HomeMy WebLinkAboutIPC Board Meeting Minutes 2.5.24Inclusive Procurement and Contracting Board
Meeting Minutes
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Date: February 5th, 2024 | Time: 5:30 pm | Location: Microsoft Teams (Virtual) &
TRC 1165 Franklin Street, Suite 100, South Bend, IN 46601
Link: https://tinyurl.com/ipcboardmeeting
❖ Call to Order- The IPC Board Committee is now called to order on February 5th,
2024, @ 5:30 p.m.
• COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Keana Baylis, Jeff Rea, Murray Miller, Wilbur
Boggs, Cynthia Simmons, Michael Morris
• COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT VIRTUALLY: Michael Morris
• DIVERSITY & INCLUSION: Darius Lipsey, Bianca Jones
• PURCHASING:
• LEGAL: Michael Schmidt
❖ COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Breanna Allen, Rachel Tomas Morgan, Kara
Boyles,
❖ Approval of Minutes: December 5th, 2023, Minutes were revised, reviewed,
and approved. January 9th, 2023 Minutes were approved.
Notes & Action Items
President Keana Baylis - Addressed the ODI Department on behalf of the board stating that,
Her biggest concern was at the end of the year she was badly confused and empty and we are
starting the year the same way. They do not know anything until everything is done. They do not
want to spend another month with things not getting out on time and do not want this to continue
to be an issue. She feels like they are behind because she does not know what was going on last
year. She did not understand why there is always an issue with DPW Report and Procurement
Reports timely submission. Agreed with Jeff Rea that we should do a poll about moving the
meetings from the first Tuesday of every month. According to what she heard from nameless
individuals in Public Works the information is provided a week before the IPC Board requires.
Concerned about the issue of the meeting notice not being published in a timely manner which
caused confusion about if the meeting was going to happen. Stated we had 2 or 3 meetings out of
12 last year and we are way behind.
Cynthia Simmons-Taylor – Started her response stating the words used were, “we ended the
year badly, confused, and empty”. She believes the meetings that we had were clear. The board
received reports from purchasing and Darius. She is unclear what is causing the confusion. She
stated regarding the confusion that in the emails that we submitted the meeting notices in time.
We sent notices for all of the 2024 meetings. Because there was a change in the Clerk’s office,
the new Clerk did not realize this and when she found the information she came back and
acknowledged that they do have the notices. She stated she instructed Bianca to not wait for
Darius’ report because he must wait on purchasing, send out the meeting notice and agenda. She
stated she is unclear where she got her information from regarding the public works report being
out a week ago, as Darius received it Friday. The numbers are skewed if the board meets the first
Tuesday of the month. She then questions if the first Tuesday of the month is the best time to
meet. She addressed emails are not being received because we have a technical issue that is not
allowing us to put the IPC Board in a group. The work around is we will type the board members
names individually. She stated that she thinks we are doing a great job. The MBE spend is on a
100% increase. Her team has been working very diligently and if you look in your packet you
will see that Bianca is putting together the MWBE Workshop to assist in increasing our capacity,
because we realized we will have to grow them. If at any time you have questions about
anything, please call. We have identified that out of 80 “self-reporting” agencies 22 of them are
certified and that will increase our certified spend.
Darius Lipsey – State he wanted to clarify that the BPW reports are completely separate from
the reports that are generated and presented to the IPC Board. There is some information on there
from the BPW but not a direct correlation.
Jeff Rea – Stated that what we the team may be feeling is 5 years of frustration and lack of
ownership from anybody in the city and that is not fair to Cynthia. He stated that he doesn’t feel
like their time is spent very well because we end up spending a lot of time talking about emails
and meeting notices and very little about how we get more minority contractors. We spend a lot
of time about certified or non-certified and honestly, we walk away from the meetings feeling
like we wasted another couple of hours of our lives that we are not going to get back and do we
really move the needle. He stated he has written his resignation 9000 times for this board
because he does not want to be part of an entity that wastes his time and not move the needle.
He goes on to say that sometimes he is hopeful that we are moving in the right direction and
what they want to give us grace. However, it seems that the city often isn’t on the same page.
Our hope is that under this new leadership that this becomes a meaningful use of our time.
