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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 04 - Legislative ConsultingMEMO TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: BRUNO RUMBELOW, CITY MANAGER MEETING DATE: JANUARY 3, 2023 SUBJECT: LEGISLATIVE CONSULTING SERVICES - FOCUSED ADVOCACY, LLC RECOMMENDATION: City Council to consider a two year agreement with Focused Advocacy, LLC for limited service legislative and regulatory consulting services. FUNDING SOURCE: Funding is available in the General Fund (Non -Departmental) in the amount of $50,000. BACKGROUND: Focused Advocacy LLC was founded in 2009 and is a public affairs and legislative advocacy firm that specializes in representing cities. Their core practice areas include local government advocacy, infrastructure, utilities, economic development and business development. The city will utilize the firm for the upcoming 88th Texas legislative session which begins in January 2023. The full scope of services is included in the attached contract. The main priorities of the firm will be to assist the City with the following: 1. Represent the City's general interests before the legislature as guided by our publicly adopted legislative agenda; 2. Provide general guidance and assistance to the City to develop a legislative agenda that advances the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens; 3. Work to defeat legislation the City deems detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare of citizens; 4. Provide the City staff and Council with timely updates regarding the status of pending legislation. The term of the agreement will be for two years with the option for two additional, two-year periods upon approval by both parties in writing. Should the item be approved, we will present the recommended Legislative Agenda at the next City Council meeting for your consideration. Staff recommends approval FOCUSED A IVOCACY Contract Limited Service Legislative & Regulatory Consulting Services City of Grapevine & Focused Advocacy This contract (hereinafter the "Agreement") represents an agreement between Focused Advocacy, LLC. ("the Consultant") as located at 816 Congress Avenue, Suite 370, Austin, Texas 78701 and the City of Grapevine ("the City") as located at 200 S Main St, Grapevine, TX 76051, Texas. 1. Term. The term of this Agreement shall be for 24 months. 2. Renewal. At the mutual agreement of both parties and as evidenced by a written memorandum, this Agreement may be renewed for two (2) additional 24-month periods. 3. Limited Scone of Services. The scope of services to be provided by the Consultant during the term of this Agreement is expressly limited to the following: a. Represent the City's general interests before the Texas legislature as guided by the City's publicly adopted legislative positions and agenda; b. Provide general guidance and assistance to the City to develop a legislative agenda that advances the health, safety, and welfare of the City's citizens; c. Work to defeat legislation the City deems detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare of its citizens; d. Provide the City staff and Council with timely updates regarding the statue; of pending legislation; e. Utilize proprietary software to help the City monitor the progress of legislation that affects the City; f. Advise and inform the City of upcoming legislative committee hearings (both during the legislative session and the interim); g. Assist with the preparation and drafting of legislation and amendments; h. Assist with the development and drafting of letters, speeches and other advocacy materials; FOCUSED c A l►, OCACY i. Assist with the preparation of City officials who testify before legislative bodies; j. Attend and monitor on the City's behalf legislative hearings, agency hearings, stakeholder meetings, TML meetings, and interim legislative committee hearings; and k. As directed, represent the City's interests before the regulatory bodies of Texas and various state agencies of the Texas executive branch by informing the City of key state agency hearings and developments at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Department of Transportation, Public Utility Commission, General Land Office, Railroad Commission, Water Development Board, Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. 4. Extaansion of Scone of Services. a. This Agreement is expressly limited to the scope of services detailed herein. b. The scope of services in this Agreement does not include services related to efforts to pass legislation or impact rulemaking at state regulatory agencies. c. Any additional services requested by the City will necessitate an amendment to this Agreement with new terms and a new retainer compensation arrangement as outlined below. 