Council delays hiring of government-relations firm to allow presentations from top two finalists

The Tavares City Council on June 4 voted to continue consideration of hiring a government-relations firm and asked the top two ranked firms to return to the council on June 18 for presentations and contract review.

Staff reported three submissions to the city’s request for qualifications: The Ferguson Group (ranked first by staff with 269 points), Sunrise Consulting Group (260 points) and Edmond Law Group (241 points). A staff selection panel made up of the utilities director, public works director and the city administrator reviewed and ranked the firms; staff recommended negotiating with the top-ranked firm and bringing a contract back to council for final approval when the full five-member council is present.

Council discussion focused on cost, local ties and timing. One council member said they preferred working with a local firm because of community roots; another member and staff highlighted the benefit of earlier engagement to pursue federal grant opportunities ahead of the federal fiscal year and to support a large trail-related grant effort. Staff explained that if the city waits until October it may miss federal fiscal-year opportunities and that prior use of a similar firm had produced positive results for state-level advocacy.

Councilman Garrett said he preferred a local firm; other council members said the ranking panel’s recommendation was defensible and urged speed to preserve federal funding opportunities. Several council members asked staff to return with both top-ranked firms and a draft contract from each so that the council could hear presentations and consider final contract terms in one meeting.

A motion to continue the item and have the top two teams (Ferguson Group and Sunrise Consulting) present at the June 18 meeting, with draft contracts to review, passed on a 2-to-1 vote. The meeting record shows the motion carried 2 to 1; individual yea/nay votes were not recorded by name in the transcript.

Staff estimates for typical engagement were discussed in general terms during the meeting; one figure cited from the proposals was about $7,000 per month in a sample costing example that appeared in the packet. Staff told council the near-term fiscal impact to get a firm started for a short run would be about $12,000–$14,000 drawn from reserves this fiscal year, with the remaining cost to be considered in next year’s budget process if the contract runs into the new fiscal year.