Minority Business Council Minutes April 11, 2014 3:00 PM 4:30 PM Economic Development 10 th Floor Armada Hoffler Tower The regular meeting of the Virginia Beach Minority Business Council (MBC) was held at the above-mentioned time and place. Members: Ms. Carla Bailey, Chair Ms. Sheila Johnson, Vice Chair Ms. Amma Guerrier, Financial Counselor Ms. Linda Bright, Secretarial Officer Mr. Kelvin Arthur, member Mr. Harshad Barot, member Mr. Michael Lancaster, member Mr. Justo Manglicmot, member - absent Ms. Delceno Miles, member Mr. Ferdinand Perez, member - absent Ms. Francina Harrison, member Associates: Ms. Khalilah LeGrand Mr. Damen Watson Liaisons: Ms. Shannon Kane, City Council Liaison - absent Mr. Bob Dyer, City Council Liaison Ms. Jobynia Caldwell, Schools Liaison
Staff Members Present: Ms. Patricia Phillips, Director of Finance, Finance/Administration Mr. Bill Davis, Purchasing Agent, Finance/Purchasing Mr. Rod Ingram, Deputy City Attorney, City Attorney s Office Ms. Sharon Foster, Minority Business Coordinator, Finance/Purchasing Mr. Mitchell Frazier, Contracting Agent, Finance/Purchasing Mr. John McConnell, Procurement Services Coordinator, Finance/Purchasing Ms. Becky Mitchell, City of Virginia Beach, Department of Public Utilities Mr. Rich Nettleton, Design and Construction Manager, Department of Public Utilities absent Mr. Jeff Smith, SWaM Business Development Manager, Economic Development Ms. Lavera Tolentino, Minority Business Coordinator, Finance/Purchasing Ms. Ida McPherson, Director, Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity - absent Guests: See attached Minority Business Council Meeting Sign-In Sheet Recorder: Ms. Lavera Tolentino
MBC Minutes Friday, April 11, 2014 3:00pm 4:30pm Economic Development Topic Discussion Action Items Agenda Items Carla Bailey Outreach Sheila Johnson Policy Committee Kelvin Arthur 1) Call to Order, Welcome and Introductions, Review and Approval of Minutes Outreach Committee 1) Spring Event Update 2) 2014 Retreat 3) 2014/2015 Expo Policy Committee 1) SBEP Edits 1) Ms. Bailey called the meeting to order at 3:01pm Introduction of guests each guest stated their name and their business. March 14, 2014 MBC Meeting Minutes were approved. (Attachment 1) 1) Ms. Johnson shared the draft agenda for the upcoming Spring Event to be held April 17, 2014 from 1pm 4pm at the Advanced Technology Center on the Campus of Tidewater Community College. She stated the event will include a construction roundtable and she shared the names of the prime contractors scheduled to be in attendance. She also stated that there will be a moderator, Mr. Matthew Lighthart and a recorder at the Spring Event. She discussed the contents of the folders that each attendee will receive. 2) The retreat is scheduled for June 13, 2014. An informational sheet on the facilitator s services was distributed to each MBC member (attached). Ms. Johnson asked Ms. Bailey if she wanted to share any additional information about the facilitator. Ms. Bailey stated Mr. Kinslow was from Nashville and she believes he will provide some very good information to assist the MBC in moving forward and obtaining the goals of MBC. A motion was made to approve Mr. Kinslow as the retreat facilitator. The motion was approved. The retreat budget was approved in February. 3) Ms. Johnson stated that the 2014-15 MBC Expo is in the planning stages. (Outreach Committee Report Attachment 2) 1) Mr. Arthur started by thanking Mr. Davis for his assistance with the edits to the SBEP Ordinance. The edits are due to go before City Council on April 22, 2014. Mr. Arthur shared his concerns of the overall effectiveness of the plan and stated he agrees with the concerns of Data Collection and Analysis. Mr. Arthur
also stated that the 10% Resolution and the SBEP conflict each other. Other concerns include dual reporting of subcontracting, the award and expenditure data are on two different reports. He questioned if the subcontractors were being paid in a timely manner and asked where was the prompt payment clause for subcontractors. Mr. Ingram stated that the City is governed by state law and not federal law. Virginia law states prompt payment to the prime. If the issue arises where a subcontractor is not getting paid the City will provide documentation to the subcontractor to assist in pursuing legal issues. Mr. Davis stated that the prime contractor is required to pay the subcontractor within seven (7) days of the prime being paid by the owner. Mr. Barot asked if payments to the subcontractor can be made in 30 days, 60 days, etc. Mr. Davis stated the City contracts with the prime. Mr. Barot asked if there was any way that the subcontractor could get some type of cash discount. Ms. Phillips stated the prime is offered a cash discount through the City, but not the subcontractor. Ms. Bright commented on the need for businesses to have escrow accounts and mentioned payroll issues that small businesses may have. Ms. Miles commented that a form could be utilized to capture information from the subcontractors