CITY OF LOCKPORT: Council OKs policy to encourage hiring locals first

By Joyce Miles<br><a href="mailto:milesj@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Joyce</a>

The Common Council on Wednesday adopted a local law setting a 30-percent local hiring target for city aid recipients and contractors.

The “first source hiring and local business enterprise policy” sets a minimum 30 percent local hiring goal for contractors on city jobs worth more than $50,000, as well as developers who receive a city grant or loan, tax abatement or deferral, bond issue and/or infrastructure improvements worth more than $50,000.

“Local” means Niagara County-based and covers both job-seeking county residents and county-based businesses.

Of city-aided developers, the policy says they should hire at least 30 percent local contractors; their contractors should enforce the policy with subcontractors; and should also put local businesses first when awarding service, supply and small construction contracts.

Of contractors hired to complete city projects — construction of a new parking ramp, for example — the policy says they should strive to have 30 percent of all work hours in each trade performed by local residents. The policy directs prime contractors to enforce the hiring goal with subcontractors and asks that at least 30 percent of subcontracts go to local businesses.

Thirty-percent local is not a do-or-die requirement, however. The phrase “good faith efforts” is repeated throughout the nine-page policy; if developers and contractors can demonstrate they tried to meet the goal, they will be in compliance. The policy lists various ways good-faith effort can be demonstrated, from advertising “help wanted” to giving pre-bid technical assistance to small businesses that might try to bid on a contract, to counseling local businesses on their bids and helping them obtain bonding and insurance.

Enforcement is left to “city staff,” who will have the right to ask developers and contractors for employee information and other proof they’re in compliance or tried to be. If a dispute breaks out about compliance and good faith, the law gives the city the right to seek an outside ruling on who is right; to terminate contracts, suspend construction permits or blacklist a contractor/developer by declaring it ineligible for city work/aid for up to three years.

Compliance monitoring is to be done by the engineering department. Director of Engineering Norman Allen has past experience with enforcement, Mayor Michael Tucker said.

Local hiring-first policy has been pushed by the Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope, a group of Lockport- and western Niagara County-based churches, for more than one year. The Town of Wheatfield and the City of North Tonawanda previously adopted similar policies.

In other business Wednesday, the Council:

n Adopted the 2009 general, water and sewer budgets. The general budget will be financed partly from a property tax rate of $15.67 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s 2 cents less per thousand than this year’s rate. The tax rate remains tentative pending the outcome of several ongoing assessment lawsuits, Budget Director Richard Mullaney said.

n Authorized a settlement agreement with the state Department of Environmental Conservation to release the city’s liability for cleanup costs at the former Frontier Chemical Royal Avenue waste dump. The dump is subject to cleanup now, and DEC previously identified 5,000 parties, including the City of Lockport, as potentially responsible for contamination. DEC determined Lockport’s contribution would have been minimal and offered to drop it from a cleanup cost recovery lawsuit — if the city agrees to pay an $2,000 administrative fee. City Attorney John Ottaviano advised it’s better to do that than contest liability; hiring an environmental attorney to disprove DEC’s allegation would cost more, he said. More than 1,760 other alleged small polluters have been offered the same terms.

n Authorized preparation of bid specifications for a “City Wide Camera System.” It’s not what it sounds like, Tucker said. The city is shopping for a camera system to erect over chemical production facilities in Lowertown; the cost would be covered by a U.S. Homeland Security grant.

Contact reporter Joyce Miles at 439-9222, ext. 6245.

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