COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, September 24, 2009 1:15 p.m. - - - PRESENT: COUNCILMAN W. WILSON GOODE, JR., CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN JANNIE BLACKWELL COUNCILMAN FRANK DiCICCO COUNCILMAN BILL GREEN COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILWOMAN MARIA QUINONES-SANCHEZ COUNCILWOMAN BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN BILL 090520 - An ordinance amending Chapter 16 17-1600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Economic Opportunity Plans," by providing that Council may be resolution determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a participant, contractor, project developer, or applicant for or recipient of financial assistance has failed to comply with the provisions of that Chapter... - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Services Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2
Good afternoon. This hearing is called to order. This is a public hearing of the Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Bill No. 090520. My name is W. Wilson Goode, Jr., Chair of the Committee. I note that a quorum is present. To my left is Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez. To my immediate left is Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, Vice Chair of the Committee, and to my right is Councilman Curtis Jones. The title of the Bill No. 16 090520, amending Chapter 17-1600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Economic Opportunity Plans," by providing that Council may be resolution determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a participant, contractor, project developer, or applicant for or recipient of financial assistance has failed to comply with the provisions of that Chapter and should be subject to 3 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 debarment, and upon adoption of such a resolution, the Finance Director shall, after notice and hearing, make a final determination as to whether there has been a violation of the Chapter and whether debarment should be imposed, all under certain terms and conditions. Our first witness is A. Bruce Crawley, Millennium 3 Management. (Witness approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, Mr. Crawley. Congratulations on your award.
Please proceed with your testimony. 4 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
Will do. I have come here this afternoon to express my emphatic support for City Council Bill 090520, and for any other bill that is designed to ensure that there will finally be true and meaningful inclusion of certifiable African American, minority and white female firms in the contracts let by the City of Philadelphia. In a more perfect world, our city would not need such an amendment. There is, as you know, language already approved and already a part of Philadelphia law that should be enough now to move us toward being an inclusive economy. That language already stipulates that contractors and developers who do not comply with their Economic Opportunity Plans, which they themselves have submitted as part of a winning City contract, will be subject to several enforcement measures. Among 5 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 other things, they can be ineligible for municipal financial assistance. They can be subject to having scheduled payments withheld. They can be subject to having their contracts terminated. They can be subject to being suspended from City bids for up to three years, and they can be liable to pay liquidated damages. You would think ordinarily that the threat of such things happening would already constitute enough of an incentive for prime contractors to do the right thing and to help to expand the economic benefits from municipal contracts. Apparently, however, it has not been the case. There continues to be a glaring disparity between the volume of work done in the public and private sectors by white construction companies and by minority and female-owned companies. In fact, the Mayor's Commission on Construction Industry Diversity found in 2002 the average annual receipts of a white-owned 6 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 construction firm in Philadelphia was $616,723. By comparison, the average annual receipts of a black-owned firm was just $132,672. The average annual receipts of an Hispanic firm was $128,396. White female-owned firms, by the way, generated annual gross receipts of $421,877. So there does seem to be a problem. In addition, there continues to be substantial evidence that contractors with whom our city does business are dragging their feet with regard to the implementation of plans which they've previously submitted that were designed to correct the imbalance. There is also evidence that the concept of the Economic Opportunity Plan, conceived in good faith, for sound economic reasons, has contributed to an even greater propensity by the City's prime contractors and construction management companies to "game" the system. Such gaming regrettably takes 7 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 many forms. " Then there is the continuing practice of primes using minority businesspersons - some who are simply desperate to generate any cash flow from this industry and others who are just as unscrupulous as the primes - as brokers on the contract rather than involving them in the actual work on the construction site. In such cases, the so-called minority is given a small fee for serving as a conduit between the prime and the true source of contract-related materials and supplies. The total value of the purchase, of course, is counted toward achievement of the overall EOP goal, even though the minority "front" or broker actually receives just a minimal percentage of the total purchase price. 8 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 This practice unquestionably and dramatically overstates the dollar value of the true compliance with EOP goals. The use of such fronts is designed to accomplish three things. It keeps the actual work and project cash flow well within the old-line firms that have always had exclusive access to City projects. It ensures that true African American, minority and female firms do not have a reasonable opportunity to participate, perform and grow their capacity. And, three, it defrauds the City's contracting process.
There are still far too many construction management firms that simply do not believe that the City of Philadelphia has the courage of its own conviction with regard to true minority inclusion. Unless something changes in the area of effective compliance monitoring and true enforcement, these contractors will be no more influenced by the empty threat of debarment than they 9 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 have been by the other empty threats that are already on the books. Clearly, the enforcement measures that are already part of the City's laws have not constituted a deterrent. Perhaps the threat of permanent debarment will be enough to finally bring meaningful inclusion to these projects. In my opinion, it will be helpful. It will be one more available tool, but I don't believe that as a stand-alone it will solve the ongoing problem. In order to do so, two steps will be required even beyond the debarment tool, which we support. First, an honest monitoring and compliance mechanism that will finally produce accurate reports that will be respected by prime contractors; and, secondarily, the emergence of the political will within the government at both the executive and legislative levels to actually implement its own enforcement 10 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 processes. In these economically precarious times, the people who make and enforce the laws in Philadelphia can no 6 longer afford to sit idly by and allow qualified minority and female firms to continue to be excluded from the work being done in the City. I sincerely believe that there is an easily traced connection between the fact that Philadelphia has the highest poverty rate, at about percent 14 among the ten largest cities in the 15 country, and the fact that more than 60 16 percent of our citizens are black, 17 Hispanic or Asian, the very people who 18 are being excluded from contract and 19 employment opportunities in this 20 industry. 21 It's time for this all to 22 change. Perhaps Bill No. 090520, 23 together with meaningful teeth and a 24 stronger political will, will be the 25 charm. 11 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Crawley. Let me note for the record that Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell has joined us. I have just a few questions before I turn it over to members of the Committee. While in your testimony you speak about it eloquently, can you just more simplistically give us your general impression of the enforcement efforts of the Office of Economic Opportunity and its predecessor, MBEC.
