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Council ratifies local lobbyist agreement after questions about timing and paperwork
Summary
Council ratified a town contract with Sluggett & Associates for local lobbying services and granted staff authority to approve ongoing work up to the town manager's delegated limit, after discussion about contract timing and legal review.
The council ratified a contract and associated purchase order with Sluggett & Associates, a local lobbying and consultant firm, after residents raised procedural questions about timing and signatures on the paperwork.
Mary McNicholas of Sluggett & Associates told the council the firm had provided services to the town under a proposal beginning Oct. 1; staff later presented a professional-services agreement with a $24,999 cap and invoices showing payments of $7,500 for several months. Some council members and residents asked why final contract documents appeared to have been executed after the period of work listed on the agreement. Town staff and the town attorney said the material had been under discussion, that a written PSA had been prepared to match the previously agreed work and that the town manager had authority for spending under the $25,000 threshold.
Town Attorney clarified the charter requirement that the town attorney “approve all contracts” and said legal sufficiency review is best practice but that the attorney had not seen the final executed agreement until the agenda package. The town manager acknowledged the paperwork should have been forwarded sooner for legal review and said the town had used standardized purchase-order terms as an interim mechanism while finalizing the PSA. The town manager also asked the council to ratify the executed agreement. Council voted to ratify the October–February engagement and approved the related resolution on the agenda; both votes passed 4-0.
Ending: Council asked staff to tighten internal processes for contracting and for the town attorney and manager to clarify which documents require legal sufficiency review going forward. The council also directed staff to provide an itemized recap of major professional-contract expenditures for a future review.