5. Retainer COMDensation & Billing. a. In consideration for the performance of the services outlined in this Agreement, the City agrees to pay the Consultant four -thousand one -hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents ($4,166.66) per -month. b. Monthly invoices will be sent on or around the first day of each month and payable by the 1Sth day of each month. c. Payment shall either be deposited directly to the bank account provided by the Consultant or otherwise mailed to Focused Advocacy at 816 Congress Avenue, Suite 370, Austin, Texas 78701. 2 FOCUSED C A IVOCACY d. Should the City require services of Consultant to assist with the passage of legislative initiatives as adopted by the City Council and develop strategies and generally work to gain support to pass a City legislative initiative, the City agrees to pay Consultants $8,333.33 per -month for a 12 months period. e. Certain services required by this contract and other services as requested by the Client from time -to -time not described by this contract will be provided by BCS, an affiliate business operation of Focused Advocacy with common ownership. 6. Reimbursement of Expenses. a. The City agrees to and shall reimburse Consultant three hundred and fifty dollar ($350) per month for the meals and related out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the Consultant associated with the client -related business meetings hosted by the Consultant in furtherance of the duties and services required by this Agreement. b. This is a fixed -amount, monthly reimbursement and will not be accompanied by receipts. c. The City agrees to reimburse the Consultant for these expenses at the same time it pays the monthly retainer. d. In addition, the City will reimburse The Consultant for any reasonable and customary expenses related to any travel requested of the Consultant by the City (i.e. - airfare, mileage, rental cars, taxis, hotels, travel -related meals). 7. Contract for Professional Services. The parties to this Agreement mutually acknowledge and understand that pursuant to Section 252.022(a)(4) of the Texas Local Government Code, a procurement for professional services such as the services in this Agreement is exempt from the competitive bid or proposal requirement. 8. Termination. a. Any termination of this Agreement by the City requires ninety -days (90) written notice effective from the date written notice is delivered to the Consultant. The City is responsible for payment of the retainer through the end of the termination period and the Consultant shall be fully compensated by the City through any early termination date regardless of the appropriation of funds by the City. 3 F 0 C U S E 0 A 3 �7 Ili+.+, b. The City may terminate the contract with thirty days (30) written notice if termination is caused by a conflict of interest as governed by Chapter 305, Government Code regarding legislation that cannot be resolved between the City and another client of the Consultant regarding a specific piece of legislation. 9. Points of Contact. Unless directed otherwise, the City Manager shall act as the point of contact for the City and Brandon Aghamalian and Snapper Carr shall act as the point of contact for the Consultant. The Consultant will take its direction and work orders from the City Manager. 10. Comnliance with Texas Ethics Laws. The Consultant agrees to comply with all applicable state lobby registration and reporting laws and with all applicable state authorities including the Texas Ethics Commission. 11. Conflicts of interest. a. Should any other client of the Consultant take a position on a piece of legislation that is in opposition to the position of the City or should the Consultant believe that its representation of the City is materially affected by the position taken by another client, the Consultant will comply with all applicable state laws regarding conflicts of interest and will notify in writing the City within two (2) business days from the date the Consultant became aware of the conflict. b. The Consultant must obtain written permission from the City to continue its representation. c. If the conflict is between the City and any other client of the Consultant that is private sector organization, the Consultant agrees to resolve the conflict in favor of the City. 12.Consultant Relationship. It is understood by the parties that the Consultant is an independent contractor for the purposes of any federal and/or state laws including tax laws, and that Consultant is not in any way an employee, full or part-time of Client. 13. Confidentiality. 4 FOCUSED A )VOCACY a. If a party provides information or materials indicated to be confidential, the receiving party will maintain the confidentiality of such matters and not disclose any such information except in proper performance of this Agreement and as required by law. b. It is understood by The Consultant that the materials produced and provided under this Agreement are the property of the City and shall be returned to them upon request. 