Well, I think that -- and I had this reinforced recently sitting with the members of the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity. We talked directly to construction management companies, to the principals of those companies, and they said that they don't think anything is ever going 12 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 to happen to them. They put the numbers together. They put them on the sheet. They submit them. And, one, they know that they can "game" the numbers by using the fronts and other things related to that. And, two, there's precious little evidence that anything ever actually happens to them, so they just continue to work their show, continue to complete the contract. Even when people are complaining during the process, they continue to do the work, and then finally the contract has ended, nothing has occurred, there's nothing that happens after the contract has concluded. They still have not done what they have set out to do. And if you look at the numbers that they've submitted, there are gaping holes in the logic that says they may even achieve those goals, because, again, they look for the fronts, look for the brokers, who represent a significant percentage of people who were listed as minority contractors on the old MBEC 13 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 file. When you looked at those people who were listed as contractors, a lot of them were brokers.
So OEO and MBEC legislatively already have authority in terms of enforcement and penalties. The other entity that has such authority is project oversight committees. Can you tell me for the record what your experience with project oversight committees have been.
I don't know anything about it. I was on an oversight committee for the Convention Center, which I resigned from, state work, but this is happening just up the street, and I left it because most oversight committees don't really have juice. The oversight committees don't have the authority to do anything. They can look over. They can make comments. But in the case, for example, of the Convention Center contracts, where you'll see people from 332 prominently displayed at the 14 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 front door when you go by, don't believe that you have true diversity inside that project. But the issue is that these people don't really have an authority to implement any of their observations. The people at the Convention Center who have the authority to ensure that there's true inclusion are the members of the Convention Center's Board and the people who put them there, period. I mean, the oversight committee can say whatever it wants. If there's a relationship between that prime, between that construction management company, and members of that Board and if they're supported -- if that construction management company is supported by that Board, the oversight committee is just whistling in the dark. And so I quit. So I don't know about the other oversight committees that you talk about, but generally they are unempowered or disempowered and can't really have any 15 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 influence on a project.
Thank you. Just, lastly, so you think it's appropriate that City Council have a formal role in terms of enforcement?
Oh, absolutely. I think that City Council, which has members that are representing the City as a whole and represent specific districts, the members are very close to and accountable to the electorate and I think that there would be a different kind of responsiveness, an additional kind of responsiveness. That is not to say that the executive branch of government should be let off and not be involved in having some say as to oversight and having some say as to compliance monitoring and enforcement, but we ought to have it in both places. We clearly need to have this Council that I think, again, is very close to its voters involved in their process.
Thank you. 16 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Let me note for the record Councilman Frank DiCicco, a member of the Committee, is also present. Councilman Jones. COUNCILMAN DiCICCO: Board member of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. (Laughter.)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm sitting here thinking deja vu all over again when it comes to this issue, and I'm not going to talk about the history of 17-500. I think there's someone in the Chambers very capable of doing that in the form of Councilwoman Blackwell, who worked closely with former Councilman Blackwell, who implemented 17-500. So I'm going to leave that if she chooses to talk about some of that history and what was able to 17 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 be accomplished, I'll leave that to her. But on to current-day frustrations -- and I guess this is in concert with the Chairman's kind of comment. And I understand that this Administration got hit with an economic tsunami. Instead of kind of planning our way to a better Philadelphia economically, we were putting out fires. We were paying contractors. I get that over the last months, and I applaud 13 this Administration for being able to at 14 least keep the ship from being scuttled. 15 So I get that part. 16 But as we rapidly approach 17 midterm, I need to get some insights as 18 to -- we had such great promise about the 19 OEO and how that was going to work and 20 how -- that actually we would have a game 21 plan as to how you take minority firms, 22 female firms, disadvantaged firms and put 23 them in the mainstream. 24 Now, it does happen in our society in our city and sometimes in 18 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 spite of all that goes on to be barriers to inclusion, and some of those people are in the Chambers today that have managed to manage their way through these things, and I'd love to hear how they do it, but my concern is, where do you see us by way of a game plan to include people?
Well, I think you have two people here from the Commerce Department and from OEO who will be able to talk to you directly about that, but let me say that I don't know that their plan is complete yet. I think they've been working on a plan. I don't think it is there. And I think that the juice that will drive that plan will come from the same political will that I talked about for the department issue. We can't -- and I discussed this with them just last week. I'm not telling things out of confidence, but I had a conversation with these two gentlemen last week about what their plans were, 19 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 and they seem to be very willing to get reengaged now that the budget monies look like they're coming and those kinds of things are happening. But the only thing that I told them I'm most concerned about is a feeling -- and I hope this is not the feeling of the Administration -- that with the tightening of budgets, that we don't read that as an excuse for reducing the commitment to minority inclusion in the city. That should not be accepted as an excuse. I mean, if the budget is five percent less than everybody wanted it to be or ten percent less or percent less 18 or 40 percent less, that which is 19 available to be spent will be spent with 20 contractors and people who supply goods and services to the City. And that amount, whatever it is, should have no 23 less commitment for the engagement of people of color and for white females. And so if that is the guiding 20 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 principle, I think these guys will be okay. If they think that in tough times you can't think about minority inclusion, then we got a big problem.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Let me first thank you for your testimony. You have been completely consistent in the nine years I've been here for always providing a real clear, precise articulation of what the dilemma is. And I want to commend Councilman Goode, because I myself have wrestled with where do we -- there's always been a disconnect in this particular area and I've been at a loss as to how we tighten up this whole monitoring piece, because too often we hear of contractors who call our office because they are sick of another game being played by the primes, and this, I 21 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 believe, will add another -- well, it gives us another opportunity to make sure that we're included at the point contractors come here for the zoning piece, at the point that the oversight committees happen, because we've actually had Councilmembers sit on oversight committees, like the stadium, and still there have been gaps that we've missed, because contractors have come back to us saying that the prime is not honoring the agreement. So my hope, given Councilman Goode's thinking over the summer, will be a tighter opportunity to put hard-core enforcement in place. So we thank you for your testimony.
