by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The City’s former chief operating officer said City Hall “needs to go out on a limb” to give disadvantaged contractors a fair shot at public projects.
As chief administrator of Jacksonville’s $2.5 billion Better Jacksonville Plan, Sam Mousa allocated hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for construction projects like the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and the new Veterans Memorial Arena. Despite set goals for minority participation on public projects, Mousa told a mayoral committee Wednesday that City dollars continued to elude small and disadvantaged contractors.
To turn that trend around, Mousa said the City should stay away from quotas for minority participation. Instead, the City should clear obstacles for all small businesses and take responsibility for their performance.
The City should back the small contractors with area banks, he said, allowing them to secure start-up capital from low-interest loans.
“The City could cut a deal with banks to provide some working capital for those businesses,” said Mousa. “The banks know if there’s a City contract, it’s got big money behind it. They’d be willing to loan to contractors at minimum interest rates.”
Mousa also recommended the City waive bid bonds — money contractors pay to guarantee their price estimates. The upfront cost is often prohibitive for small contractors, said Mousa.
The criteria used by the City to define small businesses was too wide, Mousa said. The City defines small businesses as those whose principles’ have a net worth under $750,000, excluding their house and business. That pool was too deep, he said, putting large and small contractors in competition for the same jobs.
“You’re not going to disqualify too many people using that criteria,” said Mousa. “I hardly know anybody who would be disqualified when you allow them to discount their house and business. The limit should be $300 to $400,000, including their assets and their home.”
Paying small contractors twice a month instead of once, would provide needed working capital, he said.
Mousa spoke as a representative of the private sector. Mousa resigned from Peyton’s staff last year to work for J.B. Coxwell, one of Jacksonville’s largest contractors. Mousa said large contractors objected to being put in supervisory roles for the small contractors. If putting more small businesses to work was really a City priority, then City Hall should take responsibility for its policies, he said.
“Right now the way it’s set up, the large contractors take all the risks for making sure these policies are followed. We don’t think it’s fair that a piece of the majority contractors’ job goes to certifying and mentoring minority contracting. We have our own day-to-day problems.”
Mousa prefaced most of his references to the City’s program with “race-neutral.” Mousa endorsed Mayor John Peyton’s policy to keep race and gender out of the program.
Mousa oversaw quota–based programs while serving under former mayor John Delaney. He said the set aside work was often more than the minority community could deliver.
“If a bid package sets aside 19 percent of a $14 to $16 million contract for minorities, I’m not quite sure whether there’s $3.2 million worth of minority subcontractors on the streets.
“If the City says they do know, that’s wonderful. I’m betting they don’t. The work ends up going to brokers and shell games. It doesn’t go to minorities,” said Mousa.
Minority contractors have said throughout Peyton’s evaluation of the program that quotas are the only reliable way to ensure participation in City contracts. Jackie Brown, president of the African–American Contractors Association, told the committee that a race-neutral policy would leave minority contractors on the sidelines.
“We’re 30 percent of the population; we’re getting 1 percent of the work. Race neutral suggests a level playing field, but blacks can’t get public work,” said Brown.