REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. for Legislative Advocacy Services
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Enhance Community Engagement and Transparency
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara engages in a variety of legislative efforts that is consistent with Council Policy 052 Legislative Advocacy Position Policy, including developing an annual legislative platform through annually adopted Legislative Advocacy Positions, advancing the City’s goals and policy positions with regional, state, and federal elected officials and agencies, participating in regional and state committees, boards, and commissions, responding to requests for legislative support or comments for bills, ballot measures, and initiatives, identifying budget opportunities and applying for grant funding to support City programs and infrastructure. In the absence of fulltime legislative City staff, consulting services enhances staff’s ability to implement the City’s legislative program.
In Fall 2019, the City conducted a competitive Request for Qualifications process for state and federal legislative advocacy services and selected Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. (Townsend) out of seven firms that submitted proposals. Townsend is a state and federal legislative advocacy and grant writing firm that provides lobbying and funding services to public agencies and non-profit organizations throughout California. Townsend has represented over 300 public agencies, including cities, counties, transportation agencies, water and sanitation districts, school districts, community college districts, park and recreation districts, and other special districts, as well as non-profit organizations. The firm has secured over $3.1 billion in public sector funding for its clients and has had over 150 client-sponsored bills signed into law.
In January 2020, the City entered into a one-year agreement with Townsend (Attachment 1) for state and federal legislative advocacy services, including the following:
• Conducting detailed orientation
• Developing legislative strategy
• Implementing the legislative strategy
• Building and strengthening relevant relationships
• Leveraging relationships for strategic advocacy plan
• Coordinating advocacy trips and legislative appointments
• Tracking legislation of importance to the City and its many services
• Budget funding opportunities and advocacy for the City’s interests
• Grant application development and support
• Post-grant submittal advocacy
• Crafting testimony and position letters
• Drafting bill language
• Providing progress reports
• Preparing and filing lobbying disclosure reports
The agreement allows the City to exercise four (4) additional one-year options after the initial term for a total of five years. On January 26, 2021, the Council approved an Amendment No. 1 to the Agreement with Townsend (Attachment 2) which extended the term of agreement by two years and increased the total not to exceed amount from $90,000 to $252,000 to ensure legislative services and advocacy during the COVID-19 Pandemic. On October 18, 2022, the Council approved an Amendment No. 2 to the Agreement with Townsend (Attachment 3) which further extended the term of agreement by one year and increased the total not to exceed amount from $252,000 to $342,000 to maintain existing levels of legislative and funding advocacy services. On December 12, 2023, the Council approved an Amendment No. 3 to the Agreement with Townsend (Attachment 4) that extended the term of agreement through January 29, 2025 and increased the total not to exceed amount from $342,000 to $434,700 to again maintain existing levels of legislative and funding advocacy services. The Agreement with Townsend provides for a monthly retainer fee that is inclusive of all services and related travel.
As such, staff is presenting a proposed Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Townsend to extend the term of agreement by two additional years and to increase the total not to exceed amount by $185,400 ($92,700 per year), from $434,700 to $620,100, to fund the extension (Attachment 5). Townsend has agreed to maintain the same monthly retainer fee of $7,725 for the two years.
DISCUSSION
Townsend has performed a wide range of advocacy services for the City. Townsend’s extensive knowledge about the state and federal legislative processes, long standing relationships with elected officials and agencies, and experienced staff, including a team of grant writers, have provided significant support to the City in both legislative and operational areas of work. The services provided by Townsend have resulted in saving countless hours of staff time, funding of key City projects, and ensuring that the City is aware of and compliant with new state and federal funding opportunities, regulations, and corresponding deadlines. As noted above, the City does not have any fulltime legislative staff, so such legislative services are necessary to support the implementation of the City’s legislative program.
Legislative Advocacy
Townsend supports the City’s legislative program through the following areas of work:
• Conduct legislative briefings to provide updates, discuss the City’s legislative priorities, and develop annual Legislative Advocacy Positions for Council consideration and adoption.
• Prepare quarterly legislative updates to the Council.
• Assist with the preparation of legislative analyses and recommendations for Councilmembers’ participation in monthly Cities Association of Santa Clara County Legislative Action Committee meetings and League of California Cities’ Annual Conference.
• Provide regular updates on state and federal legislative activity in the areas of interest outlined in the City’s Legislative Advocacy Positions.
• Advise on legislative matters and assist with the preparation of agenda reports and letters of support.
• Engaging with state and federal elected officials and agencies on the City’s behalf.
Funding Advocacy
In addition to legislative advocacy services, Townsend also provides funding advocacy services. As part of these services, Townsend provides the City with a matrix of upcoming funding opportunities at the federal and state levels that may be of interest to city departments on a regular basis. When requested, Townsend works directly with city departments to provide background information on funding opportunities and analyze the potential competitiveness of projects for certain grant opportunities. Additionally, Townsend works with city departments to help support grant writing efforts, including working with staff to complete grant applications and providing feedback on applications developed by staff. Townsend has provided this type of support on a number of grant opportunities throughout the term of the agreement, including the City’s Community Planning grant application to U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program for the Santa Clara Caltrain/BART Station Multimodal Crossing Feasibility Study.