Yes. I want to highlight what you just ended in speaking today. If we as a city are 22 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 really committed to minority inclusion, we have to know that we have to pay for it, and we have to pay for it in the sense of we got to provide opportunities for our smaller firms to develop their capacity to compete in the market. And I just wanted to highlight that point, because I recently was involved with the Administration over the contracting of police guards at our homeless shelters and, as a result of that, had a minority vendor, one of the few that we have in the City, walk away from a contract because we chose a loophole to save money, and as a result of that, 35 minority men and women are laid off today. And so I just wanted to highlight that point. At the end of the day, good policy written without the proof, the political will to say we have to pay for this -- because these are Philadelphia's men and women, and for me I find it outrageous that we subsidize 23 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 stadiums and we subsidize the Eagles and we subsidize all of these folk, and when you have a small firm -- and we're talking about in this particular case maybe a difference of maybe 50, 100 thousand dollars, that we're okay with minority vendors walking away from this, and that's not an acceptable practice.
Councilwoman, I think that we really do have to be concerned that these contracts are being let with only a fiscal accountability, that people are looking at it, okay, we got a $500,000 contract and we will let that for $500,000 or we make sure that that happens. We also have to have the contracts let given the state of our city, percent of the people living 21 below poverty, that every contract 22 dollar, to the best of our ability, 23 should also have an economic development 24 agenda on it also. 25 I mean, if we are spending that 24 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 dollar staying within our fiscal constraints and employing people from Tennessee, we've done ourself a disservice. Whereas, if we spend the same money, stay within our fiscal constraints and spend that money in such a way to employ people in the Hispanic community, African American, other communities that have been disenfranchised and underrepresented, then we help the City, because the City will benefit from that. And that argument that we lose money on the contract, sometimes that is not proven. I mean, you ask them, demand that they show you how they can prove that. It's not necessarily true. Because smaller contractors bidding on the piece, the whole economic logic behind having people bid on contracts, multiple bidders, is designed to have prices come down. And so when we say we should have more people bidding, they say, Oh, no, that will make it more expensive. When did that happen? 25 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 I mean, the RFP process, the bidding process is designed to bring the price down to the person letting the contract. But we've started to accept the 180-degree opposite of that, for no 7 apparent reason. It doesn't make any sense.
And I agree. I think the issue is, our justification for the subsidy of these big enterprises is, we collect revenue on wages and everything else, and it seems that we come up with very creative formulas to subsidize the bigger industries and we're unwilling to do it when it comes to the small guys, and the small guys will always stay small because we will not de-bundle these contracts and we really are not willing to pay them what it takes for them to build their capacity, even though their workers are Philly-based workers, and in the case of these other industries, they're not. So thank you. 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
Our next witness is Kevin Dow, the Commerce Department. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon. For the record, my name is Kevin Dow. I have with me Curtis Gregory, the Office of Business Services and Interim Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Good afternoon, Chairperson Goode and members of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. I am Kevin Dow, Acting Chief Operating Officer of the Commerce Department. I am here today to present testimony in support of Bill No. 090520, which amends Chapter 27 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 17-1600 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Economic Opportunity Plans." This bill provides that Council may, by resolution adopted after a public hearing, recommend that a participant, contractor, project developer or applicant for or recipient of financial assistance from the City of Philadelphia be debarred if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have failed to comply with the provisions of the Chapter. Upon the adoption of such a resolution, the Finance Director shall, after notice and opportunity for a hearing, make a final determination as to whether there has been a violation of the Chapter and whether debarment should be imposed. Economic inclusion for all Philadelphians is a high priority for the current Administration and opportunities to reinforce this in the City's contracting and procurement processes are most welcomed. It is important that we 28 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 fully utilize the tools currently available to the City to communicate our desire to achieve and hold firms accountable for robust participation within our contracts for minorities, women and the disabled. Over the last several months, I have been personally involved with interviews of stakeholders in the community, Mr. Crawley being one of them, and an overriding criticism of past City practices raised by many is the lack of action against firms who do not comply with the City's requirement for minority inclusion. Everyone has firmly stated that we in the Office of Economic Opportunity and all those involved in the contracting and procurement process need to firmly establish that minority inclusion is important and will be monitored and evaluated. Many in the community will tell you, as they have shared with me, that the City needs to establish a different 29 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 protocol regarding our desire to enforce minority participation. Knowing that the City is serious about utilizing the current policies and procedures in place for debarment will send a strong message that the City is paying closer attention and is now serious about broadening the economic success to all. Under the penalty provisions of Chapter 17-1600 for Economic Opportunity Plans, there are provisions providing for the termination of a contract, in whole or in part, and suspending a participant, contractor or recipient of financial assistance from bidding and/or participating in future City contracts for up to three years. In light of these provisions and Council's role in the approval of many Economic Opportunity Plans, the language added by Bill No. 22 090520 strengthens the monitoring and oversight regarding EOPs. While Council clearly has a legislative oversight function in general, the provisions of 30 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Bill No. 090520 further solidify and clarify this role as it relates to Economic Opportunity Plans. I also believe this amendment will ultimately foster a better relationship between current and potential contract partners as it creates a greater level of clarity surrounding the City's desire, the City's ability and the City's will to drive economic inclusion. I thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Dow. Let me mention for the record we've been joined by Councilman Bill 20 Green, a member of the Committee as well. Since the Administration is supporting the bill, I have a few friendly questions.
The first 31 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 is, how many contractors are on the City's debarment list?
I don't think there's any right now. That have currently been debarred?
