It’s easy. Lobbyists are only people who are paid to lobby. If you’re paid for something else, like, say, being on call to walk someone’s dog, or babysit, or for consulting, you, like any other citizen, are free to communicate with City Representatives about their votes on City Council.
Even if you’re paid thousands of dollars a month with no discernible benefit to your patron for your ostensible activity.
If it looks crooked it might be because these unregistered lobbyists probably had a hand in crafting the regulations regarding lobbyists.
They say they got rid of corruption in El Paso, but all they did was make it legal.