09-29-14 MBE/WBE - Laserfiche WebLink

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DIVERSITY UTILIZATION BOARD /DUB SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 5:30 P.M. Board Present: James Summers, Carrie Kosac, Kareemah Fowler, Sam Centellas, Cherri Peate, Mandy Gallagher, George King Public Present: Shirley Gaston, Joe Shabazz, John Sanders, Don Chambers With a quorum present, President James Summers asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes of the September 15th meeting of the DUB. Upon proper motions by Carrie Kosac and Kareemah Fowler the minutes were approved without objection. President Summers asked for discussion about the main items from the last meeting. Carrie recounted a general consensus that they should proceed with board training internally relying upon city resources to develop a curriculum. The training would include a history of the ordinance, protocols to be developed to access city business, and parliamentary procedure. George King then introduced Mandy Gallagher the new Diversity Compliance Officer, adding her background as a good fit for administrative responsibilities. Those responsibilities would include developing key indicators to measure success of the Board's mission. She would keep a list of MBE /WBE businesses current while providing them help with registration and certification At the suggestion of Carrie Kosac the Diversity Compliance Officer would also develop benchmarks drawn from best practices in other governmental units. What to do about board member absenteeism from meetings was discussed next. Mr. Summers felt those with a pattern of non - attendance should be called to see if they still wanted to serve. Clerk John Voorde said three board members fell into that category and he would make the calls. Mr. Summers reminded all that the board needs to work on finding ways to increase the number of MBE /WBE businesses and to help them through certification while getting them some work prior to certification. Carrie agreed saying the previous board had talked about the same things, along lines of creating a Local Business Enterprise (LBE) category, which could qualify them for city work prior to certification. Mr. Summers asked the Diversity Compliance Officer to provide a progress report to open future DUB meetings. ork together reviewing the current ordinance for suggested Sam Centellas and Carrie Kosac agreed to w improvements in language and focus. John Voorde suggested a letter to the Administration, copied to the Council, be drafted expressing concern that the Diversity Compliance Officer hours per week in 2015 is to be funded at only 18, down from the current 30. The board agreed and Mr. Summers said he would have it by Friday, October 3`a Opening to comments from the public, James Summers recognized Joe Shabazz. Mr. Shabazz indicated the long standing need for a Diversity Utilization Plan called for in the ordinance. He expressed frustration with the apparent lack of progress in achieving the ordinance's purpose. 1