14. Entire Agreement and Modifications. a. This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understandings of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements or understandings, whether oral or written. b. This Agreement may not be modified, rescinded or terminated orally, and no modification, rescission, termination or attempted waiver of any provision hereof (including this section) shall be valid unless in writing and signed by both parties. This contract is accepted and effective as of hereof and the signatures of the undersigned. Signature - City of Grapevine Printed name & title Date as evidenced by the execution Signature - Focused Advocacy Brandon A hamalian. President Printed name & title Date 5 F 0 C U S 10 ADVOCACY ABOUT US Focused Advocacy is a premier public affairs and lobbying firm that specializes in representing cities. Our firm is organized around five core practice areas — Local Government Advocacy, Infrastructure, Utilities (energy, telecom and water), Economic Development and Business Development. Our team possesses established, measurable expertise within each of these disciplines, as illustrated by our accompanying biographies. Focused Advocacy continues to set best practices for municipal, economic development and utility - related advocacy. We take pride in our subject matter knowledge, our commitment to the clients, and our consistent performance at the highest ethical standards. Municipal Specialists. Founded in 2009, our firm was created with the express purpose of providing lobbying services to local governments and to provide our clients with a team of subject matter experts. As such, Focused Advocacy enjoys the experience that comes with our long history of representing cities before the legislature. No other lobby team in Austin spends more time at the Capitol lobbying on behalf of municipal issues than Focused Advocacy. Our knowledge of municipal issues is simply unmatched within the lobby. Focused Advocacy has a proven track record of success. Our firm boasts an impressive record of success — passing over 80 percent of our clients' legislative initiatives. (Note: the average passage rate in the Texas Legislature is 20 percent). Our team has passed or defeated more local government -related legislation than any other lobby firm in history. Due to our successes, Focused Advocacy has repeatedly been recognized as one of the most influential lobby teams in the state (Capitol Inside Lobby Rankings 2011, 201.3, 2015, 2017, and 2019). Focused Advocacy is an experienced; bipartisan firm. We offer our clients a team of four (4) lobbyists, with the expertise of a former state legislator, former Director of Governmental Relations for the City of Fort Worth, former TML legislative and legal counselor, and a former member of Governor Berry's policy staff. We bring to bear more than 100 years of combined experience, skill and bipartisan relationships inside the Texas Capitol and regulatory agencies. 10CUSID ADVOCACY Focused Advocacy offers comprehensive administrative support and communications services. Supporting clients' internal and external communications is a priority for Focused Advocacy, and we employ an in-house professional writer with extensive experience producing advocacy documents specifically for cities. We also employ a full-time project manager and an office manager to assist with client projects, scheduling and meeting coordination, office administration and management of our policy research team. Our administrative team has extensive experience assisting clients with "Day at the Capitol" and similar events. Our office is located two blocks from the Capitol at 816 Congress Avenue on the corner of 9tn Street and Congress Avenue. Our clients enjoy complimentary covered parking, temporary office space, conference rooms, internet access, copy/printer services, refreshments, and a rooftop terrace to host events. FocusEo� TEAM MEMBERS & AREAS OF EXPERTISE TEAM MEMBER Brandon Aghamalian President Snapper Carr Partner & General Counsel Curtis Seidiits CEO Andrew Keefer Senior Associate Lynlie Wallace Legislative & Regulatory Counsel ADVOCACY AREAS OF EXPERTISE Economic Development Municipal Law Taxes and Appraisals Transit Energy Military/VA Issues Oil and Gas Telecommunications Water i Civil law Energy Municipal law Telecommunications Energy Municipal Law Transit Utilities Water Municipal Law Utilities Utilities Land Use Public Finance State Budget Transportation Land Use Municipal Law Pensions Utilities Regulatory Agencies Criminal law Land Use Utilities Executive Branch Military/VA Oil and Gas Transportation Regulatory Agencies IVI it i 'Lary%VA Oil and Gas Transportation Regulatory Agencies Josh Meeks Communications Social Media Communications Director Crisis Management Advocacy Materials :DC BIOGRAPHIES Brandon Aghamalian is a recognized expert on municipal issues, public finance, economic development, property taxes, and transportation. Aghamalian joined Focused Advocacy in 2010 to co-founded the firm's lobby and local government practice. Prior to that, Aghamalian co- founded the local government practice for HiliCo Partners. From 2002 to 2006, Aghamalian served as the Director of Government Relations for the City of Fort Worth in the administrations of Mayor Ken Barr and Mayor Mike Moncrief. Prior to that, Aghamalian