I've actually checked several times, including today, and clicked on the debarment list, and it just says none.
Does the City require responsibility certification that contractors are not on any other debarment lists?
Responsibility certification, which says that you fill out a form that says that you are not on any other debarment lists in terms of the state or federal government. Does the City require that?
I don't have that specific answer. I don't believe so, but 32 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 I can double check that, but I don't know right now. I don't think so. And we would check the status of anybody who is asking for, let's say, reciprocal certification, which is a number of certifications we do, and that would show up in that checking and in that qualification process.
So are we sure that there aren't contractors doing business in the City of Philadelphia that aren't on other debarment lists?
Okay. Two final questions. Does this bill remove any authority from the Administration?
Just for the record. 33 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 And, lastly, will this ordinance, since this is supported by the Administration, I think generally supported by the Committee and may be supported by Council, will this ordinance 7 be legally valid without an amendment to the Home Rule Charter?
Is there anyone else who can testify to that from the Administration? Because this is actually a companion bill to a Charter change which we thought might be necessary.
I am willing to amend this piece of legislation so that it can be effective immediately without a Charter change, which I think is a more effective approach, but I actually need someone to testify on the record that the ordinance will be legally valid without a Charter change, in the 34 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Administration's opinion.
Okay. Thank you. Any questions for this witness? Councilwoman Brown.
Could you please give us a status on the reorganization of your department, specifically as it relates to OEO.
Yes. We have, as you all are aware, we've had some leadership changes over the last 60, 90 days and have asked Curtis Gregory, who is the Director of the Office of Business Services, to serve as the Interim Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity as we begin to finalize and complete the changes that are occurring in that world. We've had conversations with both the Administration, stakeholders in the community as well as 35 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 some of the Councilmembers in regards to what changes are about to take place in that world, what we're going to emphasize, where we're reutilizing the current resources in there, financial as well as human, and to determine which is the most appropriate structure for us to have, and that process is ongoing.
If you had to identify one, two or three lessons learned from the tenure of the immediate predecessor and the leadership of MBEC, what will be those one, two or three lessons that you want to use as you reconstruct your office?
Certainly we have to look -- everybody who is in the community as stakeholders in this process, whether they're on the right side or the left side, meaning on different sides of the issues, we need to make sure that we engage each and every one equally so that we can get the fullest feedback, the fullest -- 36 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
-- understanding, picture, exactly. I think that's one strong lesson that has been learned. I also believe that we need to look at our internal processes and our internal relationships within. When I say "internal," internal to the City of Philadelphia and the departments that we are working with, much more closely than what we have done in the past.
The one observation made by me and other members of this body during the last budget process is, we would ask the department head very, very specific questions about MBE/WBE participation, often times having the facts right in front of us, and too often the answer was, Well, that's MBEC's responsibility or that OEO's responsibility. And then we had the 37 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 opportunity to bring the leadership before us. It was a surprise when they discovered that other department heads were looking to them for the moving of the needle around MBE/WBE participation. So that's why I asked the question are we talking about across department heads, understanding fully what your expectations are going to be when it comes to those commissioners meeting those goals.
Yeah. If I can comment on that. That's absolutely the case, and I would say it's above me as well. So the Mayor has committed and has communicated to me personally and in my presence to commissioners and his deputies and his direct reports that this is critical for them to understand, for them to be able to report out on, and then for them to be able to help us succeed in meeting some of the goals that we are anticipating having. And so the conversations that we would like to have 38 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 with the individual departments around consulting them in regards to their minority participation, working with them in the process that would allow us to engage them much early on in the process of procurement or of contracting, so that we can have a better understanding of what they're going to do. They can have a better understanding what possibilities exist for minority participation, and then we can then achieve together better results as the long goal. That's what we want to do. Our goal -- and I witnessed some of those questioning that you're referring to in the last budget process. My goal is that not one of those commissioners would come up here and say that there has never been a conversation with the Office of Economic Opportunity, that they would say that we've had an ongoing partnership with them in order to help them meet their goals and objectives. You will hear some that will 39 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 get further along than others --
-- but the conversation must have taken place. So that when you ask that question again in the next budget process, that the answer is, Yes, we are engaged with the Office of Economic Opportunity around meeting our minority participation goals.
If I could add, in the short amount of time, in the one month since I've been in the seat, we have spent a lot of energy around listening, not only externally but as well internally, and I think that's something that we've learned from the past, is that we really do need to listen. As I look at the reaction from people like the Bruce Crawleys in the world, their reaction to our strategic 40 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 direction seems to indicate that we have been listening and we're heading in the right direction. The other thing that we've been working very hard on externally and internally, even in the environment when I'm reading my own layoff notice, is doing a better job of proactively communicating what we're doing as opposed to reactively.
So you've identified two. The internal sharpening, if you will, the internal communications. Might there be a third?
I think that we need to begin to look at it from a more holistic perspective. We have a tendency to just focus on the City of Philadelphia and what resources that we have to let contracts. If we are to be able to truly succeed, overall success, for the growth and participation of everyone in the economic success of Philadelphia, we have to look outside of the City itself. We 41 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 have to build -- call it using City government or City contracting as a pathway to entrepreneurism. And I mean that we can contract within individual companies in that manner, but it should be in a way in which while we add with technical assistance, capacity building through our other resources in the Commerce Department, a means for them to go out and achieve success in the private world. That's not only here in Philadelphia, that's nationally, that's globally. That's the dynamic that we need to move forward with. That's where we need to shift it from being insular within the City of Philadelphia to external or widening or broadening to the world, the global leaders that we can be, positioning firms to that. We can't assume that these firms do not have that ability. They do. We have to prepare them to have that.
If I could throw in, within the first week that I stepped 42 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 in the position, I was given a report about so high that had what I would call a lot of data, but not a lot of information. And I think the strategic move of moving OEO from the Finance Department to the Commerce Department represents a shift in terms of economic impact. So as we coach and manage day by day, we're making a cultural shift away from data collection to how are we getting money on the streets, are we creating an inclusive environment and is capital actually getting in the hands of those minority, women and contractors.
