COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC HEARING COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - - - Room 696, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, March 27, 2003 9:23 a.m. - - - BILL 020816 - An Ordinance amending Title of the 10 Philadelphia Code... BILL 020827 - An Ordinance amending Title 17 of the 11 Philadelphia Code... BILL 030125 - An Ordinance repealing Chapter 1-500 12 of the Philadelphia Code... 13 - - - 14 15 PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MICHAEL NUTTER, Chair 16 COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ 17 COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN TASCO 18 19 - - - 20 21 V A R A L L O, INCORPORATED LITIGATION SUPPORT SERVICES 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - BILLS 020816, 020827, 030125
This is the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development reconvening from last Friday's hearing. The members in attendance are Councilman Ortiz, Councilman Clarke, Councilwoman Reynolds Brown, and Councilwoman Tasco. Having established a quorum, let me ask in the continuation of our public hearing is there any further testimony to be taken on Bills 020816, 020827, 030125? (No response.)
Seeing no one, we will move now into our public meeting. - - - 3 COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC MEETING COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - - - Thursday, March 27, 2003 - - - Public Meeting conducted by the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, held in Room 696, City Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the above date, to consider action on the following: BILLS 020816, 020827, 030125. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN MICHAEL NUTTER, Chair COUNCILMAN DARRELL CLARKE COUNCILMAN ANGEL ORTIZ COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN COUNCILWOMAN MARIAN TASCO - - - 4 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING
The bill sponsors have a variety of amendments to their bills. I believe Councilman Clarke has two bills, 020827 and 020816. And the Chair will recognize Councilman Clarke for his amendments.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With respect to Bill No. 020827, there is an amendment on .
Yes, we have circulated the amendments. On (1)(c), we put the DAP Program in as one of the organizations that we are referencing as it relates to the apprenticeship program. Mr. Chairman, one of the Members of the Committee asked for a brief explanation.
This particular bill 21 is a bill that deals with compliance, particularly of existing regulations associated with low and income individuals and contractors in neighborhoods. And what we've done is essentially put a noncompliance portion in the bill that would 5 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING potentially disbar any companies or businesses or contractors who do not comply with the various regulations associated with participation in the City of Philadelphia. That noncompliance will deemed by the Procurement Commissioner and then that individual business will be deemed as a non-responsible bidder and they can be disbarred from doing contracts with the City of Philadelphia. Mr. Chairman, on Bill No. 020816 on 1, Section 2, we have changed the selection process with respect to the members of the task force. Prior to that, we had indicated that the Mayor will make all 10 selections. We have changed the amendment to allow the first six members will be appointed by the Mayor, and those six will select the following four members. But we maintain the levels of categories. That is all the amendments on those two bills, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilman Clarke. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
I'm sorry, I was not present for the hearing. And I just want to 6 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING know what the differences are in the three bills, if you all could explain that to me.
With respect to the second bill that we just offered an amendment to --
Yes. It is actually a companion bill to 020827, and it is creating a task force. That task force will also have a resource council. The thought behind it was to, to some degree kind of mirror the task force that was set up for the stadiums, but it would essentially allow participation of more categories of individuals, people who are not necessarily affiliated with government. It will also create a resource council. That resource council will be comprised of various entities within the government to provide information to that task force. That task force, on a periodic basis, will make recommendations to the Procurement Commissioner and the Mayor; in addition to which, it will also be 7 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING responsible for monitoring, to some degree, the compliance bill that we put in. We thought it was more important to have additional resources as it relates to our ability to make sure that people comply with the existing laws and the make those recommendations to the Procurement Commissioner. So if an individual or a company or business did not comply with the laws associated with participation --
So your bill is to establish an economic opportunity task force to monitor the enforcement of 020827?
And 030125, how does that fit in? I'm sorry. I have the wrong bill. So the 816 and 827 are your two. All right. The question I ask -- I had the wrong bill. How do these two bills impact on 125? How do these two bills, the economic opportunity bills, 8 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING work in conjunction with your bill?
The key issue is on the comprehensive bill. The Mayor has to annually do a disparity report by contractural areas, such as construction, services, so on down the line and then detail what is available in terms of minority enterprises to fill the contracts within those areas. Anyone -- and then they set goals based on that disparity report. And those goals have to be met and those individuals that bid get a contract and do not meet those goals, they are very definite sanctions that will taken away, from taking away the contract to all the way down the line, you know, not being able to bid for contracts.
The Chair would also recognize the presence of Councilman DiCicco and Councilman Goode. I think we'll start having Commerce and Economic Development Committee hearings 9 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING on Thursday mornings. We get a tremendous level of participation. Councilman DiCicco, did you have a question.
I just have a question on the amendments to Bill 020816. Six members to be appointed by the Mayor and four members to be selected by a two-third votes of the six appointees; what makes that any different than what was previously in the bill before it was being amended? Basically, the Mayor gets to do all 10; am I reading that correctly?
Yes, Councilman. I don't mean to answer for the sponsor, but he's tied up in a conversation. As I read it, I think the only difference is that the original bill had the Finance Director and 10 other members appointed by the Mayor, and I think there was a period there at the end of that sentence. Now we have six being directly appointed by the Mayor and the other four --
Selected by the six members that the Mayor appoints. 10 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING
To me, that still adds up to 10. And if you throw in the Finance Director, it adds up to 11.
