Mayor Shon Owens pushes for lobbyist to help town pursue funding for projects at $12K
The Jay town council approved to hire a lobbyist from the Legus Group to help advocate for the town in getting funding for projects.
Mayor Shon Owens said Tuesday night State Rep. Jayer Williamson and Sen. Doug Broxson are so busy that he felt the town needed to take a chance on a lobbyist to help the town pursue projects. Owens met with a couple of lobbyist recently and they agreed to work for the town on a much smaller budget of $12,000 than the normal $30,000 to $40,000 price tag. The town would pay the firm $1,000 a month for 12 months.
“I'm of the opinion that we need to take a chance on this and try to let somebody help us get these projects through,” said Owens. “I think the only reason we are not getting those is because they are not seeing them all the way through, as it goes from step to step to be in the face of who they need to be in front of. It's a $12,000 gamble. We've got it in the budget, we've put it in the budget if we want to allocate for it.”
Owens said that one of the lobbyists he spoke with who agreed to work for the town has 15 years' experience and that the firm's owner has held public office in the past.
He said the projects to put in place to be funded would be the master park plan, repaving the bad roads in the town and alternately, a new well or additional wells if they are needed.
Mayor Owens made a motion that was seconded by Councilwoman Nina Hendricks to hire the lobbyists at a rate of $1,000 a month for a year. The motion carried unanimously.