I thank you for that vision. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, gentlemen. 43 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
Two things. One, I was given information on debarment, and why that is so important to me is that to not have debarment is to have a dog with no teeth.
It is, as stated by Mr. Crawley, all bark, no bite. In the case of the Department of Labor, just one department within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, just one department, they have debarments, 21 16 firms that for a period of time, three 17 years, cannot participate in the 18 lucrative contracts offered by the 19 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 20 Those contractors had a process 21 by which they were found wanting in one area or another. There was an accusation. There was a hearing. There was an appeal. There was a process. Please describe for me what 44 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 that process is today.
Well -- and, honestly, I can't. I don't know the exact detail, but I'm going to try to tell you what I know of the process. If a firm has been found through the process that they have violated or have not met the minority inclusion goals that are represented, there's a process by which they would be either presented for review by --
To the Office of Economic Opportunity. And then the Office of Economic Opportunity would then make a recommendation whether or not that should be proceeded forward. That would go -- and who would be involved would be our law area. That would then go to the Finance Department, and the Finance Director -- that Finance Director -- and hearings would be held all the way through, both on the process of appeal from the organization that was being 45 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 proposed for debarment, and then the Finance Director would make a final decision.
There have been debarments. My understanding is, there has never been a debarment for lack of inclusion.
The State of New Jersey has 200 debarments, primarily because of comparable wage and issues 46 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 involving labor.
Because they take that seriously, and because the special interest groups have made sure that the government takes it seriously. In comparison, we want the issue of inclusion taken seriously. So for us not to have one debarment says exactly what Mr. Crawley has stated, that no one believes that we take this process seriously and it is a priority. By way of overall plan -- and let me say this: Knowing what you guys are up against, I understand that you are not -- you are just one component of this. There is financing, there is this. There's so many different things, but at some point, we have to roll up our sleeves and do a plan. Now, I understand in our last -- I went back and looked at the DVD, and I was promised a plan within 30 days from -- we were sitting at this 47 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 committee and we said -- you said that I would have a plan on my desk, or the Chairman would have a plan on his desk and would be distributed to members for that inclusion, that process that included the finance agencies, the Procurement Department, the other private-sector entities that could provide technical assistance, and we are still waiting for that plan, and I wanted to get a report, an update, from you as to where we are in the drafting of that plan.
It is near complete, and I recognize and I do acknowledge that we had a deadline that has passed, and I'm not going to sit up here with the excuses that you're all familiar with. We are at the -- and I will say -- the very final stages of trying to complete and finish the plan, making sure that it meets all of the goals and objectives of the Administration, which is reviewing it, and should have that in short order. 48 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
I would ask one final question. We are rapidly approaching the month of October, the first week of October, which is MED week. It's nationally recognized as Minority Enterprise Development Week. This city has had a rich history, dating back to the Wilson Goode Administration, of celebrating MED week and celebrating -- and the crown jewel of that celebration is the participation numbers by the City of Philadelphia, leading the way, setting the example for the private sector. Where are we at with that? Are we going to have a MED week celebration and are we going to get numbers as to what our success, what our accomplishments are by way of inclusion of minority businesses and female businesses?
Yes, we are definitely moving forward with MED week. I actually had a conversation just yesterday with Barbara Oliver to find out 49 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 where we were from a fundraising standpoint, and I know they're doing a lot of work getting ready for some of the workshops that are going to take place the week of. The thing I'm focused on the most was making sure they got the information to the Mayor's Office so the Mayor would have a very strong role in the award ceremony that I believe is October 6th, that Friday night. I feel very confident. I personally sat in on one of the MED week committee meetings in September just to make sure that this didn't sneak up on us. So I feel very confident we're moving forward. It's a little bit of a scaled-back version compared to past years because of --
That's fine. Times are tough all over, and if we did it in a gymnasium, it would be okay with me. But the crown jewel of it is the numbers. Will we have participation 50 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 numbers at that meeting?
We'll have something for it. We're not exactly sure what we're finalized with, but, yeah, the answer is yes.
I anxiously anticipate MED week. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I must say I have some concern about taking what should be an administrative process and moving it to a legislative body, and I just would -- I want to go back to Councilman Jones's question and sort of go back to what the current process is today. Is there a current written administrative process for debarment?
What is it from beginning to end? 51 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
I don't have that right here in front of me. I can certainly provide that to you. However, Council does have a role, has an ability to call hearings in regards to firms that they believe are not meeting their minority --
No, I understand what the Code says. The Code is very short. The Code doesn't really provide a detailed process when you seek to debar somebody. Is there a written standard 52 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 either that existed at MBEC or exists in the Office of Economic Opportunity or exists somewhere that describes when we're going to seek debarment, what notice the people get who that's going to be, who we're considering to be debarred? In other words, have rules and regs been written with relation to the existing Code that would --
Yeah. I would offer up that -- and it's going back a few months now for me. There is a process. There is a code. It's very subjective --
That I'm not real clear about. I know that it's very subjective in nature, because when I read it a while ago --
Isn't this 53 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 why nothing has happened, because there's no clearly detailed process of when you're going to go after somebody? If they miss by this much, then we're going to have a hearing, and we're going to have a hearing at OEO and they're going to have the right to bring counsel and they're going to have the right to do this and this is what's going to happen. I mean, it seems to me that this should not become the responsibility of City Council to have hearings, weekly or biweekly, to determine whether or not a corporation is complying with the Economic Opportunity Plan that they agreed with you that they were going to do. I mean, why can't the Administration have an administrative process? I mean, are you just saying you're not capable as an administration of having your own process to go through this and to enforce the debarment rule and that the Administration essentially is saying, We can't do this, so we're going to rely on 54 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 City Council to do this, because we as an administration are not capable of writing rules and regulations and doing this within OEO? Is that essentially your testimony?
