Thursday, February 10, 2000
Minority stadium contracts to be audited
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There will be a new set of eyes looking at some of the most highly disputed numbers associated with Paul Brown Stadium — the percentage of contracts awarded to businesses owned by minorities and women.
Hamilton County commissioners agreed Wednesday to award a $60,000 contract to a Detroit-based company to perform an audit on the county's accounting of those contracts.
County records show that $31 million — or 11 percent of the $281 million in stadium contracts — have gone to women- and minority-owned businesses.
Those statistics have been disputed by some members of the African-American community. And even if the numbers are correct, they fall short of the county's goal of 15 percent participation.
In addition to checking the county's math, the auditing firm will look at policies and procedures for helping firms get into the program so they can more easily bid on the work.
Stan Williams, the county's director of small, minority- and female-owned business, said the time is right for an audit because most of the contracts for Paul Brown Stadium have been awarded and construction on the Reds new home has yet to begin.
“It's imperative to do this now, so we can look at our process and any inaccuracies,” Mr. Williams said. “Then we can correct those going into building the Reds stadium and the parking garages.”
Jim Clingman, president of the Cincinnati African-American Chamber of Commerce, has questioned the accuracy of the county's statistics. He also thinks that including women-owned business in the count is unfair.
Mr. Clingman has said the county shouldn't include white women in a minority business program. And he thinks the county's goal should be higher, considering about 41 percent of the city's population is black.
But women who own businesses should be part of the count, Mr. Williams said.
“We have a program that is relatively new, and we're trying to embrace all people who are minorities,” Mr. Williams said. “You'd be hard-pressed not to include women-owned businesses in the process.”
United Consulting Services will look at a representative sample of contracts awarded during its evaluation and produce a report on their findings by May 15.
Mr. Williams said he hopes the audit will set the record straight regarding the statistics, and give the county some ideas on how to reach its 15-percent goal on future projects.
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