Jacksonville City Council members voice concerns over selection process for new city lobbying firm
Members of Jacksonville City Council are raising concerns about the way the Mayor’s Office went about picking a new lobbying firm for the city.
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The City of Jacksonville selected Langton Consulting as its new lobbying firm with a price tag of $300,000 a year.
The firm was chosen using a single source contract, which means no other firms had an opportunity to compete for the job.
The city’s contract with Langton Consulting contends the firm has the ‘unique ability’ to offer grant writing and research, public policy development, and federal advocacy support.
“I’m a little bit shocked,” said Councilmember Nick Howland (R-Group 3 At-Large).
Howland, who recently became aware of the use of the single source contract, argued the services used as justification for skipping the usual procurement process aren’t unique to Langton.
He worries firms cut out of the bidding process could challenge the city contract.
“I could name four or five off the top of my head. Ballard, Southern Group, Grey Robinson, etcetera,” said Howland.
Last week, Action News Jax asked Mayor Donna Deegan why the decision was made to forego the usual bid process for selecting a new firm.
She argued federal money was being left on the table and the bid process would have taken time off the clock.
“And we have so many needs here infrastructure-wise, climate-wise, you name it that we want to go after, and you can’t do that without having that help. So, we wanted to get that moving quickly so that money was still available to us,” said Deegan.
The selection of Langton Consulting came about a month and a half after the Deegan Administration severed ties with the city’s former lobbying firm Ballard Partners, which had just recently added former Mayor Lenny Curry to its payroll.
The Deegan Administration explained at the time the decision was made due to its desire to secure more federal grant dollars.
But Action News Jax obtained emails from Ballard to city officials outlining three separate federal grant opportunities the firm had pitched in the weeks before its contract was abruptly terminated.
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Campaign finance records also show Langton Consulting made minor contributions to Deegan’s political action committee.
“And why I’m concerned about this and will be investigating it further is Mayor Deegan campaigned on a platform of ending the perceived culture of corruption in City Hall. Now, what we’re seeing is a single source award without real true justification,” said Howland.
Howland explained going forward, any single source contacts over $50,000 will have to be reviewed by the council finance committee, as part of a procurement code bill set for a final vote next week.
“So we can see it. Thereby increasing transparency, so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” said Howland.
Like Langton Consulting, the city also paid Ballard Partners $300,000 a year.
However, Ballard provided both state and federal lobbying services, while Langton only did federal work.
A member of the mayor’s team told Action News Jax the city is still in the process of securing a separate state-level lobbying firm.
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