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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 12021997 - C149 a C. 148, C.149, C.150, and C.151 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on December 2, 1997 by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Rogers, Uilkema, Gerber, Canciamilla, and DeSaulnier NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None SUBJECT: Correspondence C.148 LETTER, dated November 5, 1997, from Federal Glover, Chair, Board of Directors, Delta Diablo Sanitation District, 2500 Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, Antioch, CA 94509, soliciting input regarding the County's participation in a permanent, full-range hazardous household waste facility project led by the District. *****REFERRED TO DIRECTOR, GROWTH MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY C.149 LETTER, dated November 7, 1997, from Jonothan Dumas, Chair, Advisory Council on Equal Employment Opportunity, 651 Pine Street, 10th Floor, Martinez, CA, in response to Board referral regarding proposition 209, expressing opposition to the action taken by the Board of Supervisors to suspend the Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Contract Compliance Programs for Contra Costa county, and recommending program activities to include outreach activities, workshops,job fair training and development to target small businesses. *****REFERRED TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OFFICER C.150 LETTER, dated November 7, 1997, from Jean Lum, Deputy Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of the City and.County of San Francisco, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, requesting support for a special interest license plate. *****REFERRED TO HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR C.P51 LETTER, dated October 24, 1997, from Kathy Hicks, Mayor, City of Walnut Creek, P.O. Box 8039, Walnut Creek, CA 94596, advising that the City Council decided against widening Treat Boulevard between Cherry Land and Bancroft Road, but to reconsider a new design for adding an eastbound right-turn only lane at Bancroft Road. *****REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE AND PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the above recommendations as noted(*****) are APPROVED. I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. �J'J ATTESTED Phil Batchelor,Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator By Deputy c.c. Correspondents (4) Director,Growth Management and Economic Development Agency Affirmative Action Officer Health Services Director Transportation Committee Public Works Director November 7, 1997 RECEIVE Mark'De Saulnier, Chair NOV I i 1997 Board of Supervisors Clerk of the Board of Supervisors CLERK BOARD OF SUP oRs 651 Pine Street, First Floor CONTRA COgrq CO. Martinez, CA 94553 Dear Supervisor De Saulnier: At our October 24, 1997 meeting we discussed your referral to our Council for comments and recommendations regarding Proposition 209 and the Board's action to suspend the Minority and Women Business Enterprise(MBE/WBE) Contract Compliance Programs. On behalf of the Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Council, I am writing to express our opposition to the action taken by the Board of Supervisors to suspend the Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Contract Compliance Programs for Contra Costa County. We believe that your decision was based on limited information and a narrow interpretation of activities sustainable under Proposition 209 guidelines. The reason given by the Board of Supervisors for suspending the program was a reference to potential law suits and their threat to the general fund. We wish that you were able to give other reasons to support your actions. There was no pronouncement that this action was being taken to reestablish equitable access to business opportunities for all residents of the county. No statement citing that there was no longer a need for mechanisms focused on establishing and maintaining fair access to business opportunities for women and minority owned businesses. No indication that minority and women owned businesses were achieving participation in contracting near or equal to their availability in the marketplace. We are recommending the following program activities: 1. Workshops, job fair training and development should be provided to small contractors by County staff. Subjects would include `how to do business in the county'. 2. The County should develop an outreach program to target small businesses so they are aware of upcoming County construction projects and professional services contracts. 3. We continue to request staffing for the Affirmative Action Office in order to provide staff support to departments and small businesses and to monitor construction, vendor, and professional/personal services contracts. J 3 4. Recognize construction contractors who have subcontracted continuously • with small businesses including minority and women owned businesses. 5. Recognize unions that increase their memberships with local residents from low income areas and areas that include large numbers of minority and women residents. 6. Public Works and General Services Departments should provide to contractors at the time specifications for projects, lists of small businesses including minority and women owned businesses. If there are several subcontracting opportunities, the lists should reflect small businesses in each of the those areas of potential subcontracting. Suppliers, manufacturers and truckers should also be included. The County should continue to use the CalTrans listing of DBE firms. DBE firms are certified small businesses. 7. Public Works and General Services Departments should select several contractors including minority and women owned contractors to be selected • to work as consultants on County projects. This should be monitored by the Affirmative Action Office. 8. The Council strongly supports the Affirmative Action Office continued implementation of any modified program in this area. We do not agree that the Public Works and General Services should now be given the responsibility of implementing any revised or modified small business or DBE Contract Compliance program. 9. Staff connected with consultants or contractors bidding on projects with the County should not be involved with the solicitation, screening, or selection of the contractor or consultant. This should be monitored by the Affirmative Action Office. 10. For construction projects more than one million dollars, introduce language in the specifications that encourage the participation of local • trades, especially those who will commit to referring a broad representation of County residents including minority, female, and low income. 11. Require contractors to solicit workers with trade experience from: Unemployment rolls of the California Employment Development Department in Contra Costa County Offices; - welfare rolls; trade union rolls; and directories from other agencies with small businesses like CalTrans firms that are DBE certified and other agencies that certify firms as small businesses 12. Public Works and General Services Departments should monitor the reduction of welfare rolls and unemployment rolls to determine if employment was due to Contractors working on County projects. Their findings should be reported to the EEO Advisory Council and the Affirmative Action Office. 13. Require Public Works and General Services Departments to continue submittal of three lowest bid proposals within one week of bid opening to the Affirmative. Action Office for the purpose of monitoring patterns of subcontractor utilization. 14. Direct County Counsel's Office to monitor other Counties (such as Los Angeles) and Cities, and other agencies with MBE/WBE programs in order to review how they are continuing with their programs regardless of Proposition 209 and document the pros and cons of their approach to the County Administrator. Copies of their report would also be sent to the EEO Advisory Council and the Board of Supervisors. 15. Prior to decisions regarding MBE/WBE programs, request input from a broad spectrum of participants like the EEO Advisory Council, Women's Advisory Committee, Human Relations Commission, and other community groups and organizations. 16. Direct the Public Works and General Services Departments to continue to submit documentation showing their contracting participation of firms including MBE and WBE firms on contracts less than $50,000. We are prepared to answer any questions regarding our recommendations and thank you for the opportunity to express our concerns and present our views. Our county had two years of meeting and/or exceeding both goals. We were headed toward requesting the elimination of the construction requirements after several more years because we would have shown the County had met its objectives. We still need to work on Purchasing and Professional Services contracts, but even in that area there has been improvement. Our county must maintain and improve its ability to monitor and assess the impact of Proposition 209 on the equitable access of all businesses in Contra Costa County to contracting opportunities generated and paid for by the County. Sincerely, Jonotha DDumas, Chair Advisory Council on Equal Employment Opportunity CC: EEO Advisory Council Members Emma Kuevar