The Ellis Administration ripped another page from the past Tuesday night when it pushed through a plan to spend $48 million on improving the Monroe water plant, without an aggressive push to include minorities, women and otherwise disadvantaged businesses.
The project had its origins in the Mayo Administration. Its ultimate goal is to build, expand, and upgrade the city’s water treatment capabilities. The estimated cost of the project is around $48 million dollars.
The core of the dispute at Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t whether to pursue the project, but whether or not the city would take aggressive steps to insure that minorities and women, especially those in Metropolitan Monroe, would have a chance to bid on this huge city project.
Since there are three blacks on the council, the idea of pushing for minority participation in a $48 million pie should have been a no brainer. However, it did not work out that way, councilwoman Kema Dawson-Robinson, voted with the city administration against efforts to delay action on the project until a plan to include more minorities was developed.
Councilwoman Dawson-Robinson’s vote was extremely disappointing, especially since she had no alternative to present that would achieve the minority participation goals.
Councilwoman Juanita Woods made bold appeals to fellow councilmen to remove the item from the agenda until the city developed stronger minority participation plans. Woods was alone on that appeal. The council voted against her effort 4-1.
The council heard from Sean Benton, who heads the water treatment facility. He told the council that there is a need for additional qualified minority contractors and subcontractors. He said there needs to be a push to reach out to get minorities involved.
Augusta Turner, head of the Economic Development Committee for the NAACP, said the city’s goal of 16 percent minority involvement is too low, especially since past experience has shown that only half the goal is met even less.
The NAACP appealed to the Black members of the council because they had the power to force the city to reach out to minorities by simply refusing to approve the project until plans were made to make changes.
When Mrs. Dawson-Robinson broke with the Black majority, any hopes of getting blacks a bigger piece of the $48 million project went out the window.
What the NAACP asked for is reasonable, but is being ignored by the Ellis Administration. The Mayo Administration also failed in this respect.
When it comes to deals involving mega-dollars, there is tremendous pressure to protect the interest of the “Good old boys club.”
A $48 million project requires the contractor to put up a two percent bond. Progressive cities have worked with local banks to insure the black contractors can get the bonding.
There are five minority contractors in the state able to handle contracts this size, one of them is in Monroe. However, the company doesn’t have the resources for a $960,000 project bond. The NAACP wants the city to find a way to break through this barrier and at least give black contractors a chance to bid.
When the city of Monroe modernized its airport, a black company was the low bidder for the $38 million project. The company was able to do the project but bonding was an issue; Mayo wouldn’t help the company and fought to disqualify the minority company.
The Ellis Administration seems willing to help us beautify the city, pick up trash and pass out water after storms, but when it comes to going the extra mile to actively seek minority contractors, show them how to qualify, and lobby to give them a fighting chance, the Ellis Administration is cloning the Mayo Administration.
Despite Tuesday’s vote, the city can still delay advertising the project and set in motion the steps suggested by the NAACP.
If it ignores the complaint completely, then it will copy the past administration and become another step closer to become Mayo 2.0.
