Following the conclusion of the summer short session meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said he was pleased with the trial run of the McGuireWoods Consulting firm. Being that this was the first time the city of Wilmington employed the services of a lobbyist to pursue its political agenda in the general assembly, Saffo said continuing to do so would be vital to the city’s prosperity.
“We think it has been a good investment for our community,” Saffo said by telephone on Monday, July 23. “We have been very pleased with what McGuireWoods has been able to do for us, but more importantly, the things McGuireWoods has been able to express to us in terms of what future legislation could mean, what kind of impact it would have on our city and how to plan for that impact in the coming sessions.”
Although Saffo said the delegates at the summer short session did not discuss a wide range of issues, he felt the next session that convenes in August would contain many debates over issues that directly affect southeastern North Carolina.
“There are going to be huge discussions and debates in regards to tax reform, environmental issues that will affect the region east of Interstate 95, as well as beach renourishment and inlet dredging that affects all of us in southeastern North Carolina,” he said.
Given the multitude of film projects North Carolina has been able to draw recently, another major issue sure to arise in the coming sessions is the extension of the state’s film incentive programs.
“From my perspective, that will be one of the big issues going into the longer session — how do we deal with this on a longer-term basis to keep that industry viable and healthy in our community and our state,” Saffo said. “With the extension of that to 2015, it gives us a little bit of breathing room, but it is a big industry in our community; it is becoming a big industry throughout the entire state and something we are probably going to have to work hard to keep.”
In developing rapport between the city’s lobbyists, New Hanover County’s lobbyists and the local delegation, Saffo said all parties would inevitably not be able to agree on every issue, but that there are some that will be important for all to support, such as beach renourishment, roadway improvements and the development of the port.
“Our area continues to grow and we need to be competitive in the 21st century in this world economy we live in today,” Saffo said. “We are going to work on it from the perspective that we are going to do the best we can to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to be competitive.”
The city’s political agenda for the upcoming sessions has yet to be fully developed with the local delegation and McGuireWoods; however, Saffo said having a lobbyist will be a great tool for the city that it has missed in the past.
“We will have a legislative agenda going into next year. We will sit down with our local delegation to make certain the agenda we put together will be supported by them,” he said. “We need an advocate and we need someone up there that is looking at all of the legislation that is coming through the pipeline because it could be something like a very minor piece of legislation that is being enacted by a representative from Asheville that could have direct consequences for the city of Wilmington.”
(Lumina News)
by Cole Dittmer
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
