Sec. 35-111. - Equal opportunity policy.

(a)

Policy. The city shall continue to assure that just and equal treatment is given to all its employees and applicants for city employment and regarding all areas of employment practices, including but not limited to, recruitment, employment, economic assistance to persons and businesses through loans and grants, contracts for all professions, and in all city contracts for the purchase of goods, services and equipment, construction contracts, and in all city personnel matters involving compensation, dismissal, training, layoff, reinstatement, discipline and promotion.

(b)

Goals. The city government in carrying out its responsibilities and in the conduct of its affairs, shall endeavor to prevent and eliminate any and all discrimination in any action by the city government itself, or by its agents, boards, commissions, and other authorized entities on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or economic status, or handicap or other disability. The city policy may include actions to assist disadvantaged persons who have been actual victims of discriminatory practices or whose ability to compete in the free enterprise system has been impaired due to diminished opportunities resulting from past discrimination or neglect and may include identifying demographic subgroups of disadvantaged individuals by race or ethnic origin whenever current local statistics confirm the existence of unemployment rates among any of such subgroups that are more than 50 percent above the prevailing state-wide unemployment rate, in order that the city may attempt to assist those disadvantaged individuals who are chronically unemployed.

The city shall establish an active policy of encouraging, soliciting and assisting new, small and local businesses, including those of economically disadvantaged individuals, in obtaining employment and in conducting business with the city, its agents and corporations created by the city for public purposes. The city shall establish goals deemed appropriate and sustainable and constituting percentages of the total dollar amount of contracts for businesses in the categories of construction contracts, professional service contracts, and contracts for the purchase of goods and services and of materials, supplies and equipment. Periodic reports shall be submitted to the office of equal opportunity contract compliance in order to maintain current statistics regarding the composition of the work force and of the businesses operating in various industries in which the city conducts business. The office shall maintain current data to determine the number and extent of participation, or of any disparity in participation, in employment and business opportunities of disadvantaged individuals and disadvantaged businesses qualified to work or do business in different industries.

(c)

Office of equal opportunity compliance. As such reports are developed, they shall be submitted to the office of equal opportunity contract compliance, pursuant to sections 35-112 through 35-114, not less than every six months detailing the results of city efforts to increase purchases of services, professional services, construction contracts, loans and grants, and the extent of participation in city contracts and employment opportunities by economically disadvantaged individuals. The office may develop such forms and reporting systems as it deems necessary and as approved by the administrative board.

(Code 1968, § 20-39; Ord. No. 92-053(sub 1), § 3(d), 7-2-92; Ord. No. 00-121, § 1, 11-16-00)

Sec. 35-112. - Office of equal opportunity contract compliance.

(a)

The office of equal opportunity contract compliance in the commerce department shall be responsible for collection of data regarding contracts awarded to all construction contractors and purchasing contractors as to their equal employment status and experience in hiring disadvantaged individuals and in subcontracting regarding disadvantaged businesses. In so doing, the office may utilize questionnaires for collecting relevant information from such contractors, including documentation of efforts by those contractors to involve disadvantaged businesses, and, if no such efforts were made, why they were not. The office shall also maintain data concerning all disadvantaged businesses which conduct business with the city.

(b)

The office shall receive monthly reports from the departments of city government regarding professional service contracts with and purchase of services by the departments, which information shall be reported in summaries by the office to the city council and the mayor every six months.

(c)

The office shall also compile and adopt the data base of disadvantaged businesses and the ex-tent of participation in city contracts as developed by the city since 1981 and maintain that data hereinafter, in order to determine on an ongoing basis the number of disadvantaged businesses in different industries, the extent of their participation, or of any disparity in participation, in city contracts and subcontracting opportunities, and their participation as a percentage of such businesses willing and able to compete in that industry.

(Code 1968, § 20-42(a))

Sec. 35-113. - Equal opportunity contract review board.

(a)

There is hereby established a five-member equal opportunity contract review board to be comprised of two members appointed from the mayor's office by the mayor, two members from the city council appointed by the president of city council, and one person from the office of equal opportunity contract compliance.

(b)

The review board shall monitor data collected from all businesses regarding subcontracting opportunities with disadvantaged businesses. The board shall review programs developed by the office of compliance pursuant to division 2 of this article prior to implementation of such programs. The board shall conduct investigations of complaints alleged pursuant to section 35-115

(Code 1968, § 20-42(b))

Cross reference— Boards, commissions and similar entities, § 2-56 et seq.

Sec. 35-114. - Departmental reports of professional service contracts.

All departments of city government shall prepare quarterly reports documenting the number of disadvantaged business enterprises that have procured city business with that department. Each department shall report how many disadvantaged women and minorities received city business through that department and the methods it plans to utilize to involve disadvantaged business enterprises, women and minorities in professional service contracts. Each department shall report annually to the administrative assistant to the mayor, with copies to the office of equal opportunity contract compliance, documenting how much each professional service contract amounted to during the fiscal year and submit such report prior to submittal of departmental budgets and prior to submittal of the annual operating budget by the mayor to the city council.

(Code 1968, § 20-42(c); Ord. No. 92-031(sub 1), § 1, 5-21-92)

Sec. 35-115. - Identified discrimination; relief.

In addition to and not in lieu of any other provision of this article, any person that alleges that he is disadvantaged in his efforts to bid for and be awarded city construction contracts, or city purchasing contracts, as the result of prior discrimination on the basis of the race or national origin of such person by the city itself or by the persons engaged in the business, trade or industry involved in such city contracts in which the city acquiesced, such person shall be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that such person has been so disadvantaged to the satisfaction of the contract review board that the board may afford relief in the form of a preference for such person in city contracts of a scope and duration closely fitting and appropriate in light of the scope and duration of the harm done to such disadvantaged person. In any such proceeding, any person claiming disadvantage shall show by statistical evidence a significant disparity between the number of qualified disadvantaged business contractors willing and able to engage in such city contracts and the number of such contractors actually engaged by the city, or by the city's prime contractors, such as would evidence systematic exclusion by the city, or by other contractors not disadvantaged and acquiesced in by the city, of such persons claiming to have been disadvantaged in that manner and to that extent.

(Code 1968, § 20-43)

Secs. 35-116—35-130. - Reserved.