Michael Morris – Stated that the frustration is culpable. But his vantage point, we do spend a lot
of time on stuff that doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with why we are here. A different way of
looking at why we are here is to make you as successful as possible at your job and so we don’t
feel used or productive. If you came to us and said my strategic vision are these 3 things in a 12-
month calendar year that I would like the board to tackle and contribute to.
Simmons-Taylor – Stated that our goal is to increase the capacity and make sure we have a
good number of companies that are certified. We are really starting what has been in play for 5
years at ground level. We are very transparent and will own up to it if we mess up but if a
situation is out of our control, we will let you know that as well.
Murray Miller – Stated he doesn’t think you can send blanket meeting notices out at the
beginning of the year to satisfy the entire year. Statute states it has to be 48 hours prior to the
meeting.
Simmons-Taylor – Stated that the clerk requested 72 hours.
Micheal Schmidt – Stated going back to BPW experience, all meetings are set in advance and
that is what her team tried to do here that establishes minimum of providing notice. There was an
unfortunate degree of chaos that occurred which was not necessary because it was about trying to
update the agenda and documents associated with the meeting and wires got crossed.
Miller- Stated he received notices 48 hours prior to the other board meetings and the notices we
not on the IPC Board site.
Schmidt – Stated the new Clerk verified the notices were sent out but he is not sure where they
are posted.
I. Diversity and Inclusion:
Bianca Jones- Stated MWBE Certification first cohort will be on March 6TH, the would
be conducted by herself and Ronalda Minnis. She has been assisting in the development
of the framework for the workshop. The reason for this workshop is because, as Cynthia
said, of the 80 businesses that were self-reporting, we found 22 that are certified so those
other 60 businesses we will reach out to and inform them of this option.
Simmons-Taylo – Stated our goal is not to get the certified and drop them off, we are
looking to follow up and identify where we can further assist. We will look to Dr. Morris’
program to possibly feed that pipeline as well. We do have the B-Suite back in ODI and
this team will be hands on. Darius is getting calls from Primes, even some outside of our
area looking to do work in our area, asking him to provide a list of MWBEs. We attend
NIBMA meetings to assist with spreading the word.
Wilbur Boggs – Stated this is an opportunity to thank you for this first step. This is the
first time I have seen a workshop and the paperwork on what you are going to do to get
there. To him that is a first step. This is something he hasn’t seen. Maybe other people
have but it’s a first time for me to see something laid out.
Rae - Stated he is trying to understand is it that the more of these the better? Does this fill
a need in the community? As we are focusing our efforts long term and utilizing our
community partners? He goes on to say he has been a critic of this group trying to
recreate the wheel.
Simmons-Taylor – Stated no we are not the only people doing it but we have to assess
where they are. Utilizing resources and what is already in place is very valuable. We are
not trying to do it all ourselves.
Rea- Stated they rarely got the tale end of reporting. We would love to close the loop.
Jones - Stated that it’s not just about what we did and how successful it was. We often
don’t close the loop. Once we get people through certification how can we go to the
engineering department and say are there any small projects that we can put these
individuals into. When reading through the previous administration strategic plan
certification was a part of that. Because I am newer, I am still meeting people and
shaking hands, but I will not stand idle.
Morris – Stated his suggestion was going to Parks and Recreation. There must be several
events and things they do every year. He stated he met with the Director of Procurement
with Notre Dame, and he doesn’t know if they have a great historical record of
contracting with minorities. I met with the two of them and I mentioned the city and they
are very keen to meet with you all and to see things like the certification workshop. They
would be interested in people going to that too. Maybe there are other things you can do
in collaboration.
Baylis – How do people benefit from the B-Suite? Are you all keeping the same coaches
as before?
Simmons-Taylor – We are expanding that. We don’t believe coaching should come from
one place and there are other entities that will present results as well, but we are still
working with IMPower.
II. Public Works/ Procurement:
o Darius Lipsey presented the DPW report.
III. Purchasing:
o Procurement Report
IV. Old Business
o
V. New Business
o NONE
VI. Announcements
o
VII. Floor Open to the Public
o None
VIII. Adjournment- Vote
Notes & Action Items
Send out Poll to members for meeting change