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Magna CRA hires Clearwater Financial as adviser; board approves $12,000 annual retainer with one dissent
Summary
The board approved contracting Clearwater Financial as the Magna CRA’s financial and economic development adviser with a $12,000-per-year retainer covering up to 40 hours of work; the motion passed with one dissent recorded from vice chair Pierce.
The Magna Community Reinvestment Agency voted on July 8 to contract Clearwater Financial as its financial and economic development adviser, approving a retainer arrangement intended to cover smaller project requests. Dan Torres presented the recommended engagement and compared Clearwater’s offer with a larger‑scale option from Zions Bank.
"Their retainer is $12,000 a year, and it comes with, quote, unquote, unlimited up to 40 hour projects," Torres said, describing the Clearwater proposal as suitable for ad hoc studies and questions that fall within that scope. Torres said Zions Bank is oriented toward large bond financing and generally does not charge a retaining fee in the same way; Zions would be used for major bond transactions and fees tied to those services.
Board member Perkopis moved to contract Clearwater Financial as the CRA’s financial and economic development adviser; board member Sudbury seconded. The motion passed with one opposition recorded by the chair: vice chair Pierce voted "nay," and the remainder of the board voted in favor.
Torres also said the agency could consider sharing advisers across nearby jurisdictions: "My hope and my desire was to have these guys on board at the MSD level and bring them down…so it'd be 3 entities with a common staff," he said, noting potential efficiencies if the same adviser worked for several nearby entities.
The board carried the motion and directed staff to proceed with the contracting process. The decision followed short discussion and no public comment.
