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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Alex Voigt, Deputy Chief of Staff
DATE: December 3, 2020
SUBJECT:
A resolution approving an extension of an agreement with Bukola Bello for Lobbying Services on behalf of the City of Aurora.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this item is to request the City Council's approval to maintain an additional lobbyist to represent the City of Aurora for 2021.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Aurora has been represented by Dan Shomon, Inc. (DSI), and has been since 2006. A request to extend Dan's contract is also up for consideration for the Finance Committee as well.
In early 2020, the city began to explore the idea of adding a member to our lobby team. After interviewing several candidates, Bukola Bello of Vision M.A.I. was selected. Her contract was initially to be considered by the committee in March, but was put on hold due to the pandemic until August of 2020. City staff would like to extend her agreement for the 2021 year.
DISCUSSION:
The initial goal of adding a member to the lobby team was to modify our legislative approach and increase our presence in Springfield. The initial goal was to divide issues between Dan and Bukola to ensure we had appropriate coverage and representation and were able to respond to the changing needs and demands of Springfield.
The Finance Committee unanimously approved Bukola's agreement in March of 2020, but staff held it until August. The decision was made to move forward with Bukola's contract at that time in order to have her work specifically on public safety related bills and legislation. We were anticipating significant legislative changes following the civil unrest and wanted to have someone monitoring and lobbying on behalf of Aurora. While the fall did not bring about the legislative changes we were anticipating, Bukola worked to move Aurora initiatives forward, arranging meetings with key stakeholders from State Officials to the Attorney General. She worked to create opportunities for Aurora t...
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