worked as the Director of the House Committee on Business and Industry, Chief of Staff for State Representative Kim Brimer, and Legislative Director for Representative Todd Smith. Aghamalian earned a BA in Accounting from Texas State University, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from The University of Texas School of Law and a Master of Public Affairs.from the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Snapper Carr joined Focused Advocacy in 2010 to co-found the firm's lobby and local government practice. His primary focus is representing the needs of local governments before the Texas Legislature. From 2006 to 2010, Carr co-founded the local government practice for HillCo Partners, representing dozens of cities before the Legislature. Previously, Carr served as the Legislative Counsel and Associate for the Texas Municipal League (TML) from 1998 to 2006, where he represented municipal interests and earned a reputation as an expert in the fields of land usage, utilities, military and water issues. From 1994 to 1998, Carr served as the committee clerk for the House Committee on State Affairs and House Committee on Land and Resource Management. Carr has a bachelor's degree in Communications and Government from The University of Texas and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the UT School of Law. The Honorable Curtis Seidlits is one of Austin's premier government affairs and lobby strategists. Before founding Focused Advocacy, Seidlits spent thirteen years as the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs for Energy Future Holdings, formerly TXU Corp, where he oversaw federal, state, and local governmental advocacy, public policy and the company's political action committees. At TXU, he helped engineer the changes establishing competition in the electric industry. Before joining TXU, Seidlits served as president and CEO of the Association of Electric Companies of Texas (AECT), a group representing the state's investor -owned electric companies. From 1986- 1996, Seidlits served in the Texas House of Representatives where he was appointed to a variety of committees including Judiciary, Ways and Means, Elections and Redistricting. In 1993, he was appointed chairman of the House State. Affairs Committee and oversaw tort reform, ethics, utilities, and public information. Seidlits authored legislation that substantially rewrote the state's electric and telecommunications regulations. Seidlits earned both his law degree and bachelor's degree in political science from Baylor University. He began his career as a prosecutor and has over forty years of legal experience. Confidentia! Page 4 August 25, 2022 FOCUSED C ADVOCACY Andrew Keefer provides counsel on regulatory issues that require navigating the complicated regulatory landscape at the Public Utility Commission, the Railroad Commission of Texas, and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Prior to private practice, Keefer served as Chief of Staff for the Chair of the Texas Railroad Commission where he participated in the regulation of the oil and gas industry, pipelines, alternative energy and surface and uranium mining. At the Commission, he authored congressional testimony and helped implement the Hydraulic Fracturing Disclosure Rule. Prior to that, Keefer worked for Governor Rick Perry's energy and environment policy team. Previously, Keefer served as Chief of Staff for Representatives Linda Harper -Brown and Corbin Van Arsdale. Keefer studied at Abilene Christian University, attended the Institute for Economics at the State. University of Campinas in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies. He is fluent in Portuguese and proficient in Spanish. Lynhe Wallace, with 17 years of experience in facilitating the development of public policy in both local and state government, provides strategic counsel to a diverse client base to aid in the development of individualized strategies to achieve clients' legislative goals. Prior to joining Focused Advocacy, Lynlie served for over a decade as chief of staff to the chairman of the Texas House Natural Resources Committee.. Her background includes staffing the Bexar County Commissioners Court staff, consulting on federal, state, and municipal political campaigns, and serving as ari account executive for a regional public relations firm. Lynlie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Angelo State University and Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Mary's University School of Law.. Josh Meeks is a seasoned public affairs professional who specializes in creative communication solutions at the Texas Capitol and statewide. The founder of Republic Square Media, Josh delivers writing, digital design and storytelling.support to former and current clients include local governments, issue campaigns, statewide trade associations, Fortune 10 companies, and more. Josh's work inside the Texas Legislature includes nearly a decade of service as legislative director and corn munications.director in the Senate, where