Our testimony is to say that we want to support what is currently available in the regulations and in the Code that allows Council to call hearings, conduct hearings as --
-- as a means to make a recommendation to what is now the Director of Finance, and the Finance Director, who I don't have the detail of right now, who would then have to conduct a process by which it would then --
Kevin, I 55 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 understand what the bill says. I'm asking you why the Administration feels you can't do it yourself.
Why don't you have -- if we do this, are you going to --
Councilman Green, this bill, when it becomes law, will still involve an administrative process. That process, if Council decides to intervene, would take place after Council takes action.
This legislation does not allow us to debar. It allows us to bring debarment charges.
I understand what the law does. I'm asking the Administration and the two people in charge of debarment right here for the Administration, who can't tell me exactly 56 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 what the current process is because they've never taken anybody through it and so they don't even know.
I understand. I understand, but essentially their testimony is they're not capable of putting in place a real process and enforcing this law with teeth, and so City Council is now going to have to step in and create the teeth for a law that we have on the books.
No, I disagree. I would not say that that's our testimony today. Our testimony today is that we're in support of this particular bill, which does add teeth to what is currently available and in place, and that also is we have not as -- it's on the record that there have been no debarment proceedings for a very long time, particularly within the -- there have been none in the minority inclusion aspect of this. And 57 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 so we personally have not had any experience with that. However, that should not be construed to think that we do not have a process in place. I just don't have those intimate details.
You just don't know what the process is. Did you know what this hearing was going to be about today? Are you not embarrassed that you come before City Council and don't know the process that would cause someone to be debarred such that we actually have to take the extraordinary measure of stepping in and essentially creating our own process that will, through force, shame and humiliation, require that you actually do something in your office that we've authorized you to do a long time ago? This is probably the most embarrassing thing I have seen in the 20 months I've been on City Council, is to have a City department -- and we all know that a lot of stuff is not working, but 58 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 to see a City department come before us and say, We're not capable of fixing this ourselves, so we support you stepping in and shaming us into doing our job. That's your testimony, and it's really, really embarrassing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
No problem, Councilman. Mr. Dow, if I can respond on your behalf. The Administration cannot tax people without City Council. The Administration cannot approve a budget without City Council. The Administration cannot appropriate money to Class 200 without City Council. There probably should not be a process without City Council, and so I actually welcome this opportunity. I do believe it's based upon past failures, but across the board, as long as we tax businesses, tax property owners, tax wages and take that money and actually appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions 59 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 of dollars, toward contracts, we should never step out of the process. Are there any other questions? Councilman Jones.
Mr. Chairman, thank you. Listen, this is not for me a vote of non-confidence. It's not that. It is a vote of frustration saying that we need results, that we believe that you had to deal with a recession, we understand that, get it. But as we meet the halfway mark, we have to show -- we have to have more ribbon cuttings and we have to have more firms grown through that process that can go back and employ -- I have two guys sitting in the front of my office today that were in a bad place. They could go either way, and I won't even go into the details of what those choices were, but they said to me, Councilman, is there a job for me? Councilman, is there a project I could be on or something and use my hands so that 60 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 I don't do some of the things that I do? And that's no excuse for them. Not at all. But we do have to have these economic opportunities in neighborhoods. I have too often watched contractors with New Jersey plates come and move guys off of the corner of North Philly to do the concrete work and then say, When it dries, you can stand back unemployed on that corner. If we don't do this, if you don't do this -- I told you when you first came on, this is the hardest job in the City of Philadelphia, including the Mayor's Office. So this is not a vote of non-confidence. This is a vote of let's get it done. And so welcome to our world. We support working with you. I think that's what the Chairman's piece is. But trust me when I tell you, I'm not going to listen to another budget hearing where Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown asks a department head 61 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 what is their EEO goal and they look at them with a state of bewilderment, like what goal? At least those departments better know what the expectation is, because if the Administration has one, please believe City Council has one. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I have a couple of questions about -- since we're going to become involved in the front end of this process, I have a couple of questions about how that's going to work. The investigation that Council is going to do, should we essentially appropriate money from OEO so that we can conduct investigations that we've given you a budget for? And with respect to the Inspector General, who assists in 62 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 your investigations, I assume the Administration is happy with us tasking the Inspector General to help us with the investigations on our behalf, or we can appropriate money from the Inspector General's budget to hire our own people to do the investigations that we're going to do. Because we're essentially taking over an administrative task for the Administration and we're going to become involved in the front end of the process, and we've appropriated you money for that to enforce the laws. So how do you propose that we pay for it? Should we appropriate money back from your department since you're not involved in the front end of this process?
The honest answer, I want more and more money to do more and more things. And as you appropriate more money for us to do it, we'll do a better job.
Well, you 63 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 can't do this one thing.
It's not my -- I am unable to address the transitioning or the transfers or the movement of budgets from one thing to the other. That's not my role and my accountability. So that answer -- that question I'm not comfortable in answering.
Well, I got to -- once again, I find it extremely embarrassing that we have to step in to take this process. And for me, Councilman Jones, this will be a vote of no confidence. I know that there was an economic crisis, but, frankly, the Administration has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They have to enforce the laws on the books. So thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Yes. Have you looked at the SugarHouse Casino/OEO 64 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 plan and are you satisfied with it?
We have looked at it. We are involved with it as an oversight committee there. We are -- are we happy with it? We are pleased that it's moving in the right direction.
What is the participation levels of minority and females?
It's only about percent into the project. We haven't 13 started the construction phase yet right 14 now. Those numbers are falling short 15 right now, but we've had a couple of meetings that I've personally chaired and I think we're moving in the right direction. In other words, the trend is, the numbers are getting better.
Are you at liberty to name some of the companies that have participated?