regarding payment from the prime and the form should not go to the Prime but to the City. This way if the subcontractor has not been paid the City can get involved. Mr. Ingram stated we City cannot hold payment to the Prime, but we hope to learn things to incorporate and assist with this issue. Mr. Davis stated that the mentioning of subcontractor payments could become part of a prime's good faith efforts. Ms. Harrison stated that maybe because of this issue we need to pull back the SBEP edits before going forward to City Council and consider a different type of policy to put in place. Mr. Ingram stated that he understands the desire to focus on women and minority-owned businesses. The suggestion to try a SBEP was that of Ms. McPherson and we can legally
Minority Awareness Committee Francina Harrison Minority Awareness Committee 1) Marketing and Recruitment Committee Report do a SBEP. The hope was that the SBEP would work and it has not hurt minority owned firms. Ms. Phillips asked if wording could be added to encourage participation of minority and women-owned business. Mr. Arthur asked if the word small could be removed. Mr. Ingram stated we cannot remove small, but we can insert aspiration goals in the edits. Ms. Miles stated that the mayor was very clear in his message last month. Ms. Phillips stated we must make sure the primes are on board. Ms. Caldwell stated language is very important and does matter. We must say what we mean out loud so it does not get lost in the big picture. (Attachment 3). At this point, Ms. Bailey asked the members for feedback on the Merriwether and Williams presentation. The members agreed that the information provided was outstanding. Ms. Bailey stated that part of the job of the MBC is to make recommendations. She assigned the Policy Committee with coming up with a recommendation to present to City Council to have a bonding program similar to the one presented by Merriwether and Williams. 1) Ms. Harrison stated that MAC has added Serving Small, Woman & Minority Businesses in Virginia Beach, VA under the MBC logo. Ms. Harrison reviewed the attached MAC Awareness Report, which contains information on the Social Media Exposure, MAC Event Awareness Activities and Action Items for MAC completion in 2014. (Attachment 4). Ms. Harrison stated the MBC has gone global and she encouraged the MBC members to continue to ask business friends and others to like the MBC on Facebook. A press release was completed for the April Spring event and is waiting to be approved. The next MAC meeting will be on May 15 th the 3 rd Thursday of the month. Ms. Bailey asked Ms. Phillips about the upcoming MBC website. Ms. Phillips stated that she is looking into the MBC having a separate website at an estimated cost of $7500 a year. This will help promote the MBC and she asked the MBC members to start thinking about content for the site. Mr. Davis stated the website would
Data Collection and Analysis Amma Guerrier Data Collection and Analysis 1) SBEP Reporting 2) Report Consistency be managed by ComIT and ComIT will work with MBC and City Staff to understand the content on the site. Ms. Harrison stated that would be a great direction to go in. Ms. Guerrier stated that ComIT is the same group that manages Economic Development s site and with their capabilities it should be a great site. Ms. Miles asked Ms. Caldwell if the schools had someone to manage their site and site content, if so maybe there could be some collaboration with the schools. Ms. Caldwell stated she would check into it. Ms. Harrison stated this would help the image of the MBC and she stated that maybe there could be some sort of apps. Ms. Miles commented that all content had to be funneled through the City Attorney s office and Mr. Ingram agreed. 1) Ms. Guerrier asked Ms. Foster to review and explain the SBEP Supplemental Details (report attached). Ms. Foster explained the numbers and supplied detailed information regarding the methodology used in capturing the data on the report. Ms. Guerrier emphasized the section titled Subcontract Awarded (commitment totals) and stated that the SBEP was designed to capture minority and woman owned businesses. The intent was good, but this plan has us off track. Based on the information in this report we would like to go back to focusing on women and minority-owned businesses. 2) Ms. Guerrier stated that the committee would like to see some consistency in the Semi-Annual and Annual reports. Ms. Bailey asked if the small owned businesses could be removed from the report. Ms. Bailey said it would be easier to just report on the participation of minority and women-owned businesses. Ms. Miles stated that there is no traction on the first tier and we should refocus to make sure women and minorities are not being overlooked. We have to be careful as to not open ourselves up to criticism and we must not create unintentional barriers. Ms. Phillips stated that maybe the use of a chart similar to the chart in the Annual Report could be included in the SBEP report. Mr.
