CLAYTON — Nearly four years after enacting uniform standards for minority inclusion in contracts, ºüÀêÊÓƵ County officials are considering scrapping those requirements, opting instead to set goals on a contract-by-contract basis.
The proposal, sponsored by Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-6th District, and backed by some procurement and diversity officials in County Executive Sam Page’s administration, would give the county discretion to set goals for each individual contract based on the type of work involved and the type and number of minority- or women-owned businesses available.
The bill would also allow general contractors to count toward minority inclusion goals, eliminating language requiring subcontracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Trakas is pushing the bill in response to an apparent delay in the construction of a new police precinct in the Affton Southwest police precinct. The general contractor who was awarded the bid couldn’t meet the inclusion goals.
People are also reading…
Nate Adams, director of the county’s minority inclusion program, and Greg Tatar, county procurement director, told the council at a hearing last week that the precinct was one of at least a dozen projects that weren’t getting bids because contractors anticipated they couldn’t meet the inclusion goals.
But Council Chair Rita Heard Days, whose predecessor Hazel Erby championed the county’s minority inclusion ordinance, and Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, D-4th District, questioned whether the best response was to cut standard inclusion goals entirely.
Webb said at the hearing that she didn’t want to allow the county full discretion without at least setting a minimum inclusion goal the county couldn’t undercut.
Yaphett El-Amin, executive director of , a consortium representing the interests of minority contractors, said in an interview that the organization backed Webb’s idea, arguing the bill as it stands only opens to the door to less inclusion.
“I think the question might be to some, is this really about improving the program, or getting around it to set aside certain contracts?†El-Amin said. “More efforts should go into helping educate people as to how to work together to eliminate the disparity than remove the goals and further exacerbate the problem.â€
The current ordinance, in effect since 2018, requires 24% minority-owned businesses and 9.5% women-owned businesses for construction, and 16% minority-owned businesses and 15% women-owned businesses for professional service contracts, which the county defines as architecture and engineering projects.
The ordinance also requires the county to verify that bidders made a “good faith effort†to subcontract work to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Adams and Tatar, at the hearing last week, said the requirements were too restrictive for some projects and were deterring bidders from applying for county work, delaying projects.
Tatar said there more than a dozen county projects delayed because contractors did not apply because of the inclusion requirements. Some contractors who didn’t bid for small jobs of less than $150,000 sent letters saying they felt the requirements were too “onerous,†Tatar said.
“There are a lot of small projects that we’re just not getting bids on because we’re imposing goals that just aren’t going to be reached,†Tatar said.
Adams, a former official with the Illinois Department of Transportation, pointed out that federal contracts set minority inclusion goals on a per-contract basis, for those same reasons, he said.
In some fields, there simply aren’t enough minority- or women-owned businesses in some trades, Adams said.
And the percentage goals are set too high for small-dollar projects, deterring bidders who don’t want to have to, for example, subcontract a $66,000 job to other businesses, he said.
Those same minority- and women-owned businesses were unlikely to bid for prime contracts because they’d then be required to turn around and subcontract work they’ve won to other minority and women-owned businesses, he said.
“Some jobs shouldn’t even require a goal,†Adams said. “They just should not.â€
Webb countered that she didn’t want to allow the county full discretion without at least setting a floor for inclusion requirements.
“I think there’s a compromise here ... we could at least put in ‘there will be a minimum of this, and you can go up, but we’re not going below,’†she said.
Trakas urged a vote, arguing the proposal would allow the county to proceed with contracts currently being held up. The council could make “comprehensive†changes once a new disparity study is completed next year, he said.
The county and city of ºüÀêÊÓƵ are reviewing bids for a joint disparity study to update a county analysis from 2015.
“For now, let’s fix what we can and get some contracts awarded,†Trakas said.
El-Amin was called on to testify at the virtual council hearing, but the council couldn’t hear her because of an apparent technical error. The council is meeting by teleconference because of high COVID-19 case numbers.
In an interview, El-Amin said MoKan was scheduled to meet with Webb to discuss the bill and to testify in writing before the council’s Tuesday meeting.
She slammed the idea that the contractors would struggle to find minority- and women-owned businesses for so long that it would cause construction delays.
“MoKan is more than willing to sit down with any general contractor to connect them with ready and willing minority- and women-owned companies. ... We believe that good faith efforts yield results,†she said.
Trakas and Webb did not respond to Post-Dispatch requests for comment.
Page, asked about the bill, said that officials had anticipated as early as 2018 that they would adjust the program. Page, then the council chair, voted to approve the ordinance; he became county executive in April 2019.
But the conversation about making any changes was “very fluid,†he said.
“I think there’s a lot of proposals in front of the council and it’s a very, very fluid conversation right now... but I would be concerned about something that’s proposed by the council that wasn’t fair, that wasn’t based on a disparity study and didn’t have broad support among contractors in the community.â€Â
Originally posted at noon Monday, Jan. 31.
Critics accuse Stenger of dragging feet on measure to bolster hiring of minorities, women and veterans. Â Â