Not at this time. Not that we're not at liberty. We just don't know at this time. 65 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
Can we use that as a litmus test here on how we move forward and get the kind of participation we need?
Sure. We're as the oversight committee there. There was a conversation in previous testimony about the benefits or the pros and cons of oversights. I do think there is a benefit there. I think when you have an oversight committee on projects like that, then there's an opportunity to put everybody at the table to have the conversation, to force the dialogue around minority participation. It enforces those who are project owners in there to sit down and demonstrate what they have and have not done and demonstrate. We can celebrate success, but, more importantly, we can analyze why we are not meeting goals that we need to 66 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 meet, and then there's a dialogue among all the stakeholders at that table. And Council is included in the SugarHouse Oversight Committee and they have the opportunity to hear and understand how we are achieving -- or not "we," but they are achieving goals and objectives and then be able to input into what needs to be done to change them and move in the right direction.
It's only every now and then -- when I say "every now and then," particularly with casinos -- that we get an opportunity to bite at that apple. So we need to make the most of it.
There's Council participation on the oversight committee for the SugarHouse Casino.
Can you 67 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 please define what that means, "there's Council participation"?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a final point and a request for some information for the Chair. You mentioned that there is, other than what's in the ordinance, a written process for taking someone through the debarment within your organization; is that correct?
I would imagine there is. I mean, there's -- 68 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
You would imagine there is, but you don't know if there is?
So would you please provide the Chair with whatever existing written rules and regulations with respect to administrative procedures that would result ultimately in a debarment, or let him know that there aren't any existing.
And if there are not, can you undertake to write rules and regulations that would allow you to actually have an administrative process to enforce this within the next 30 days?
Okay. And I think you said we're going to investigate why we haven't been meeting our goals, and I think we heard at this hearing why 69 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 you're not meeting your goals. Because you don't actually enforce the law. You haven't even gone through debarment once. It's obvious why you don't need to investigate that. This hearing has uncovered that fact. Thank you.
One final question. Share with us the composition of your department and speak to professionals you have on board who have that duty, who have the responsibility of enforcement.
We have in the Office of Economic Opportunity, we have several departments, Certification, Compliance and Monitoring. And in that Compliance and Monitoring section, there is that ability to oversee, administer and conduct the administrative process for this particular process. 70 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
And you have how many professionals there that make that happen for you?
Since we're going to be more active in this process, I have a question. Bruce Crawley mentioned several different roles that happen in this process. He talked about these minority fronts. Are you aware of those minority fronts?
Not specifically, but I'm aware of the dynamic for sure. 71 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
Of the minority front. So we are aware that potentially there are folks that are doing that, are providing these fronts. How does your office monitor the participation of the fronts?
I mean, we do it a number of ways. We do it through the certification process, so that we do an analysis of the firms to determine whether or not they are indeed owned by a minority or woman or those who are disabled. In that process, hopefully we'll uncover whether or not this is a front or not.
Can you explain that process? Are we looking at dollar exchange? Are we looking at how much money in activities the firms are participating as part of the umbrella contract?
We're looking at ownership, the certification process and control. And so what does -- it could be 72 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 everything from how often -- who pays what salaries for the particular ownership, meaning that if it's a front, let's say it's a front for one individual for another individual and they're both there as officers and one individual, let's say a woman, is owner of the company and let's say her husband is also an officer of the company and that husband is in some way, shape or fashion getting the majority of the salary in some cases, that for us is a red flag for that. Now, what I would say is that that's the risk of the business that we are in in terms of economic development and the participation of minority firms. What we need to do is to make -- because that certification, if you talk to some of the stakeholders in the community about certification that we go through, is very onerous. It's very tedious. It is a roadblock in the system that needs to be corrected. And some of that -- 73 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
In that regard, do we yet have reciprocity with the state? I know we talked about this.
Let me ask you a little bit, because this is the story that I hear quite often. Do we look at payrolls around participation when folks are supposed to have minority participation?
We look at payrolls. And do we have a mechanism of flagging the minority name versus 74 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 their participation?
So for workforce inclusion, yes. So we look at certified payrolls and all of that process to determine whether or not an individual who is being listed as minority inclusion on a report from a workforce perspective is indeed a minority. There's a process for that.
And working. Do we look at are they actually participating?
Yeah, absolutely. There's a -- so we do it a number of different ways. We will hire some -- so like the cultural and commercial corridor bond program that you all previously put EOP requirements on there both for contracting and workforce. So we have a relationship with a third-party vendor that will go out on site and review all 75 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 of the payroll, all of the people on there. They count one, two, three, four who is on there versus --
We subbed that out, quote/unquote. We believe that there are third-party providers that do it better than what we do. It is a tedious process. It's a human resource focus. And so one way in which we believe we can create efficiencies for the City of Philadelphia is to farm that out to folks who have the ability to do that. So as an example, that is the biggest example that I can provide, is the bond program.
So out of the commercial corridor bond money that we've put out there, what percentage of the money are we targeted towards ensuring participation?
Well, you guys put -- Council. Excuse me. You guys. Council put in some very, very aggressive goals 76 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 there, with the intent that in order to drive participation, we put some extremely aggressive, like 60 percent aggressive. That's really aggressive and I would say today not going to be able to be achieved. However, what that does is forced us to make sure that we are paying attention to this. So we're about --
-- percent 18, 19 14 percent in regards to participation on 15 the cultural and commercial corridor 16 bond. 17
But what 18 are we investing? So, for instance, what 19 I want to know is, going back to 20 Councilman Green's point around your ability to do this, if we have 100 contracts out in the street, what percentage of that are we investing to ensure the enforcement aspect of this?
So it depends on what 77 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 type of contracts there are. What would be on monitoring contracts from workforce inclusion, my thought is that we go out and we hire a third party to do that, because that's where we don't have the resources, we don't have the expertise. We're doing that on the Youth Study Center project. We've done it on --
So how much money are we investing in enforcement for the --
It depends on the project. So that's a project-by-project basis.