Other Business Carla Bailey Liaison Reports Carla Bailey 3) Tracking System Software 4) Joint-Venture & Teaming Arrangements Other Business 1) Staff Report (Sharon Foster) 2) Economic Development Overview - (Jeff Smith) 3) Virginia Beach Development Authority (Linda Bright) 4) Other Business Liaison Reports 1) City Council (Councilmember Bob Dyer) (Councilmember Shannon Kane) Arthur asked if the chart could only be used in the Annual Report. Ms. Phillips said a chart of some sort could possibly be added. Ms. Phillips and Mr. Davis will look into enhanced reporting features by reviewing reports of other reporting agencies, like Old Dominion University. Ms. Miles asked if the funds were approved for a new tracking system. Ms. Phillips replied it was not approved. 3) Ms. Guerrier stated that UCI projects and City projects need to be on separate reports. In having separate reports the MBC would be able to clearly see if the initiatives set forth are working. The report from the Virginia Beach Schools was very informative and detailed. The software used by the schools could serve as a model for us in developing our tracking software. 4) Ms. Guerrier stated that joint ventures should be encouraged between primes and subs. This could have a positive impact on the numbers. (Data Collection and Analysis Committee Report - Attachment 5) 1) Ms. Foster reviewed the attached Staff Report, regarding bids received and project award data. (Attachment 6) 2) Mr. Smith stated that the second workshop of the Small Business Workshop Series will be held on May 14, 2014 the workshop title is Social Media for Small Businesses and it will be held at the Advanced Technology Center. He also stated that he needed the names of the MBC members that will be participating in the golf tournament. 3) Ms. Bright announced the yard sale at the Cavalier this weekend. 4) At this point, Ms. Bailey appointed Mr. Perez and Mr. Manglicmot to the Nominating Committee. Ms. Bailey stated that a letter would be sent to the City Council regarding a disparity study. She asked Ms. Phillips when would it be a good time to follow up on the letter; Ms. Phillips stated that Councilmember Dyer would be able to address that question. 1) Councilmember Dyer congratulated Ms. Bailey, Ms. Bright and Ms. Guerrier on their reappointments to the Minority Business Council. Councilmember Dyer stated that he
Time and Date of Next Meeting: Adjournment 2) School Board (Ms. Jobynia Caldwell) Friday, May 9, 2014 The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm. will make a recommendation to City Council to meet with the MBC after the retreat. He stated that a disparity study would be a tough sell and it may not get done right away especially with the many problems, such as health care and the pressures the City is facing with it. In the meantime other options should be considered and presented to City Council. Councilmember Dyer also suggested that we look at what other groups are doing and we meet with them before we reinvent the wheel. He suggested looking at the root causes and to see what programs are available to help small business growth. He stated that various strategies and options should be looked into. The presentation by Merriwether & Williams was very impressive. Ms. Miles asked if this was something we could dual track and look at creative ways to finance the study possibly with the schools and other cities. Councilmember Dyer stated that there should be an organized plan and that if the Process Improvement Tasks Force can get some preliminary data to help back the need for a study. He stated that the Process Improvement Tasks Force meeting is the last Wednesday of the month. 2) Ms. Caldwell discussed the SWaM Business FY13 report, dated March 27, 2014. The report was distributed to the members of the MBC and was prepared for the schools by a third party vendor at a cost of approximately $20,000. The report is produced once a year from data collected from three different systems. Information regarding the SWaM participation in the construction of Kellam High School was also discussed and distributed. (Attachment 7)