A freak blizzard that struck Washington, D.C. earlier this week doesn’t appear to have had a chilling effect on the efforts of Burlington’s designated liaison with the federal government.
Jennifer Imo, a lobbyist with the Ferguson Group, has promised the city’s leaders that she continues to advocate for the municipality’s interests notwithstanding the challenges posed by the weather – or by the ideological shift that last year’s general election has brought to the nation’s capital.
Despite having been buried under some 10 inches of snow, Imo relied on the Zoom telecommunications platform to convey her assurances directly to the municipality’s top brass when Burlington’s city council convened its latest work session on Monday. During this remote appearance, the city’s lobbyist also presented a number of tweaks to Burlington’s “advocacy agenda” due, in no small part, to the Republican party’s takeover of Congress and the Presidency during November’s election.
Imo observed, for example, that the GOP’s ascendancy has improved the prospects of a federal tax bill that contains tax credits for low income housing which her clients in Burlington have favored. Imo nevertheless warned that a forthcoming change to the city’s Congressional delegation may make it harder to secure funds for infrastructure improvements, such as a proposed overhaul of the underground utilities in Burlington’s downtown development district.
“You have a new representative – [Republican Richard] Hudson – who has historically only done military-related earmarks,” Imo went on to explain. “[Republican] Senator [Ted] Budd does not participate in the earmarking process. So, [fellow Republican] Senator [Thom] Tillis is where were going to have lean with this particular project, and we’re going to have to do some strategizing on which projects will be the most competitive.”
Imo recalled that Tillis had previously backed a $6 million earmark for communication upgrades at Burlington’s police department. This outlay was also championed by Democrat Valerie Foushee, who had been the city’s Congressional rep before the Republican majority in North Carolina’s General Assembly implemented a new redistricting plan for the state. Imo went on to note that the bipartisan support of Fouchee and Tillis wasn’t enough to push through this earmark, which was quietly snuffed out in committee.
Imo added that the anti-regulatory bent of the incoming Presidential administration could also end up nullifying some of the federal government’s latest efforts to protect the natural environment. She predicted that this change in the Oval Office could doom a new set of federal standards for PFAS – a class of suspected carcinogens that turns up in everything from product packaging to cosmetics. Imo nevertheless saw the demise of these regulations as a potential boon for the city, which had been bracing itself for tens of millions of dollars in sewer plant upgrades to keep these chemicals out of the regional water supply.
“They’re not going to get rid of all the regulations related to PFAS because there is a significant safety issue,” the city’s lobbyist added. “But there may be some flexibilities that we’ll see for local governments under the Trump administration.”
Regardless of the changing mindset inside the Beltway, Imo said that she intends to capitalize on the previous successes that the city has scored with federal authorities. She noted, for instance, that she’ll press the feds to accept a higher rehabilitation standard for Burlington’s former Western Electric plant now that the U.S. Army has agreed to clean up this long-dormant facility, which it had owned until 2004. Imo also promised to make the most of Burlington’s recent acceptance in the HOME program – an initiative of Housing and Urban Development that provides funds for affordable housing.