he staffed the Senate Finance Committee, state budget conference committee, and more. Josh currently manages Focused Advocacy's communications, social media and crisis management operations. Confidential Page 5 August 25, 2022 =OCUSE OUR APPROACH Our firm's approach to advocating is most accurately described as: Hands -On, Detailed, Relationship -Driven, and Ethical. Hands -On Legislative success is typically obtained by first formulating specific legislative objectives accompanied by an investment of time and energy to truly understand your issues. Using the full resources of our team, we develop the right strategy, implement the right tactics and deploy our extensive network of state government relationships to achieve success for our clients. To accomplish that objective, we intend to operate as an extension of your staff acting as the City's "boots on the ground" at the Capitol, operating as an extension of your team. The members are of our team are uniquely qualified to handle any issue the City faces regardless of how intricate they are. Our team will confer with City leadership to formulate specific, immediate, and long- range objectives to develop a finely tuned legislative agenda that focuses on the City's goals. Detailed During the legislative session, we closely monitor all filed legislation, identifying pertinent bills to bring to your attention and drafting amendments as necessary. We provide notice of and monitor all committee hearings. When required, we help prepare your team to testify and arrange meetings with legislators and Capitol staff. We actively work the "calendar" process and monitor all daily sessions of the House and Senate. Throughout it all, Focused Advocacy actively works to solicit support for your legislative agenda and represents the City during behind -the - scenes negotiations. In order to keep our team coordinated, we hold regular meetings and/or conference calls with City staff. We develop a significant number of deliverables for our clients, including bill analyses, memorandum, speeches, talking points, memos, letters of support, collateral material and presentations. We will also publish a regular e-mail newsletter about important developments. Outside of the session, during the interim, our services focus on monitoring state agencies, interim committee hearings, and staying abreast of municipal developments throughout the state. We confer regularly with TML, meet with legislators and staff to maintain relationships, host political events at our office, and actively participate in campaigns and fundraisers. Relationship -Driven Focused Advocacy maintains longstanding positive working relationships throughout all levels of state government, interacting regularly with everyone in the legislative process from the Governor to freshman legislators to state agency personnel. We are viewed by most as "the city Confidential Page 6 August 25, 2022 C ADVOCACY lobbyists" and as such, elected officials consistently turn to our team for counsel on a wide range of municipal issues. Our reputation as "the city team" greatly enhances our ability to achieve positive results for our clients. Additionally, we have a deep understanding of the history of municipal issues within the legislature, and how key stakeholders react to issues. This institutional knowledge allows us to avoid pitfalls while increasing our overall chances of achieving success for your agenda. The Focused Advocacy team has worked hard over the years to develop positive working relationships with all levels of state government (legislative, executive and judicial), and with both political parties. Due to these longstanding relationships, we are confident of our ability to represent your needs and protect the City's best interests. While we passionately represent our clients —even when it means lining up against our friends in the Legislature —we do so with respect for the legislative process and the ebb and flow of professional debate, recognizing that today's adversary can be tomorrow's ally. We always work to defeat detrimental legislation with the goal of maintaining a positive relationship for future issues. Additionally, we participate actively in the campaign process, making political contributions through our Focused Advocacy Political Action Committee (PAC). Ethical At all times, the Focused Advocacy team adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards. Our reputation for integrity and "straight talk" is known throughout the Capitol community. Maintaining our positive reputation among key state agency leadership and legislators greatly enhances our ability to achieve positive results for your City. In addition, we offer your City a "conflict free" relationship. In fact, our firm has never filed a conflict of interest at the Texas Ethics Commission and has never had a conflict with a city client. We also understand the sensitivities that come with representing a public entity, such as open records and open meeting laws, and act accordingly. Confidential Page 7 August 25, 2022