Black officials make demands where there is no issue
Questions about the number of minority-owned contractors working atEnterprise South industrial park have led to a proposed resolutionurging Volkswagen to make a “good-faith effort” to hire minorities.
City Council members Debbie Gaines and Leamon Pierce first posedquestions Tuesday during a Legal and Legislative Committee meeting. Mr.Pierce proposed the resolution asking VW, which is building an autoplant at the site, to make an effort at hiring a diverse work force,employees and anyone working at the industrial park.
During the initial stages of getting the infrastructure of the plantstarted, looking for minority-owned contractors possibly fell to thewayside, he said Wednesday.
“Now that things are finally settling, we can look at thecontracts,” Mr. Pierce said. “We just want to be part of that process,whether we walk through that door or not.”
Council members could vote on the resolution next week. VW officials could not be reached for comment.
Ms. Gaines said she wants to make sure that monitoring taking placeand that minorities have a seat at the table. Because of the amount ofmoney coming from state and local sources, she said she thinks Title VIof the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could be kicked in to make sure nodiscrimination is occurring.
“If we have that tool, we need to use it,” she said.
City officials said Tuesday there are a total of nine privatecontractors on site at Enterprise South industrial park, getting itready for VW’s auto plant. None are minority owned, but there are twominority-owned subcontractors at the job site, said Steve Leach,Department of Public Works administrator.
Mr. Leach said contractors were selected either through a biddingprocess or emergency contracts. He said there are stipulations in somecontracts that look favorably toward “disadvantaged businesses.”
“A lot of it is market,” he said. “It’s who is in the market to bid on it.”
Sharon Gilbert, owner of Gibco Construction, one of twominority-owned businesses working at Enterprise South, acknowledged alack of minority-owned businesses at the site but was not worried.
“As far as I’m concerned, I feel like we have good representation,” she said.
Mayor Ron Littlefield said Wednesday he thought the proposedresolution was a “good thing.” Within the next few years, there shouldbe no difficulties including minority-owned businesses with the amountof work needing to be done, he said.
“We should have enough work to keep minority-owned businesses busy,” he said.