Crim, Vickers testify before Missouri Gaming Commission
Of the St. Louis American
JEFFERSON CITY – Minority participation took center stage during Wednesday’s monthly meeting of the Missouri Gaming Commission.
Harrah’s Casino of Maryland Heights had its gaming license renewal on the table while Pinnacle officials and Rodney Crim, executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, updated the commission on its diversity effort and construction progress at its Lumiere Place project on Laclede’s Landing.
Eric Vickers, speaking on behalf of state Rep. Jamilah Nasheed and representing the Minority Inclusion Alliance, asked the commission to trump Pinnacle’s future gaming license request unless it increases minority participation.
Reminding the commission that Pinnacle’s project is privately funded, Pinnacle general counsel Jack Godfrey said, “Given its progress, we are doing very, very well” in minority participation.
Godfrey asked Crim to join him at the podium.
“We do feel Pinnacle is following its commitment and working hard to increase its minority participation numbers,” Crim said.
“Our objective as a team is to push for higher MBE participation. It is not an easy thing to do.”
Following the commission meeting, Crim and Todd George, vice president and general manager of Lumiere Place, said the MBE participation percentage is “north of 20 percent.”
The mayor’s executive order calls for 25-percent Minority Business Enterprise and 5-percent Women Business Enterprise participation on city projects.
Gaming Commissioner Darryl Jones of St. Louis made clear that Pinnacle had received Brownfield tax credits and as result “the executive order takes effect.”
Jones and Crim had a short, spirited debate as to whether or not Pinnacle had agreed to work to reach the 25-5 numbers.
“The contract states that Pinnacle will give its reasonable best effort to comply with the executive order,” Crim said after repeated questioning from Jones.
Jones also was concerned with Pinnacle’s projected cost estimate of $243 million and the fact that its minority participation numbers are based on that figure and not the $450 million that had been previously released.
Crim and George explained that the $243 million is “primary construction-related cost.”
“That number will grow as the project numbers grow,” Crim said.
Vickers, however, was having none of that. He called for the commission to “not allow Pinnacle to operate a casino in the city of St. Louis because it has failed to comply with what is one of the city’s most important orders.”
Vickers warned that future construction beyond the $243 million “would not be under the mayor’s executive order. I don’t know how the city could agree to this.”
But Crim and George said that all future work on construction of Lumiere Place – and employment at the casino, hotel and entertainment venue – would be subject to the executive orders and Pinnacle would work to reach the stated goals.
Citing the construction of the new Busch Stadium as an exemplary example of minority participation, Vickers said Lumiere Place’s lack of minority participation “sticks out like a sore thumb.”
Vickers shared the 16 percent minority participation figure that was published in two recent Post-Dispatch articles, but George said that figure is from December.
George said that not only is the figure at 20 percent, “that is toward the total project cost, not just the $243 million.”
Vickers also bristled as the thought of the City of St. Louis being a part of “the team.”
“This project needs independent oversight,” Vickers said.
Crim said that by using the term “team,” he simply meant, “We are all pushing hard to get as high a percentage of minority participation as we can get.”
George said this project, and those in other cities, run more smoothly when his firm works closely with the city administration.
“Our goal here and in other communities is to become a partner with the city. The city has the connections and it has the resources to make sure the numbers are correct. Through the city and our consultants, they make sure our numbers are accurate.”
Harry Moppins said Pinnacle is using “every minority certification body available” and that “there are no firms working on the project that are not certified as MBE or WBE.”
“Every one of them is certified,” Moppins said.
Vickers told the commission that his organization was still considering acts of civil disobedience to shut down the work site on Laclede’s Landing.
“This is the stand we will take. This is the stand we must take,” Vickers said.
George said Pinnacle’s relationship with the city “is not a short-term relationship.”
“We are going to represent the city well. Our commitment is here, in the early stages, not just at the top levels of management.”
Pinnacle has placed two African-American executives in top roles at Lumiere Place.
Mac Carheel, director of talent, sourcing and staffing, recently was named to the staff. Joining him is Charles Felton, director of purchasing. George said the two men would play an important role in minority participation in the workplace once Lumiere Place is operational.
Harrah’s receives re-licensing
The Gaming Commission voted 4-0 to re-license Harrah’s Casino in Maryland Heights, but it came on a second role of the dice. At the February meeting Harrah’s had been told to return with more information about its efforts at minority inclusion before its licensing renewal would be considered.
Jones and other commissioners questioned the fact that Harrah’s reported last month that just six of 308 vendors at the casino were MBE or WBE. They had postponed judgement on licensing until more data on inclusion was provided.
Fred Keaton, Harrah’s chief diversity officer, told the commission that 70 DBEs have held or are holding contracts with the site in Maryland Heights.
Keaton said, “The top levels at Harrah’s consider diversity a major issue that is important to us.”
Jones said that is probably true, but said the problems come down the line.
“It always seems to be problem at the middle level. The information about diversity seems to hit a bottleneck,” Jones said.
“You have to make sure your commitment is acted upon.”
Keaton said that spending with minority-owned firms has also jumped from 2 percent in February to a current number of 7 percent.
“That’s a 300-percent jump,” he said.
He also said Harrah’s is expanding its sourcing methodology “to make opportunities known to more minority-owned businesses.”
“We are also increasing minority participation in organizations that support DBE and WBE,” Keaton said.
“We are working very hard to pull together an extensive identification list of certified businesses (in the St. Louis area) and then using vendors on that list.”
He said the company also will “spend a lot more time mentoring minority-owned firm to put them in a position to do business with us. We can also break contracts down to smaller pieces.
“We’re going to look at the number of suppliers who responded (to bid applications) and those who received bids. We will create a summary of activities, have an independent approach to audit these activities and find out if we are hitting our goals,” Keaton told the commission.
Comptroller calls for inclusion on Ballpark Viilage
On Wednesday, Comptroller Darlene Green called for “minority participants to be named in the project redevelopment agreement as it is being developed” in the $300 million Ballpark Village development.
Green said her office met yesterday with city officials regarding financing for Ballpark Village, and she said it “is encouraging that minority participation requirements be met.”
