Daphne hires lobbying firm

City seeking new federal infrastructure funding

By Guy Busby, guy@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 12/8/21

DAPHNE – City officials have hired a lobbying firm to represent Daphne’s interests in Washington and Montgomery and to seek some of the infrastructure funding approved recently in Congress.

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Daphne hires lobbying firm

City seeking new federal infrastructure funding

Posted

DAPHNE – City officials have hired a lobbying firm to represent Daphne’s interests in Washington and Montgomery and to seek some of the infrastructure funding approved recently in Congress.

The council voted Nov. 15 to hire Adams and Reese. Former Congressman Bradley Byrne will also represent the city as part of the agreement. The city will pay the company $6,750 a month under a one-year contract, according to the resolution approved by the council.

President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion bill into law in November. The bill includes money for local governments to repair and rebuild roads and bridges and other transportation improvements, according to federal government reports.

Mayor Robin LeJeune said the money to hire the company is in the budget passed for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

He said federal infrastructure legislation will create new funding opportunities for cities such as Daphne. He said city officials will be meeting with lobbyists to discuss what action to take.

“We are very excited about the possibility of some of the grant opportunities, especially now that the new infrastructure bill is going to be passed, or has passed, and so we are working with that,” LeJeune said. “They also have a separate section of team members for the state grants that we'll be going out with.”

“We're very excited about this new transition to this lobby group and the expectations they know they have to meet for us to continue,” LeJeune added.

Byrne said increased federal funding was already available before Congress passed the infrastructure bill. He said the company and Daphne will be working to find opportunities for funding for city projects.

“We’ll be working on governmental relations at both the federal and state level and as part of that, we’ll be helping the city access federal and state money that’s available to municipalities,” Byrne said. “We know there’s going to be a lot of it coming down over the next 12-plus months. So, there’s a lot of opportunities for the city of Daphne to take advantage of that.”

Councilman Ron Scott said the action was a good choice for Daphne.

“There was a time a number of years ago, when lobbying was extremely important and then they made some changes when they did away with earmarks and it was almost that lobbying had very little input,” Scott said. “The landscape has changed again, and I think it is extremely important that we have representation, and I don't think we're going to have any better than Adams and Reese and Congressman Byrne.”