The lack of communication between the city’s contracted lobbying firm and council members was boiled down Wednesday to a simple mixup.
The alleged culprit for the mixup, according to Mayor Stephen Jones and representatives from Worth Thomas Consultants, was former mayor Keith Gaskin.
Saleem Baird, with the government affairs team at Worth Thomas, hand-delivered a report to council members during their regular work session at City Hall. He also defended the value of his firm’s efforts on the city’s behalf, something council members called into question earlier this month while discussing whether to continue the $72,000 annual contract with Worth Thomas.
Part of the rub, per several council members, was the council receiving no communication from Worth Thomas Consultants since the new term began July 1.
Baird said during Gaskin’s administration, the mayor instructed the firm to send reports only to him. From there, as far as Baird knew, Gaskin forwarded them to council members. On Wednesday, Baird said he later learned that wasn’t happening.
Baird said those reports were weekly during legislative sessions and less frequent otherwise.
When Jones became mayor in July, the lobbying firm continued to send emails only to him, though Jones said he believed the council had been blind-carbon-copied as recipients.
“I thought that everybody was getting it when they weren’t,” Jones said during the work session. “… And they thought by sending it to me that I was sending it to everybody else because that’s what the previous mayor told him he was doing. So it was just a mixup in the communication process.”
Moving forward, the council will be blind-carbon-copied on emails from the lobbying firm, which City Attorney Jeff Turnage said will get them the information more timely without running the risk of violating the open meetings act. Without the blind carbon copy, a council member could reply to all recipients – including a quorum of the council – and the discussion could constitute an illegal meeting.
“More communication, we have no problem with that,” Baird said during the work session.
Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears, speaking with the Dispatch after the meeting, said he wasn’t sure he bought the “communication mixup” reasoning.
“For me, that’s a tough one to swallow,” he said. “How would the previous council, being as active as they were in guiding the different actions that were taken, be completely out of the loop when it comes to what’s going on with the lobbyist? … It’s kind of hard to understand that claim.”
Jones, for instance, was Ward 5 councilman last term when Gaskin reportedly failed to pass along the reports.
In a text to The Dispatch on Wednesday afternoon, Jones said he would receive reports “here and there” last term, but he wasn’t sure if they came from the firm, Gaskin or Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett.
“I would mostly just reach out to (the firm) if I had a question,” Jones wrote.
Gaskin, also in a text to The Dispatch, said Worth Thomas never sent regular reports, even upon request. When a report came, he said he always shared it with the council.
“They also called and spoke to some members of the council directly without including me in those conversations,” Gaskin wrote. “They had direct contact information for all members of the council. The council members could also contact them directly any time. Open and direct communication was never discouraged. It was encouraged.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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