Columbus councilmen are not expected to consider contracting with Retail Strategies during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Though an item to discuss the matter could be added to the agenda prior to the meeting, a copy released last week does not include an item to discuss or approve the city working with the Birmingham, Ala., based retail development firm.
The item was on the agenda for the council’s Jan. 21 meeting. A day before that meeting, four councilmen said they would vote in favor of hiring the firm. During the council meeting Mayor Robert Smith suggested councilmen meet with executives from the Golden Triangle Development LINK, which had already been providing retail development services in Columbus for 11 years, before voting on anything. A substitute motion to his suggestion tabling the matter passed almost unanimously.
Two days later, councilmen, city administrative staff and LINK officials met to discuss the idea. The LINK sent out a press release later that day confirming it would no longer be responsible for retail development in Columbus. The release also said the city would move forward in its plans to hire a retail consultant, presumably alluding to Retail Strategies, which first made a presentation to the council during a Jan. 14 specially called meeting.
Had the council gone forward with Retail Strategies, $88,000 in taxpayer money over a three-year period would have been allocated to the firm to do a market study and recruit retail.
The city already appropriates $110,000 to the LINK in the current fiscal year budget, the same amount appropriated in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Ward 5 councilman Kabir Karriem said it’s possible the discussion on Retail Strategies could come up during executive session Tuesday, adding that if the city continues to give money to the LINK, he expects the LINK to continue representing the city in retail development.
“The city has not made a vote on separating ways with the LINK. Action was not taken. We have not discussed parting ways with the LINK,” Karriem said. “As far as I’m concerned, as long as the LINK is taking their appropriations, I still feel that they are going to be our retail developer as well as our economic developer until the time that the entire council deems fit that they’re not.”
Karriem also called the LINK’s press release “disingenuous,” adding the entity was formed by the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Lowndes County Economic Development Authority.
“How can the LINK just arbitrarily separate from something that the city started?” Karriem said. “As long as they’re taking monies from the coffers of the taxpayers of the city of Columbus and the (Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) board, I still see them as our representatives for retail development as well as economic development for the city of Columbus. The mayor and councilmen deserve the right to discuss with anyone the possibilities of making Columbus better in every aspect.”
Ward 6 councilman Bill Gavin, who had been supportive of hiring Retail Strategies to supplement the LINK’s work, said the council’s open discussion before speaking to LINK officials was in haste and Tuesday is not the right time to go forward with anyone new at the helm of retail development.
“We rushed into that before we knew all the possibilities and the consequences of everything,” Gavin said. “That was a mistake on our part. I think we’ve decided that we’re going to sit back and see what goes from here and see whats going to be in the best interest for the city. I know why people are concerned and they’ve got a right to be concerned. We probably jumped the gun. If we knew what we know now I think we would have backed off a little bit.”
The council will meet at 5 p.m. at the Columbus Municipal Complex and is expected to consider the following:
■ Approval of Columbus Fire & Rescue’s standards of cover document and final accreditation report;
■ Approval of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ request to transfer an easement on Port Access Road to the city;
■ Hold a hearing on overgrown lots and dilapidated homes;
■ Approval of a resolution adopting the Internal Revenue Service compliance policy for all tax-exempt debt;
■ Discuss three personnel matters in executive session.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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