Contracts report dies
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After an hourlong debate Tuesday, the Metro Council failed to either accept or reject a report from a task force proposing implementation of a policy to help small, disadvantaged businesses win more city-parish contracts.
The matter effectively died, for the time being, for lack of action.
The Metro Council also failed to muster enough votes Tuesday to accept a proposal by the Capital Area Transit System board to raise bus fare rates and change some routes.
On the parish contracts issue, a 19-member task force worked for three months on a report recommending the city-parish appoint a director of disadvantaged business enterprises to oversee a fair share policy with a goal of awarding 25 percent of all city-parish contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses.
Although the term “minority businesses” was used many times Tuesday night, Richard McCline, chairman of the task force, said the policy directive in place — but not being implemented — is race- and gender-neutral.
Metro Council members Donna Collins-Lewis, Tara Wicker, Ronnie Edwards and C. Denise Marcelle — all of whom had asked for such a policy — tried to explain to the other council members that acceptance of the report was just that and not an active plan.
But questions and reservations from other Metro Council members led to the failure of two motions to accept the report as well as a substitute motion to reject the report.
The substitute motion — to reject the report — failed with 5 yes votes, 6 no votes and 1 absent. The motion needed seven votes to pass. Voting for the motion to reject the report were Trae Welch, Scott Wilson, Mike Walker, Alison Cascio and Rodney “Smokie” Bourgeois. Metro Council member Chandler Loupe was absent.
The first motion to accept the report failed with 6 yes votes, 5 no votes and 1 absent. Voting yes were Edwards, Collins-Lewis, Marcelle, Wicker, Joel Boé and Ulysses “Bones” Addison.
The second motion to accept the report failed with 5 yes votes and 4 no votes. Cascio, who had voted against the first motion, and Addison, who had voted for the first motion, were not in the room during the vote on the second motion. The rest of the votes on the second motion were the same as those on the first.
Cascio said she wanted the task force to look at current purchasing and contract policies to determine if there was a problem to begin with.
Bourgeois said he didn’t understand some portions of the report and was against other portions.
Welch said he didn’t want to accept the report because he got it late and didn’t have time to go over it.
Collins-Lewis and Addison said the August 2006 policy directive urges the inclusion of more minority-owned businesses in the city-parish contract process.
Addison asked several times why the 2006 directive had never been followed and got no answer.
Collins-Lewis and Addison both said they had problems gathering data for the task force from the city-parish with a breakdown of businesses that have won city-parish contracts in the past.
City-Parish Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Jim Llorens, representing the mayor-president on the task force, said there was a problem gathering that data because of outdated computer software.
The Metro Council also did not approve the CATS proposal to raise fares and change bus routes to curb a projected $700,000 shortfall in the transit system’s 2010 budget. The matter failed with 5 yes votes, 3 no votes, 2 abstentions and 1 absent. Metro Council members Lewis, Walker, Boé, Wicker and Cascio voted to approve the changes. Metro Council members Welch, Addison and Wilson voted no. Edwards and Bourgeois abstained.
After the meeting, Addison said he voted against the proposal because of the provision to raise the fares of passengers with disabilities from $1 to $1.75.
Chris Tyson, president of the CATS Board of Commissioners, said after the meeting he’s not sure what the Metro Council’s vote means for the future of the bus system.
In an unrelated matter, the Metro Council voted to adopt a plan to offer incentives to attract more low-fare airlines to Baton Rouge Metro Airport.
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