Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Government Relations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fiscal court hires McCarthy Strategic Solutions for lobbying; adds contract transparency requirement
Summary
Franklin County approved a one-year lobbying agreement with McCarthy Strategic Solutions but amended subcontracting and reporting language to require timely disclosure of subcontractors and to fix term dates before execution.
Franklin County Fiscal Court approved a resolution to retain McCarthy Strategic Solutions LLC to provide state and federal lobbying services and asked the firm to begin outreach to county officials immediately. The contract received support during an interview process and funding for the agreement is budgeted.
Commissioners pressed the firm’s scope, contract term dates and transparency around subcontractors. One magistrate asked that Franklin County be specifically listed in the contract’s leadership and called for prompt notification if the firm subcontracts any services that will operate on the county’s behalf. To address that, the court amended the contract language so McCarthy must provide a list of subcontractors used “within a reasonable amount of time” and fixed a contract term-date typo before final execution.
Officials said priorities for the lobbying firm include road and bridge funding, water and septic improvements, and state‑level ad valorem and manufactured‑home code proposals that could affect local revenue. Commissioners asked for a defined reporting mechanism—whether a weekly email or a short recorded briefing—to keep the court informed without creating quorum or open‑meetings conflicts.
The resolution passed with the amendment; the court directed staff to return final, corrected contract documents to the clerk for execution and requested a plan for regular informational updates to the court.
One commissioner recommended the court consider serving as fiscal agent for more grant activity going forward so the county can respond more quickly if federal or state funds require faster drawdown and reporting.
