Salt Lake’s City Council now employs its own lobbyists on Capitol Hill — a split that comes after the mayor’s boycott of inland port negotiations last year

Last year, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and members of the City Council found themselves on different pages on a law creating a massive distribution hub in the northwesternmost part of the city. Biskupski declined to take part in those negotiations, and she forbade her staff from getting involved, as well.

That left council members to fend for themselves, without the assistance of the more than half dozen lobbyists the city employs, said City Council Chairman Charlie Luke. The council vowed it wouldn’t be put in that position again.

Now, in a split from administration that’s only happened twice in more than 20 years, the council has its own lobbyists working on Capitol Hill during this year’s state legislative session.