Separately, Townsend provides guidance and helps submit the City’s federal Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending (CPFCDS) and State budget requests. Through these processes, Townsend has helped the City secure $11,538,000 in funding for the following key projects: De La Cruz Blvd, Lick Mill Blvd, and Scott Blvd Bicycle Projects ($2,725,000), Magical Bridge All-Inclusive Playground ($800,000), Anna Drive Neighborhood Flood Protection Project ($3,000,000), Fire Station Microgrid Project ($500,000), Regional Public Safety Interoperable Radio Communications ($1,750,000), and Santa Clara Overnight Care Locations ($1,800,000), and Public Safety Communications Infrastructure ($963,000). At the time of writing this report, the City has two pending CPFCDS projects that are still moving forward in the FY 25 House appropriations process: Pruneridge Avenue Complete Streets Project in the amount of $500,000 and Silicon Valley Hopper On-Demand Microtransit Shuttle in the amount of $250,000.
It should be noted that such grant writing and funding efforts provided by Townsend, or any consultant, require oversight, management, and coordination that only staff would be able to implement as the subject matter experts of City projects. With Townsend’s assistance, staff will continue to pursue feasible funding opportunities for City projects, especially those without current funding sources.
In addition to identifying potential funding opportunities and supporting with the development of grant applications, Townsend also works with the City to advocate on behalf of funding applications submitted by the City. These efforts include working with the City’s legislative delegation to secure letters of support for pending applications, working with the legislative delegation to directly contact funding agencies, and, when permitted, directly advocating on behalf of city applications with key decisionmakers within funding agencies. In the event of an unsuccessful grant application, Townsend is available to work with City staff to conduct debrief meetings with funding agencies to receive feedback on the project submittal and incorporate the feedback into future grant applications. Lastly, Townsend, at the City’s direction, works with state and federal funding agencies to assist the City with any issues that may arise in the administration of successful grant applications, which has occurred in the past with a few CPFCDS projects.
Planned Work Efforts and Need for Proposed Amendment
In the upcoming legislative session, it is expected that the State Legislature will continue to introduce and consider legislation aimed at increasing housing production, addressing homelessness through a mix of bills aimed at moving individuals into supportive housing, and addressing public safety related to retail theft and fentanyl. Additionally, there have been discussions on potential legislation related to economic development and some interest in looking at ways to help local governments generate additional local revenue, how sales tax is distributed as it relates to the online sale of goods, and transportation funding.
There is also a need for continued legislative services to advocate for state and federal resources that will support the City in its planning and implementation of SBLX and FWC26, which will be hosted at Levi’s Stadium in February and June-July 2026, respectively. Townsend has assisted with these efforts in various ways, including scheduling meetings for the City Manager to meet with elected representatives during the January 17-19, 2024 U.S. Conference of Mayors Meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss the planning and support for FWC26, sharing the U.S. Conference of Mayor’s request for letters of support from FWC26 host communities to request the creation of a White House World Cup Task Force to oversee the preparation and security of the FWC26 games, and providing legislative updates related to the 2026 Major Events, among other things. These legislative efforts are consistent with the City’s 2024 Public Safety and Regional Issues and Collaboration Legislative Advocacy Positions that outline support for legislation, funding and resources that assist the City, Santa Clara Stadium Authority, and greater San Francisco Bay Area with hosting upcoming major events at Levi’s Stadium and aim to provide public safety resources that will be used and implemented to ensure safe and successful major events throughout the City.
Legislative services enhance staff’s ability to track bills, monitor legislative efforts that may impact the City, and act on regional, state, and federal items that advance the City’s priorities. The City’s main point of contact at Townsend has remained the same during the entirety of the agreement term, and has institutional knowledge of the City’s legislative program, legislative priorities and established working relationships with City staff and the elected officials representing the City at the state and federal levels. Disruption of legislative services in the upcoming months to transition to a potential new consultant during a time when the City is seeking state and federal resources that may assist with the hosting of the 2026 Major Events could impact these critical efforts. As such, staff is seeking a two-year extension of the agreement through the conclusion of the FWC26 games in July 2026 and plans to conduct a competitive process for legislative services in late summer/early fall 2026 to ensure a new agreement is in place when the existing Agreement with Townsend terms out in January 2027.
For these reasons, staff recommends approval of the proposed Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Townsend to extend the term for two additional years through January 29, 2027 and increase the total not to exceed amount by $185,400 ($92,700 per additional year of service) accordingly to fund the extension. Townsend’s current annual rate for Year 5 (January 30, 2024 through January 29, 2025) of the Agreement is $92,700 and is based on a monthly retainer fee of $7,725 that is inclusive of all services and related travel. The proposed rate for Years 6 and 7 of the Agreement (January 30, 2025 through January 29, 2027) remains flat from Year 5. If approved by Council, this would bring the total agreement amount to $620,100 over the course of seven years.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(a) as it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
FISCAL IMPACT
The existing agreement with Townsend has a total not to exceed amount of $434,700. The proposed Amendment No. 4 will increase the value of the contract by $185,400, with a not to exceed amount of $620,100. Existing funds are available in the FY 2024/25 Adopted Operating Budget under the City Manager’s Office’s Intergovernmental Relations and Advocacy budget to cover the cost of Year 6 of the Agreement ($92,700). Funding for Year 7 of the Agreement ($92,700) will be subject to future budget appropriations.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office and Finance Department.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov <mailto:clerk@santaclaraca.gov>.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc. for legislative advocacy services to extend the term of the agreement through January 29, 2027 and increase the total not to exceed amount from $434,700 to $620,100, subject to budget appropriations, in a final form approved by the City Attorney.
Staff
Prepared by: Christine Jung, Assistant to the City Manager
Approved by: Jovan D. Grogan, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Original Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
2. Amendment No. 1 to Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
3. Amendment No. 2 to the Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
4. Amendment No. 3 to the Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.
5. Proposed Amendment No. 4 to the Agreement with Townsend Public Affairs, Inc.