The future of the city’s contract with a Jackson-based lobbying firm is again in doubt, with four council members now openly questioning what the city actually gets in return for the monthly fee.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting at the Municipal Complex, Ward 6 Councilman Jason Spears, who also serves as finance chair, moved to give Worth Thomas Consulting the required 15-day notice to terminate its contract to provide lobbying services to the city. He pointed to recent invoices the firm had sent the city that were included in the claims docket.
The city pays Worth Thomas Consulting $72,000 annually – $6,000 per month – to lobby on its behalf on the state and federal level. Since joining the council July 1, Spears said he hasn’t even heard from the firm.
“I have not received the first email, phone call, visit, report, update, questionnaire – anything that would need to happen with respect to aligning the city’s needs with the goals,” Spears said during the meeting.
In fact, all four first-term council members told The Dispatch on Wednesday they had not heard from any Worth Thomas representatives since taking office July 1.
Though Spears’ motion drew a second from Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene, a substitute motion from Gary Jefferson of Ward 5 to table the discussion for a later meeting carried by a 4-2 margin.
But Jefferson told The Dispatch he isn’t convinced the contract should continue. Before the next council meeting, he plans to speak to state lawmakers and city administration in an effort to obtain records on how exactly the firm’s work has helped Columbus land funds.
“If we’re just giving away $6,000 a month, I don’t see that is feasible at this time,” he said. “While we’re trying to gather up every penny we can get, we don’t need to be spending money that’s not beneficial to the city.”
Ward 4 Councilwoman Lavonne Harris said she also plans to learn more about the firm’s operations before the next council meeting.
“What are we paying them for? Because I really don’t know,” Harris said. “… If they want to keep the contract … it at least looks like they would have reached out to the new council.”
Successes questioned
On Tuesday, Vice Mayor Ethel Stewart, who represents Ward 1, argued the consulting firm had shown its worth, prompting Chief Operations Officer Jammie Garrett to run the council through some examples.
Garrett said Worth Thomas Consulting, alongside Waggoner Engineering, had helped the city land $6 million in federal dollars for its Blight Elimination Program. The consultants also helped bring in $1 million from the state to help finish the Sen. Terry Brown Amphitheater on the Island and assisted in landing funds to purchase a new fire truck ($350,000 in 2022, according to a report Garrett sent The Dispatch in February).
Chief Financial Officer Jim Brigham chimed in that Worth Thomas Consulting was also trying to help the city obtain $2 million for a regional crime center.
Greene, who tried unsuccessfully in February to shed the city of its contract with the lobbyist, again called the firm’s accomplishments into question.
“If they say one word to one person, they come back to us and say, ‘Oh, we got a fire truck for you.’ Those who are in the know say, ‘Absolutely, that had nothing to do with it.’ So a lot of things they are taking credit for, they’re not actually 100% getting this for us. So I’ve always questioned the usefulness of them.”
Saleem Baird, a member of the Worth Thomas Government Affairs team who works directly with Columbus, told The Dispatch on Wednesday the firm is working on an updated report to present to the council. He would not comment further on the record – specifically in response to the council’s discussion or whether his team has contacted new council members – instead deferring to the firm’s owner and namesake, Worth Thomas.
Neither Thomas nor Stewart returned calls of messages from The Dispatch by press time.
Mayor Stephen Jones, who served nine years on the council before becoming chief executive, told The Dispatch he believes Worth Thomas Consulting has done a good job for the city. If the firm’s contract came down to a tie vote on the council, he would support keeping it in place.
“We’re hoping for them to come to our next work session,” Jones said. “… I think lobbyists are crucial whether it’s them or somebody else.”
Ward 2’s Roderick Smith, another council newcomer, echoed Jones’ position.
“I feel like we need a lobbyist,” he said. “It can help secure different grants and different things we aren’t able to get by ourselves.”
Worth Thomas not a ‘main character’
Speaking with The Dispatch on Wednesday, Spears said $72,000 may be small compared to the city’s $20 million budget, but money spent with little to no return adds up over time.
“Out of the $18,000 that has been paid (to Worth Thomas Consulting) since I have been in office, I can’t justify to the residents of Ward 6 that we’ve gotten (even) $3,000 worth of benefit out of it,” he said.
As for the list of lobbyist assists Garrett presented Tuesday, Spears also is skeptical, especially with state funds.
“I went to the source of those individuals who were at the deal table when those situations came up,” he said. “… I know in a lot of instances, it didn’t seem like that particular group was playing a main character role in those negotiations.”
Even so, Spears said he isn’t aware of any lobbying goals the city is actively pursuing, so keeping a firm “on standby” makes as much sense to him as paying his doctor a retainer fee rather than just when he is sick.
“You would hire an individual firm when you have a targeted project that you need that extra muscle pushing alongside of you,” he said.
On this point, Jefferson agrees.
“We’ve got probably five or six representatives that should already be working on our behalf. That’s the elected ones that are already getting paid,” he said, referring to the state and federal legislative delegation. “We don’t need to be paying somebody else for doing nothing (if that’s the case).”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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