BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County officials revealed Friday that they have yet to meet a goal to give 15 percent of the contracts to build Paul Brown Stadium to minority- and women-owned businesses, and it is now up to the city to decide whether to file suit.
More than a week ago, the city turned up the heat on county officials to produce a detailed list of contracts and how they were honoring the county-city goal to give such business a share of the $400 million pie. The county is overseeing the project.
During the campaign to convince voters to increase the sales tax to finance two new sports stadiums, backers promised to give 15 percent of the contracts to minorities, women or small businesses. They said preference would be given to local companies.
In a report sent to the city Friday, county officials show that 7 percent, or $8.3 million, in contracts have been awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses as of Sept. 30 -- the most recent data available. For the same time, $120.9 million in contracts have been awarded.
Hamilton County Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus says roughly half of the contracts still have to be awarded for construction of the riverfront football stadium.
Though he doesn't know whether the county will reach its goal, officials will continue to strive for 15 percent.
The county's report comes more than a week after city officials said the county had not answered requests for compliance with the memorandum of understanding. Mayor Roxanne Qualls and Councilman Todd Portune had suggested pursuing a lawsuit, something Councilman Dwight Tillery had suggested earlier in the year. Council was concerned that city requests to the county for statistics on who has been awarded work on the $400 million project had gone unanswered.
Mr. Portune, who hadn't seen the report on Friday afternoon, said he wanted to work with the county on a plan to boost participation.
"The numbers confirm our impression of non-compliance to date," he said. "If you're (8) percent behind, that makes people kind of nervous. It's not where it should be now."
An angry Mr. Bedinghaus said he wished the city would work with the county on this process.
"It would have been a lot easier had the city just picked up the phone and asked for the numbers instead of going through such theatrics."
Mr. Bedinghaus said that the goal was to have 15 percent of all contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned business, and that work would continue to "reach out" to communities where such businesses operate so they know to compete for the bids. Already, forums and seminars have been held to get the word out.
Meantime, Mr. Bedinghaus touted progress in hiring local contractors and awarding 92 percent of the contracts to union-affiliated firms, also part of the city-county agreement.
Nonetheless, the Rev. William Land said he and other members of the Baptist Ministers Conference will continue to monitor the progress of the stadium and, more importantly, who's building it. He said visits to the site prove that the work force goal of having 15 percent of the work performed by minorities and women outlined in the city-county agreement also is not being fulfilled.
"When we go down there, we'll see 100 people and about six of them are black folks," he said. "We're getting to the end of the construction season, so there's no work (temporarily) for people of color in the minority community."
With the exception of severe weather, work will continue year-round. The stadium is to open in August 2000.
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