B.C. council hires lobbyists in D.C.

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

Lobbying firm Cassidy and Associates will represent Boulder City in Washington, D.C., for a second year at $60,000, the Boulder City Council decided Tuesday.

City Manager John Sullard said the firm "had more than paid for itself" in 2001 by gaining the ear and the dollars of the federal government on three issues: the proposed Hoover Dam bypass, an aging city sewage system and the city's lone public swimming pool.

This year, the city will look to Cassidy for federal money for bike paths in the River Mountains, a cut of the homeland defense money for local police and for a regional public safety training facility in the El Dorado Valley.

On the Hoover Dam bypass issue, a project that the town tried unsuccessfully to stop, Cassidy was most helpful in getting the federal government's ear, including that of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, although additional money may come to speed the project in the wake of Sept. 11.

Of the $6.5 million needed to upgrade the Hemenway Valley sewage system, Boulder City will pay just $1.6 million, Sullard said, with the balance picked up by the Army Corps of Engineers.

To meet new EPA standards for chlorination of its public pool, the city must pay $400,000 to switch from a gas to liquid system. Cassidy takes credit for finding $150,000 to help pay that bill.