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CIC Says It Will Pay More Attention to Minority Hiring
"By Dennis LaRue YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The executive committee of Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. is "disappointed at the level of minority participation" in the construction of the downtown office building that will house Mahoning County Children Services Board.The committee met Wednesday to further consider William Carter's complaint of Oct. 13 about the low dollar level of finishing work awarded minority contractors on the four-story building approaching completion. Only $25,000 or so will be paid minority subcontractors on a structure that costs $7.3 million to build. Carter, a member of the CIC board and director of the city's minority enterprise program, complained at the minuscule participation by minority companies in constructing the four-story building.One subcontractor is a landscaper paid $17,500. The other, a drywall and plastering company, was paid $7,000 or so, he said.Jance Construction Co., Kent, did not dispute Carter's figures as it again reminded the CIC of its efforts to seek out and hire qualified minority-owned subcontractors. Completion has been delayed, said Jance Construction's attorney, Andrew J. Natale of Akron, adding to his client's expense because of those efforts.Whoever wins the contract to build the courthouse for the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals, the executive committee informally agreed, must do better than Jance Construction on the CSB building. "We must increase our efforts" to ensure this, Reid Dulberger said in a statement he read quickly just before the executive committee adjourned hurriedly.Dulberger is executive vice president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. The chamber has a contract with the CIC to administer that redevelopment agency.After the meeting, Carter declared the matter moot because Jance Construction, while it bid on the 7th District courthouse, was not the apparent lowest and best bidder. Ricciuti Balog & Partners Architects, Youngstown, submitted the apparent low bid of $3.39 million Dec. 3. Jance bid $3.66 million. At the meeting, Natale, compnay owner Paul Jance, and the project manager for the CSB building, Jim Perusek, described their efforts to find and hire qualified minority contractors. Their difficulties, they said, are illustrated by how they sought to include local minority contractors when they wrote Jance's bid on the 7th District courthouse.Jance "called every contractor on Carter's list" of local minority owned companies, Natale said. Only two of the 18 on the list responded, one to perform abatement work, the other a flooring company. Artis Gillam, because he is first ward councilman and vice president of the CIC, disqualified his company. (Gillam is, he noted, the only minority contractor who hires union labor.)Where Jance's practice is to fax subcontractors about their participation in a project, Perusek both sent the 18 faxes and followed up with telephone calls."This is very similar to what we experienced on this [Children Services] project, Natale stated.Responded Carter, "I appreciate everything Mr. Jance has done. But his efforts are not enough." Carter contended that Jance should have "recruited companies not on the list, [minority-owned] companies out of Cleveland, companies out of Akron."Said Natale, "This is a community-based program. We were to hire people who live in this community, minority or otherwise. We did everything [the law] asked and more. We responded to [CIC counsel Edwin Romero's] requests for information. Everything has been open and above board. We're in complete compliance."Citing the state SuperMax prison on Youngstown's east side, Carter disagreed. "My [city] office is also an MCAP [Minority Contractor Assistance Program] office for the state. The state does not allow you to limit your search to a local area."Natale: "That's a state program. Don't confuse the state with a community program."CIC President G. Richard Pavlock, a senior vice president at First Place Bank, asked the executive committee for "any suggestions for a resolution?" No one responded.Natale announced Jance had no intention of suing the CIC for adding to its expense by causing it to delay work on the CSB building as it looked for qualified minority contractors. In turn, Romero announced the CIC had "no intention to sue" Jance for awarding only $25,000 of the project's cost to minorities.Water Commissioner Charles Sammarone, who sits on the executive committee, stated he saw no need to revisit the lengthy discussions held in executive session Oct. 13.Regardless, the committee went into executive session. The general contractor was also irritated by what he called "bid shopping," Jance said while the committee met in executive session. As Jance explained it, Carter would learn the lowest and best bids subcontractors gave Jance Construction for painting, installing drywall, laying floors -- matters of public record -- and approach minority contractors to see if they could beat them. "You can't shop bids," Jance stated. "If you did, nobody would do business with you."Leon Jackson, who owns his own painting company, L&J Contractor on Miami Avenue, accompanied Carter. Jackson was upset because he "was shut out" of the finishing work on CSB building. He bid $73,000 to paint the interior, he said.Jackson bid on two of the three floors, Perusek said. (The first floor is a parking garage.) "And the entire project was $73,000.""We waited and waited for weeks for Carter to come in with a [painting] bid," Natale added. "We delayed our schedule at our expense to try to include minorities." Contact Dennis LaRue at [email protected]"