City adjusts legislative goals for incoming Trump administration 

Each year, the City of Fayetteville works with lobbyists to advocate for funding from the state and federal government. This year, city leaders are looking to refine their legislative asks as a Republican trifecta comes into power in Washington under President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

At Monday’s Fayetteville City Council meeting, the city’s federal lobbying firm, Strategics Consulting, presented the city’s draft federal action plan. The city’s lobbyists will work on behalf of the city to secure federal grants and lobby North Carolina’s federal delegation to pass legislation that supports the city’s priorities. According to the plan, the city’s federal priorities fall into four key focus areas, listed in order of importance: 

• Supporting workforce growth and economic independence. 
• Advancing housing opportunity and community infrastructure. 
• Ensuring a high-quality community-based veteran and military support system
• Providing sufficient mental health and community safety resources to meet needs.

City lobbyist Leslie Mozingo told council members that her team had fine-tuned the city’s action plan, including the language used, to be attractive to the incoming federal administration. 

“It’s not really that we want very different things, but the messaging gets adjusted, and the words have been adjusted accordingly to reflect that in your action plan,” Mozingo said. 

City lobbyist Ron Hamm emphasized the importance of having a business mindset when lobbying the federal government under the new administration. He said tax incentives and tax credits will be important to include in proposals, especially relating to affordable housing. 

“With this administration coming in, there are a lot of business people that are going to be in these key positions,” Hamm said. “So I think anytime the business community can be connected into what you’re doing . . . They’re probably going to want to see that. And that, I would think, would be part of how they would even judge some of these requests that are coming in, in terms of how you align yourself with the business community and them supporting the things that you’re trying to do.”

The lobbyists also emphasized the importance of highlighting Fayetteville’s unique challenges and opportunities presented by its proximity to Fort Liberty. This includes emphasizing initiatives relating to quality of life for military service members and families and support programs for veterans, especially those relating to mental health. 

“There’s talk more and more at the DOD and VA about not just military readiness but also quality of life in military communities like our own,” city lobbyist Ryan Murphy said. “So we’re staying on top of those conversations and really trying to build our military community within the parameters of these newer federal programs.” 

Mozingo said military readiness, or infrastructure that supports rapid deployment and training of troops, would be important for Fayetteville to emphasize. 

“One thing we’ve definitely heard from multiple sources [is] that military readiness, anything to do with veterans and military families, is going to be a priority for this administration,” Mozingo said. “It’s very important to them for a number of reasons. That makes you all uniquely qualified.”

The city’s federal lobbyists also emphasized they will be continuing to push for Fayetteville to be awarded the implementation grant for Murchison Choice Neighborhood plan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The city applied for the highly competitive grant last year and almost was awarded it, the lobbyists said. 

“We got very close to it this year, so close that the director of HUD came for a site visit, meaning that we were on a short, short list,” Murphy said. “… I would be remiss if I did not mention that it doesn’t matter who we’re going to get in front of at the federal level, we’re going to be harping on this because we were so close and it will truly be transformational to the Murchison Corridor if we can win it.” 

Hamm said there’s currently $100 million pending for the HUD Choice Neighborhoods initiative, and more funding will likely be available as part of the incoming Trump administration’s focus on economic development. He noted that the lobbyists plan to leverage existing relationships with Scott Turner, the HUD secretary nominee, and congressional members who have already expressed support for the project. 

“I know there were calls made, there were letters sent, so there were people really advocating for our delegation for this project,” Hamm said. “So we do expect that again. But I will also say this needs to be at the top of the list of things that we want out of Washington, D.C., this upcoming year.” 

The Fayetteville City Council is expected to vote on the final state and federal action plans at the next council meeting on Jan. 13.

Mozingo said, regardless of who is in office, it’s crucial for city leaders and the lobbying team to emphasize the unique qualities Fayetteville brings to the table. 

“A lot of the time in terms of being most successful in this process, it’s telling your story and setting yourself apart from others,” Mozingo said. “Because remember, you’re competing for these resources with everyone else in the nation and quite frankly within the state — and similar to what the state lobbyists said — there’s going to be a lot of federal resources looking at western North Carolina, justifiably, but not to be forgotten is your uniqueness.”

Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.