It helped,” Jones replied.
“Lord, they’ll take credit for anything,” Greene said. “… We don’t know if we’re getting $72,000 worth.”
Greene moved to table renewing the contract until Worth Thomas Consulting provides documentation for “what exactly we got” from the firm in 2024. It passed 3-2, with Jones and Vice Mayor Joseph Mickens, who represents Ward 2, opposed. Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard participated in earlier council business Tuesday but left the meeting before the lobbyist discussion.
Jammie Garrett confirmed to The Dispatch on Wednesday that she has asked the firm for the needed documentation.
Saleem Baird, a member of the Worth Thomas government affairs team and one of the city’s direct contacts with the firm, did not return calls or messages from The Dispatch by press time.
Gaskin: Lobbying firm could do better
At a Wednesday press conference, Mayor Keith Gaskin said he understands why the council tabled the contract renewal. He shares Greene’s concern the city isn’t getting its money’s worth.
“I have requested information from them in the past that I have not received in a timely fashion,” Gaskin said. “… In some areas, they’ve been very good. They’ve opened some doors for us for some meetings … that we probably wouldn’t have been able to open otherwise.
“… They are very delightful people to work with,” he added. “But could they probably be doing a better job (for the city)? I think that’s fair.”
Gaskin has asked Worth Thomas for better, more proactive communication. He noted the firm had recently begun emailing city leaders more regularly.
Worth Thomas, which signed its first one-year contract with Columbus in March 2022 and has been renewed each of the two years since, helps city leadership strategically set priorities each year for the Mississippi legislative session and lobbies on the city’s behalf on both the state and federal level, Gaskin said.
The firm works alongside city officials in staying in contact with the local delegation in Jackson, as well as the state’s delegation in Washington, D.C.
That is particularly helpful in Jackson, Gaskin said, since the firm is based there and has “an idea where the winds are blowing” on key issues.
While city officials keep their own frequent contact with the local delegation, Gaskin said Worth Thomas can open doors through relationships with other key players that the city doesn’t have.
“There’s mixed reviews from folks on whether lobbyists are necessary,” Gaskin said. “Our own delegation sometimes will say they’re not. … I think consultants are helpful for municipalities.”
Since 2023, the city has landed not only the $1 million in state money for the amphitheater, it has gotten $6 million in federal grant funds for its blight removal program.
“Determining who actually made that happen is up for debate,” Gaskin said.
Worth Thomas helped the city set its 2025 legislative priorities – $2 million for a regional crime center, $2 million for watershed projects and $835,000 for improvements on Fifth Street North. Even if the city doesn’t hire a lobbyist this year, he is confident the city can achieve some of its legislative goals.
“The city will continue to push those. … Enough groundwork has already been done,” he said. “I think the city can reach its goals, but I think having a consultant can help in that effort if it’s coordinated properly.”
Mickens: Look at the LINK too
Mickens said problems with Worth Thomas are “news to me.”
“I was just going to pay the guy and give him his money,” Mickens said, referring to the lobbying firm. “We’ve done it for the past … three years.”
Still, he said he has no problem tabling the contract and believes the council “has every right” to ask consultants for more information.
Where he differs with Greene is targeting Worth Thomas and not demanding the same results-based metrics from other consultants.
For example, the city contributes $100,000 per year to Lowndes County’s contract with the Golden Triangle Development LINK for industrial recruitment to the area. If the Worth Thomas contract is questioned, the LINK’s should be too, he said.
“To be truthful with you, I don’t think we’re getting our money out of none of them,” Mickens said. “We give (LINK CEO Joe Max) Higgins $100,000 a year. What is he giving the city? He don’t bring no industries into the city.”
Jones did not return calls or messages by press time to explain why he voted against tabling the contract.
CMSD board appointment, MSMS resolution
In other business Tuesday, the council unanimously reappointed Telisa Young to the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees. She was the only applicant for the five-year term.
At Jones’ behest, the council also unanimously, and emphatically, approved a resolution supporting Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science remaining on the campus of Mississippi University for Women in Columbus and opposing any effort to move the residential high school to Mississippi State University in Starkville.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 42 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
