By Joseph S. Pete, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Greenwood is a step closer to hiring a lobbyist to get federal funds for long-desired projects, including a third Interstate 65 interchange, a Worthsville Road expansion and a major sanitary sewer project along State Road 37.
The Greenwood City Council voted unanimously to have a public hearing at its next meeting on whether to hire a lobbyist, who Mayor Charles Henderson said could bring in millions for road and sewer projects.
The city is looking at hiring Indianapolis-based law firm Bose McKinney and Evans.
Craig Piercy, a former chief of staff for Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., and Patricia Power, a former aide to Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., would try to sell members of Congress on the need for road work in Greenwood.
Greenwood is considering paying Bose Public Affairs $50,000 for a year's worth of representation. Bose wanted $60,000 but agreed to reduce its rate after Henderson read that the county paid $50,000 a year for its Washington lobbyist.
The city has only one shovel-ready project that would be covered under the proposed stimulus bill, an extension of sanitary sewers along State Road 37. Greenwood hired an engineering firm to draft a design for the $25 million project but tabled it for several years because there was no apparent way to fund it, Henderson said.
City officials had hoped to get stimulus money for the Worthsville Road expansion and the new interchange, but Henderson said that not enough progress had been made designing those projects or buying the land needed.
Even if Greenwood can't get anything funded in the initial stimulus bill, Congress is likely to continue spending billions on economic recovery projects, Piercy said.
"There's going to be a lot of money coming out of Washington in the next few months and few years," he said.
While on the campaign trail, Barack Obama talked about restricting the activities of lobbyists, which caused council member Ron Bates to question whether hiring a lobbyist would be a good investment. Whatever promises he's made, the president will have a tough time abridging the First Amendment right to petition the government, Piercy said.
Indiana is looking at widening I-65 to three lanes south to Whiteland Road, so there's an opportunity to secure funding for a third interchange, Piercy said. Federal funding could be available for the interchange when Congress looks at a transportation bill, which is renewed every four years, Piercy said.