Two-hundred-odd thousand dollars on the bond program. There's another 200-odd thousand on the Youth Study Center program. Again, it depends on the scale of the project, the scope of what we are looking to do, is it a scope that includes contracting and workforce monitoring or is it just 78 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 workforce. The big deal with us is workforce. That's the huge thing. So if you look at the reports from the MACCID report, the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Construction Industry Diversity, that is one of the biggest areas of recommendations for us, is to continue that monitoring process such that we get the information. It's the information gathering. Then we can hold accountable the firms that are participating. When we have ownership of projects, it's doable. When we don't have ownership of projects, then it's a negotiation.
So if you could submit to the Chair what you believe to be a comprehensive report that shows us the process of monitoring and enforcement.
Can you submit something to the Chair? I'd like to see that. 79 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Thank you very much.
Currently, how many -- thank you, Mr. Chairman. Currently, how many staff people are dedicated to this process of inclusion?
That's the Office of Economic Opportunity. That's the staff that are directly responsible for it. Everybody in the Commerce Department are accountable, including myself, all the way up to Alan Greenberger.
In the history of that department and its many name changes, that's down from, I believe, twenty --
I got that part, but with 36 people it was a difficult task. How are they doing it with 18? I mean, are there field audits?
Field audits? Again, are we talking about -- because we got two processes. We got contracting and monitoring of contracts. So it's spending of the City's money. That's where we're focused at. Then we have the workforce monitoring, which we are now beginning to get into, which is a new direction for the Office of Economic Opportunity. Field audits are conducted by third parties. That's what we're looking to do in terms of -- if we have Youth Study Center, we hired a third party to do those field audits to look at that. If we have the cultural and commercial corridor bond projects, there's over 100 projects there. We have somebody doing that for us. That's not what we want the Office of Economic Opportunity -- 81 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520
GPUAC does it for the commercial and cultural bond and the Temple Group does it for the Youth Study Center.
So could you also provide -- does that mean 100 percent of the contracts? Does that mean a sampling of the contracts, and, if so, a sampling, what percentage of the total contracts are being monitored with field audits?
It depends on -- because we have to be efficient, but if there is a $50,000 contract versus a $250,000 contract, we make a difference there. So we would be able to show you what the differences are there. So it's not 100 percent.
So what I 82 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 need provided to the Chairman -- and you don't have to do it now, but I want to know, with those people, if there's a 5 total universe of contracts of 5,000 6 contracts a year that are let by the City 7 of Philadelphia, what percentage of those 8 contracts actually get field tested, 9 meaning did this person hire the group 10 that actually went out there, and, if so, 11 what were their findings out of -- if 12 there were 5,000 total contracts and 13 there were 50 that were sampled, of that 14 50 what were the findings. 15
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to make -- I just want everybody to understand, and I think we all do, but for the record, what the Administration's inability to do this and 83 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 have processes in place will mean. What it will mean is Council, without -- I don't know how we're going to get the data to make a determination about companies or whoever, people we contract with who have agreed to certain goals, but essentially we're going to have hearings here, and those companies are going to have to come in, and it's going to be embarrassing. Some people we call in probably are doing what they're supposed to do. Some people may not be doing what they're supposed to do, but we're now going to have a very contentious public hearing process for this instead of having this handled administratively by the Administration, and I think it's a shame that this Administration -- and the Administration is saying that they are in favor of that. So go figure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Councilman. 84 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 Are there any other questions for this witness? (No response.)
Is there anyone else to testify on this bill? (No response.)
If there's no one else to testify on this bill, first let me state for the record, Mr. Dow, before you submit the debarment procedure through the Chair to the Committee, I'm going to give you a heads-up. I actually did show Councilman Green a copy of the debarment procedure for the City of Los Angeles. It's about 36 pages thick. So there are actually processes and procedures out there for debarment that work. And there's a number of different things that I researched in preparation for the hearing, in preparation for dealing with 85 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 this legislation that I will submit to the Committee after this hearing, but this is actually just the beginning of a process. We thank you for support of it, but we actually look forward to those hearings. I'm going to actually look forward to them being contentious, and the question of how we will get the information is, I intend to subpoena people. I've done that as Committee Chair before and inspected information. And I think that eventually I think Councilman Green is exactly right, that as we move forward, this should be almost purely an administrative process, but the role that we will have to play in this, I think a number of us welcome, and we thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you on it.
For the record, also I will be offering an amendment or have an amendment offered 86 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 where we will strike Section 2 of this bill that reads, "This ordinance shall take effect upon approval by the voters of the amendment to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter proposed in Resolution No. 7 090529." Essentially the purpose of that is because, as you've testified, this does not necessarily require an amendment to the Home Rule Charter, and just to put it on the record, in the context of Councilman Green's questions, part of the reason that the Administration is supportive of this is because they realize that a Charter change is something they could not be supportive of, because a Charter change would actually allow us to take over and a Charter change would allow us to continue to legislate on this issue. This instead allows us to intervene as opposed to take over. And so I'm willing to not go through with the Charter change at this point, but just move forward with the 87 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 bill. So if there's no one else to testify, we will move from our public hearing into a public meeting to consider Bill No. 090520, and the Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown on the amendment to Bill No. 090520.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Bill No. 11 090520 be amended. (Duly seconded.)
Bill No. 20 090520 is amended. The Chair now recognizes Councilwoman Brown for a motion on Bill 23 No. 090520, as amended.
I move that Bill No. 090520, as amended, be 88 9/24/09 - COMMERCE - BILL 090520 moved out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at the next scheduled session of City Council. (Duly seconded.)
Bill No. 15 090520, as amended, is reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and suspension of rules to allow the first reading at our next Council session. This concludes our public meeting. Thank you very much. (Committee on Commerce and Economic Development concluded at 2:30 p.m.) - - - 89 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on September 24, 2009, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)