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June 23, 2010 St. Louis American By Rebecca S. Rivas |
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Minority inclusion increased on North City project
Minority participation in the O’Fallon Recreation Complex Center, an estimated $22.5 million project in North St. Louis, will set a new high for City of St. Louis construction projects, said City officials.
Last week, the St. Louis Board of Public Service agreed to implement Minority Business Enterprise participation goals at 40 percent and minority workforce participation at a minimum of 32 percent for the O’Fallon project.
Last year, Alderman Terry Kennedy passed Board Bill 75, which set MBE goals for all City construction projects at 25 percent. However, because the O’Fallon center is located in a predominately African-American neighborhood, Kennedy and members of the Black Aldermanic Caucus said the center’s workforce needed to mirror the surrounding neighborhood.
The O’Fallon center will be the first public project to fall under the bill’s guidelines. Kennedy said, “We wanted to make an example of what is possible and that the City can go beyond the board bill to make the workforce reflect the city’s population.”
The negotiation team included Kennedy, Ald. Jeffrey Boyd and Ald. Antonio D. French, who is the alderman of the 21st Ward where the center will be built, Executive Director of Development Barbara Geisman and Board of Public Service President Richard Bradley.
Scott Wilson, president of SM Wilson & Co., the contract bidder, was also at the table negotiating the participation goals.
Geisman, Bradley and Wilson had not returned The St. Louis American’s email or calls at press time.
French said it took a long time to reach a deal, and at several points throughout the process, there were times when the goal was made to seem impossible.
“It is important for African-American leadership in this town to realize its power and leverage its full weight in order to get fair results for our constituents,” French said.
“The Black Caucus did that this time, and we can see the results – a deal that goes well beyond the status quo and more fairly reflects the people who are actually paying for this project: the taxpayers of the City of St. Louis.”
Bidding for the O’Fallon center began Dec. 22, 2009. Kwame Building Group was hired soon after as project manager. Tony Thompson, president and CEO of Kwame, said the City hired Kwame to deliver the North City center in a timely manner, so as not to repeat scheduling and budget problems that arose during the construction of the South City counterpart, the YMCA Carondelet Center, last year.
Now with the minority participation goals decided, Thompson said he feels that he is well suited to ensure the goals are met because of his track record with minority participation.
Thompson said the center is long overdue in North St. Louis.
“This project is more important to me than million-dollar airport expansions,” he said.
The contract also states that 20 percent of workers be city residents. The aldermen say they tried increase that number in order to keep public money in their own community.
French said, “In this economy, with this degree of unemployment, that is 80 percent of the workers – on a City-financed project in the city – who don’t even live in the city. That just isn’t right.”
The St. Louis American ©June2010
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