Policies for hiring minority businesses and workers – along with all new Metropolitan Sewer District contracts – were put on hold March 14 to answer questions from community leaders, board trustees said.
MSD Board of Trustees unanimously voted to table a resolution that would have established new minority participation goals recommended by the disparity study released last month.
“We’ve been working for many years to set these goals, and we have business to attend to,” said James H. Buford, who was elected as the new chairman of the district’s Board of Trustees at the March 14 board meeting. “But we don’t think 30 days will hurt us.”
Trustees said they delayed the decision because of the letters they received from the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Asian-American Chamber of Commerce and others. The organizations asked for more time to review the resolution.
However, postponing the vote on the resolution also freezes putting people to work, said Bob Berry, who was termed out as chairman and remains on the board as a trustee. Any construction contracts that may have been bid beginning April 1 to May 1 will be postponed, he told the meeting’s attendees.
Before the trustees voted to table the resolution, Berry said, “We have heard from a lot of folks who are interested in us waiting another four weeks. We do hear you, and we want to give the community an opportunity to understand what’s in the resolution.”
“However, we also understand that we have people wanting to get to work in this community,” he said Berry.
Both Buford and Berry said they will not wait longer than a month to make a decision. Buford said he invites the groups to bring their legal counsels to meet with district staff.
Minority participation goals
The disparity study, conducted by Mason Tillman, recommends that MSD increase its goal for hiring minority-owned businesses (MBE) to 30 percent on building construction contracts over $50,000 and to 17 percent on non-building construction contracts over $50,000.
The study also recommends higher goals for boots-on-the-ground workforce than the interim goals of 25 percent minority and 6.9 percent women for construction contracts more than $500,000. The study recommends a 30 percent goal for minorities and seven percent goal for women in construction contracts. For professional services, the workforce goal recommended is 18 percent minorities and 32 percent women, and the interim goals were a combined 30 percent goal for both women and minorities.
For professional services and goods and services contracts, the study did not find any disparity for minorities or women. Hence, spokesman Lance LeComb said MSD proposes to remove its interim goal of 30 percent combined goal for women and minorities for professional services contracts of $50,000 or more. If the district kept the goal in place, it could be challenged in court.
For women subcontractors, the study did not find any disparity in any category. For this reason, MSD proposes to not set any goals for women in any category.
In the Hispanic Chamber’s letter, Executive Director Karlos Ramirez stated, “We believe that if the St. Louis region, and MSD as a key part of our region, is looking to grow the number of Hispanic, Asian, and other minority and women owned businesses, adopting this disparity study will send a clear signal that St. Louis is not really open for business to them.”
Buford said that the district will closely monitor how many minority and women business and workers are being employed on their projects.
“If we begin to see the trends are dropping,” he said, “then we will call the team back to justify new goals with a disparity study.”
