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will count toward s our goals. We have found that those certified businesses that can do <br />business with the city in those areas are far and f ew in bet ween and we don’t currently <br />have access to the NMSDC list because Mid -States only covers Indiana, Illinois and <br />Missouri. We would need memberships to cover both states. <br />Miller questioned I DOAs reciprocity and I NDOT being a certified agency in Michigan. <br />Minnis stated that INDOT is DBE only and the current program plan does not track DBE <br />participation. She referred to the IDOA document being displayed to show which stated <br />have reciprocity and MI was not on the list . <br />Rea stated that since it seems our plan is no longer relevant because the counties that we <br />serve aren’t counties that we include, why don’t we amend the service area and nix <br />Berrien County and t ighten up the counties. He continued that this goes back to his point <br />that Evansville company could qualify but a Niles contractor could n’t and that really <br />doesn’t make sense. Simmons-Taylor agreed that its time to make some changes to clean <br />up the gray areas, loophole, definitions, and items lef t up to interpretation. <br />Tomas -Morgan stated that this is a work in progress. Miller stated that the program plan <br />does not change the ordinance, and the Berrien County is listed . Rea questioned if we <br />need to do a new disparity study to have this amended . Simmons-Taylor stated that <br />Mayor agreed to do a new disparity study because our data is from 2015-2019 data. <br />Tomas -Morgan stated the consultant said we need to do one every 5 years. Rea <br />questioned how long this takes. Schmid t stated that it is a mult i-mont h process for a new <br />study to be completed and we cannot remove Berrien County arbitrarily . <br />Baylis asks when the process can begin . Simmons-Taylor stated when the mayor gives <br />the greenlight . He said 2025 but no date has been said. Tomas -Morgan stated that for the <br />first half of the year we should really push businesses to become cert if ied. <br />Baylis touched on the non-certif ied number and the possibility of putting a cap on how <br />much we spend with a non-certified business. Simmons-Taylor stated that she softly <br />suggested that she has sof tly suggested to these businesses t hat they become certif ied but <br />that’s as far as she can go. <br />Allen stated that she is in favor of allocating more time to figuring out how to update the <br />ordinance and the program plan. It would be more useful for the time we spend than to <br />keep talking about some of the same items. It has been helpful to hear some of the <br />limitation that are unfolding and she is sure many of t hem had no idea these existed . <br />Being at the forefront of making amendments and adjust ments allows for us to dig a little <br />deeper and understand step 1 moving forward. She thinks this can also allow us to <br />eloquently speak and critically think about the goals and processes. <br /> <br />Discussion continued on review ing the current program plan and how to amend it . <br /> <br />Jones stated that she heard the requests from modifications to the current Procurement <br />report and w ill work with D avid to make changes. <br /> <br />II. DPW: <br />Simmons-Taylor Presented the November DPW report. Ther were 3 awarded projects <br />one with goals and 2 without . City Hall Renovation was awarded to Larson Danielson