You are correct. I'll catch up with him in a second. He may not escape the conversation with Councilwoman Tasco. What I would recommend, though, in the interim, is between the two sponsors of the three bills, based on the question that was raised by Councilwoman Tasco, if they could possibly either themselves or along with staff in the intervening time between getting these bills out of committee and when they go on the calendar for a vote, since there are a significant number of similarities but at the same time Councilwoman Tasco's question was regarding any potential conflicts between these bills. I'd ask the two sponsors get do a quick review of their respective bills to see whether there are any potential conflicts or inconsistencies between and among the three bills before we have the bills up for final passage. I'll let Councilman Clarke know about that as well. Councilman Ortiz, you have amendments -- 11 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING but actually before we do that, I would actually like to ask the Procurement Commissioner a question with regard to Councilman Clarke's bill on 827, which goes back to actually the original creation of the legislation. Good morning, my I am William Gamble, Procurement Commissioner.
Commissioner, my question is the Bill 020827 amends the Philadelphia Code from legislation that had been passed previously. I'm quite sure this was before your time. But what I'd like to know from you, there is a provision already in the Code that makes reference -- maybe Mr. Roundtree should be up here as well. It talks about MBEC's authority and respond shall be to, and then there's a letter "N," issue a report to City Council every six months that outlines the participation of minority, female, and disabled owned businesses and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in contracts with the City, its agencies, and all quasi public agencies. What I'm now trying to search my mind on is whether or not this particular reporting requirement has been followed since the passage of 12 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING the legislation which was more than a few years ago.
Councilman Nutter, no, it wasn't. I was not aware of this until a couple of weeks ago when you brought it to my attention.
Is this one the reporting requirements that we raised when you were here couple weeks ago.
Okay. Then I will asking yourself, Mr. Roundtree and the Finance Director, Ms. Davis, for an update on the variety of reporting requirements and I think we detailed at that hearing a couple weeks ago and I would appreciate it if you would respond in writing as to any reports that have been issued. Or if no reports have been issued, I would appreciate some amount of explanation as to why we have not been following these reporting requirements. And tell I'd like you to tell us when you plan to start.
Thank you, Commissioner. Councilman Ortiz, you have some amendments to -- 13 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING
Technical amendments I'm going ask Council to read them into the read.
Shoshana Brickman from the City Council technical staff. The amendments are all of a technical nature. And I apologize, on the summary of the amendments, there's a typo. It's Section 17-502(2)(d), and that section will be deleted as duplicative. The next one is section 502(4)(a), and that one will add after the word "owned," it will say "owned and controlled." The third one is 17-502(4)(b), and after the word "$5 million," the three words added in three consecutive years. Number four is section 17-502(6), and after the words "eminent domain" we've added "land or property acquisition." The next one is 17-504(1), and after the words "goals for," the words "levels or amounts of DBE participation for" have been added. The next one is 17-504(2)(e), and a typo has been corrected to make the section number 14 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING Section 17-505. After that is 17-504(3). That section 4 has been eliminated. And the subsequent sections have been re-numbered to reflect the elimination. The next one is the new re-numbered Section 17-504(6)(a). After the words "the bidders," it says "and all others seeking City contracts." The new re-numbered section 17-504(6)(b) (IV), the numbering has been corrected to have a "c", it's section 17-504(6 )(c). And the final amendment is also a numbering issue. It's section 17-511 has been changed to section 17-510. And then the subsequent sections are re-numbered to reflect that.
Okay. Any questions on the proposed amendments to Bill 030125, all of which are technical in nature, cleaning up either re-numbering required or typographical error corrections and phraseology added to sentences? (No response.)
Any questions on any of the amendments proposed to any of the bills? (No response.) 15 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING
Seeing none, the Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion regarding amendments to Bill 020816.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that for the amendments of Bill No. 020816. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded the proposed amendment to Bill 11 020816. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
The amendment is approved 5 to 2. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion on Bill 020816, as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I make a motion that Bill No. 020816, as amended, be reported out of committee with a favorable recommendation. 16 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING (Duly seconded.)
The Chair notes that the motion to move the bill out of Committee is approved 5 to 2. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I make a motion that amendments be approved on Bill No. 020827.
Is there a second on the amendments to Bill 020827? (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded. All in favor indicate by saying aye. (Aye.)
Any opposed, say nay. 17 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING (No response.)
The bill has been amended. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke for a motion on Bill 020827, as amended.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 020827, as amended, be reported out of Committee with favorable recommendation. (Duly seconded.)
It's been moved and properly seconded -- (Discussion held off the record.)
Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that Bill No. 020827, as amended, be reported out of Committee with favorable recommendation and a request for a suspension the Rules.
All in favor indicate by saying aye. 18 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING (Aye.)
Bill 020827, as amended, will be reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and a recommendation for a suspension of the Rules.
We need to revisit the motion for reporting out Bill 020816. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, on Bill No. 020816, as amended, I would like to request a rules suspension. (Duly seconded.)
Bill 020816 will be reported out of the committee with a suspension of the rules. 19 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz for a motion on amendments to Bill 030125.
Mr. Chairman, I move that the amendments as read into the record be approved. (Duly seconded.)
The bill has been amended. The Chair recognizes Councilman Ortiz for a motion on Bill 030125, as amended.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Bill 030125, as amended, be moved out of a Committee with favorable recommendation and a recommendation that the Rules of Council be suspended as to permit first reading. (Duly seconded.)
All in favor indicate by saying aye. 20 03/27/03 - COMMERCE - PUBLIC MEETING (Aye.)
Bill 030125, as amended, will be reported out with a favorable recommendation and a Rules suspension. I believe that concludes the business of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. Thank you very much. (Council adjourned at 9:45 a.m.) - - - 21 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing proceedings of the Council of the City of Philadelphia of March 27, 2003, were reported fully and accurately by me, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. RE: COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ___________________________ Lisa C. Bradley, RPR and Notary Public