The companies that built Church Street Plaza could be fined $157,000 for not contracting with enough businesses owned by women, minorities or Evanston residents as city law requires, said Dick Peach, chairman of the city’s Minority/Women/Evanston-owned Business Enterprise Advisory Committee.
Contractors participating in the Church Street Plaza redevelopment program — a project consisting of the Maple Street Parking Garage, the Main Street Pavilion, the Hilton Garden Inn, McDougal Littell Publishing and the Optima Views Condominium — were required to have 25 percent minority-owned, female-owned or Evanston-resident-owned business participation in their projects.
Businesses can be hired either as contractors or suppliers. According to an audit brought before Evanston’s Administration and Public Works Committee Monday, the participation rate was 12.3 percent.
Since 1997, Evanston has set this participation goal for all contracts of $15,000 or more. This was the first big development project that could be audited, Peach said. He said the results were “incredibly disappointing.”
“We had hoped for 19, 20 percent,” he said. “In a perfect world 25 percent would be wonderful. I intend to be a little more realistic with these things and understand that can be hard to do.”
The audit will eventually go to Evanston City Council, which will decide whether to fine the contractors. Peach said he hopes City Council will impose the fine to set a precedent for future contractors.
“If I can’t fine them then they won’t pay attention,” he said. “If we don’t provide some type of penalty for non-compliance, there really isn’t any reason to comply.”
The contractors could not be reached for comment.
For the individual companies involved in the project, participation rates ranged between 7.25 percent and 19 percent. A memo attached to the audit said future audits should increase transparency and openness between contractors and city officials. It recommends having the city’s Business Development Coordinator inspect compliance on-site. It also suggests contractors send all contracts and orders to the city to keep the city informed.
The Sherman Plaza condo and retail project, which is still under way, will be much easier to audit than the Church Street Plaza project, mainly because individual stores and buildings can be individually assessed, Peach said.
“We can interact quicker (with Sherman Plaza),” he said. “With the (Church Street Plaza project) we had to wait until the whole plaza was finished all the pieces were done before we could get a real look at the audit.”
Currently the Sherman Plaza project has a 40 percent compliance rate, although Peach said only its parking garage has been completed. He emphasized the importance of carefully monitoring contractors’ compliance.
“If nobody watches them then nobody’s going to do anything,” he said. “They’re going to comply with only as much as they absolutely have to.”
Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].
