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6. NEW BUSINESS (Continued) a. (Continued) Mr. Wiggins: How big an area does this cover -- and how do these rates compare with the . . . or, how are they obtained? Is this an average of what is being paid in the area? Mr. Robinson: Not an average, it is a survey conducted by the Division of Labor. There is also a survey conducted by HUD and we just got through having one of those surveys here on multi- family dwelling and the residential field here. After extensive research and a heck of a lot of leg work by a few of us, we proved that at that time, HUD came in here and we got a fast shuffle and we proved we were doing the majority of the work. Evidently since we proved it and got the Davis -Bacon rates es- tablished again - prevailing in our area and St. Joseph County, to me they are now trying to come back at us again from another angle. You bet I'm against it, because I represent a lot of people that for years and years and years have fought like crazy to get rates up so they could enjoy a standard of living to be equal to the average citizen in the community, and now they are trying to do something else and I am against it, period. I realize maybe you're not supposed to show partiality in your job, but we are all human and I sure do. Ok? The Chair recognized Keith Crighton who wished to respond to the above. Mr. Crighton: We are not attempting to effect multi - family con- struction or rehab, we are not attempting to effect construction of new units. The fact is, this is the only section in all the federally - funded programs in which prevailing rates do not apply. This would be the rehab of single family units. It does not amount to . . . for this year my budget will amount to about $450,000 in this area that will be affected. This is hardly a substantial portion of the construction that goes on in this area. Our participation of organized labor in our contracts has been between 25 -30% in the past six years, whether we had a prevailing rate or not. It made no difference, we had organized labor in our programs. Many of our sub - contractors have used organized labor, but we have never had an increase or decrease whether we use the prevailing rate or not. Mr. Wiggins: How would this operate in respect to Mr. Alford's office? Would he be out of the picture in terms of this type contract Keith? Mr. Crighton: Only in part Commissioner. We would still retain the affirmative action monitoring, employment standards, working conditions, and that sort of thing. It is the money end of it that we are primarily concerned with here. It will reduce the contractor paper work by about 50 %. Mr. Butler: Keith, when is the other program, the block bidding by individuals for each item, when is that going to start?