Leader: Program needs fix to help businesses owned by minorities

Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill took aim Tuesday at an $18 million contract to build roads, utilities and other amenities at The Packing District development, arguing its lack of inclusion of African Americanowned subcontractors is evidence the city’s minority-owned business program is “broken.”

“I’m slightly fed up, each time we get these multimillion-dollar contracts and there’s no inclusion,” Hill said in prepared remarks at the Tuesday City Council meeting. “I believe Mayor, the [minority and women-owned business] program is broken and in need of immediate repair.”

Hill, one of two Black city

commissioners, was the lone vote against the contract, which was awarded to the Winter Park firm Hubbard Construction by a 6-1 vote — though, following her comments, two other commissioners expressed desires to improve the program.

City policy requires contractors to include at least 18% subcontracting to businesses owned by minorities and another 6% to companies owned by women. But contracts that don’t reach those goals can still be approved if the firm shows it’s made a good-faith effort in achieving them.

Hubbard’s bid fell short of both goals, with 11.2% of the workforce being minority-owned businesses and 2.2% to firms owned by women, but met the good-faith standard, according to a memo from the city’s minority- and womenowned business division manager Janeiro Coulter.

Hill said the Hubbard bid didn’t include any participation from Black-owned businesses, despite the $480 million Packing District’s proximity to Parramore, Mercy Drive and other historically Black neighborhoods.

Tom Craft, a Hubbard senior vice president, said later he wasn’t aware of Hill’s comments. He said the Orlando rules were race-neutral, meaning the company doesn’t reward contracts to specific minority groups over others.

“We don’t judge it by race and we certainly don’t award by race, but we followed the good faith effort that we were required to in procurement,” he said. “We did everything we could to meet the goal and still came up short in their percentages.”

Mayor Buddy Dyer said the city can encourage qualifying bids to diversify their workforces after approving them, but cannot force them to do so.

He said the city attorney’s office is also evaluating the city’s processes to see what changes can be made within federal rules.

“But in this case, Hubbard played by our rules,” Dyer said.

Hill said she spoke to Ken Robinson, the CEO of the developer Dr. Phillips Charities, about her concerns, and that he said the group would work to include minorities.

“At Dr. Phillips, we have a long history of lifting up our community through education, vocational training, jobs and health programs. As we begin this important project, we are committed to engaging the minority community to help us build this special place,” Robinson said in a statement.

The Packing District project aims to transform more than 200 acres of industrial land and woods west of College Park into a new urban neighborhood, mixing luxury apartments, townhomes, businesses and restaurants, as well as a 105-acre city park.

Commissioner Bakari Burns backed Hill’s concerns and said he’d met with city staff in hopes of strengthening the city’s contracting processes to promote equity.

“It does feel like we get to the point where we start to beg companies who are getting substantial contracts to add all of our community members,” he said.

Commissioner Jim Gray said he hoped the council could host a workshop to evaluate its practices and identify needed improvements, one of which he suspected could be increasing communication between contractors and subcontractors.

“Perhaps … we need to work as a city to better connect the M/ WBE subcontractors with the general contractors,” Gray said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that a general contractor would purposely omit minorities, because there is every benefit to them to bring them in if they’re qualified.”

Hill said local leaders told protesters this summer that their message was heard, but that systemic racism reaches further than the criminal justice system.

“We can paint 30 murals, but if our actions don’t speak to the symbolism of our hopes, then it’s all fruitless,” Hill said.