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Council approves contract with Columbia Capital for economic-development tracking under recent state law
Summary
The council approved a professional-services agreement with Columbia Capital Management LLC to provide economic-development administrative services and to track and report compliance with recent legislative requirements.
The Topeka City Council voted Aug. 19 to approve a professional services consulting contract with Columbia Capital Management LLC to provide economic-development administrative services and to manage annual compliance tracking and reporting required by recent state legislation.
Amanda Stanley, city attorney, presented the item and said the state legislature added requirements that obligate jurisdictions to track economic-development projects and to report annually on the results. "There is one provider that has developed a system to track those," Stanley said; the staff recommended an agreement with Columbia Capital to perform that work for the city.
Stanley said Columbia Capital would follow projects from start to finish and that the plan is to assess the tracking cost to developers through development agreements where appropriate, because the requirement is recurring over many years. "We want our economic development tracking to be separate from any kind of future RFP for financial services," she said, explaining the decision to make this a standalone contract rather than an amendment to an existing financial-services contract.
Councilmember Dobler moved approval; the clerk recorded nine affirmative votes and the motion carried. Staff said the contractor will implement an annual reporting practice and support administration of development agreement tracking going forward.
