Davis County Commission directs staff to draft amendment to Bennett Group DC lobbying contract

Davis County Commission members at a special meeting on Oct. 15 directed staff to prepare an amendment to the county’s service provider contract with Bennett Group DC, the county’s current lobbying firm, to raise the annual cap to $42,000 and extend the term.

The move is intended to replace language in the existing contract that includes a sliding-scale payment tied to Exhibit B, to increase the annual cap from about $28,000 to $42,000 (from about $2,500 per month to about $3,500 per month) and to set a two‑year extension. Commissioners and staff also discussed adjusting the contract end date so a renewed agreement would cover the interim legislative period and recommended running the amended contract through June 30, 2027, if the contractor agrees.

Why it matters: the county uses outside lobbyists to track and seek funding and legislative changes that affect county operations. Commissioners described the interim between legislative sessions as an important period for lobbyists’ work and said having continuity through the interim is a priority when setting contract dates and RFP timing.

Details from the discussion: - Current and proposed contract amounts: participants identified the current annual payment at about $28,000 ($2,500 monthly) and discussed raising the annual cap. The group settled on $42,000 annually, which they noted equates to roughly $3,500 per month. Multiple commissioners said that figure represented good value compared with past contracts that had been much higher. - Term length and timing: commissioners discussed one‑year versus two‑year extensions and expressed a preference for a two‑year term to avoid reopening the contract to competitive rebidding immediately and to secure continuity. They discussed making the amended contract effective Nov. 1 if the contractor agrees and running it through June 30, 2027, so the firm would be in place for the interim legislative work before the next session. - Contract language changes: staff said they would remove the Exhibit B sliding‑scale provision from the contract amendment so the amended cap is a fixed not‑to‑exceed amount. - RFP and procurement planning: staff and commissioners discussed calendarizing the RFP process well ahead of the contract’s expiration. County staff said they will work with the clerk’s office and procurement staff (Jordan was named as the point of contact) to ensure the RFP is on calendars at least 12 months before the expiration and to improve contract‑tracking (including adding machine‑readable expiration dates) to avoid lapses in coverage. - Contractor consent and next steps: commissioners acknowledged the contractor had not yet seen the amendment proposal. Staff said they would edit the amendment, send it to the amendment group and contact Bennett Group DC and Jordan to calendar next steps. No formal roll‑call vote was recorded in the transcript; the discussion concluded with staff directed to produce the amendment and to calendar the subsequent RFP timeline.

The commission made implementation planning a priority in the discussion: staff were asked to coordinate contract calendar entries, and the clerk’s office described work to add machine‑readable expiration dates to ease future monitoring. The meeting closed with staff committing to produce and circulate the amendment language and to prepare the RFP timeline so the county is “well out in front of it.”