CITY HALL EBE DATA OUT-OF-DATE

Time Running Out for Goals to be Met

By Michael Horne

When Mayor Tom Barrett announced the City Hall restoration project in December, 2004, milwaukeeworld reported his promise that the minority hiring goals for the project “will be met.” He even set up a special section on the City of Milwaukee website home page to post the progress of the minority hiring goals on a quarterly basis.

However, only one posting was ever made, in March, 2006, and that covered work done only up to January 31^st, 2006.

It showed that, despite a goal of 18% Disadvantaged Business Enterprise participation, the general contractor, J. P. Cullen & Sons, Inc., had managed only 5.2% participation.

Since that time the posting has not been updated on the city’s website, although an article by Sean Ryan in The Daily Reporter in July 2006, mentioned figures as of April, 2006 showing a DBE participation rate of 6.9%, still far short of the goal. And we’ve heard nothing since. (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has maintained silence on the subject.)

So that leaves us with about a year’s worth of DBE information that we should have expected to be posted on the city’s website as promised by the Mayor and the contractor.

Nor is the information to be found on the websites of Cullen or Prism Technical Management and Marketing Services, the firm that received a $150,000 sole-source contract with the city “to evaluate and monitor the construction contractor’s compliance.”

Prism is headed by Randy Crump, who says the most recent report, which he says covers information up to January, 2007, is now in the hands of Commissioner Jeff Mantes of the Department of Public Works. Crump says Mantes is reviewing it prior to its release “within a few weeks.” Why the delay? These are data, not policy papers or Supreme Court opinions.

Mantes was not immediately available for comment.

What are we to make of this?

The City is at least four reports and a year behind in its postings on its website; the most recent report has been produced by Prism, but must first be “reviewed” before it is released; and the $60 million project is nearing its halfway mark. If minority hiring goals continue to lag, we will soon run out of time and money, leaving the mayor’s promise to Milwaukee’s many disadvantaged unfulfilled.

This week, Forbes Magazine, in its “Best Places” (Vol. 179 No.9, April 23, 2007) ranked Milwaukee 197^th out of 200 U.S. cities for 5-year annualized income growth rate. We clocked in at 0.0%, tied with Louisville, Kentucky, but ahead of Austin, Texas (-0.1%), Green Bay (-0.2%) and Lexington, Kentucky, (-0.3%). Green Bay could improve its numbers just by signing a couple of linebackers, but in Milwaukee we have to work for our money. If the average Milwaukeean hasn’t seen a raise since the Norquist administration, then what must the figures be for the disadvantaged? The mayor is issuing promises, while the needy want paychecks and the public awaits the facts.

[Update: April 20th 2007 -- According to information from the office of City of Milwaukee Comptroller W. Martin "Wally" Morics, C.P.A., Randy Crump's firm Prism has received payments of $115,027 of its $150,000 contract. The Common Council approved the contract to monitor EBE, Residential Preference Program (RPP) and apprenticeship goals for the design and construction phases of the City Hall Restoration Project. The council approved the contract in December 2004. Although a majority of the money has been paid to Prism, the project still has about 20 months to run, with just about $35,000 remaining in the till.--Ed.]

[Update: April 26th 2007 -- The city has finally updated the EBE report on its homepage, so the March 2006 data has been supplanted by a posting dated April 2007. It shows that the percentage of dollars earned by the EBE contractors stands at 11 per cent now. It reiterates that the project's EBE contracts are loaded toward the end of the project, and that the goals will be met by the completion of the restoration of City Hall. --Ed.]