For Immediate Release

          Contact:  Bob Hume   

April 18^th, 2007   

                       bob.hume@stpaul.gov

651-266-8518

651-247-0768  

Mayor Coleman and Saint Paul City Council Grant Authorization to Proceed

with Review and Performance Audit of City’s Economic Inclusion Efforts

(Saint Paul) – The Saint Paul City Council passed a resolution today authorizing City officials to execute a contract with Hall Legal, S.C. to conduct a comprehensive review and audit of the City’s efforts related to inclusiveness in City economic opportunities.  

The resolution marks the official beginning of a collaborative effort on the part of the Coleman Administration, the City Council and the Equal Access Working Group to review the City’s administrative application of federal, state and local laws designed to maximize the inclusion of women, minorities and people with disabilities in City funded construction projects, contract procurement, developer selection, program services and initiatives.  Funding for the project has been provided through grants from the Saint Paul Foundation and the Bremer Foundation as well as the City of Saint Paul.

“This audit is an important step toward strengthening our culture of inclusiveness in Saint Paul,” said Mayor Coleman.  “The results of this project, along with those of the disparities study will give us new insight into city processes and provide tools to help us better capitalize on the diverse talents of our local workforce.”

The Equal Access Working Group, a coalition of organizations that advocate for increased opportunities for women, minorities and people with disabilities, spearheaded the effort to engage the City in performing an audit.  They have long promoted the necessity of reviewing the city’s practices as a means to opening the city’s economic opportunities to a wider base.

Cliffton Boyd of the local chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors and a member of the Equal Access Working Group said, “This audit will not be a namby-pamby overview of the city’s process, but a very complete examination of how the City has sought to engage minority contractors on all of its projects.”

Julia Grantham, Vice President of the Community Stabilization Project, also believes that an audit and its recommendations will help the City reach important diversity goals, particularly as they relate to projects such as the University corridor light rail redevelopment.  “The City needs to ensure local jobs for people who live along the corridor,” she said.  “The audit will help the City improve their implementation of programs such as Federal Section 3, which mandates making a good faith effort to hire from a direct project area.  We need the City to do better—and that is what the audit is all about—doing better.”

City Council President Kathy Lantry praised the persistence of the Equal Access Working Group and thanked the project’s funders.  “This project has been in the works for a long time, but we are confident that the time and thought devoted to crafting this review and audit will yield important information for the City.  We are grateful to the Saint Paul Foundation and the Bremer Foundation for their generosity in support of this effort.”

Hall Legal, S.C. is a law firm based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with a practice that emphasizes civil rights and equal opportunity in employment, housing, education and contracting matters.  The firm was selected by the city to complete the audit with the recommendation of the Equal Access Working Group.

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