KC Council should ensure minority and women-owned firms prosper in construction boom

Small minority and women-owned construction firms in Kansas City deserve to get a piece of the building boom currently in progress here.

And conversations among members of the City Council must continue to ensure those companies get a fair shake in this lucrative trade.

A consultant’s study concluded the city’s race and gender-based contracting programs need an update because their guidelines are too broad. The program is an important tool that has helped curb some of the unfair treatment of minority and women-owned contractors, known as MBE and WBE firms.

It’s proven to work. All it needs is a little tweaking.

Kansas City Council members worked this week to form a consensus on the proper course to chart going forward. But competing proposals introduced by Mayor Pro Tem Scott Wagner and Councilman Jermaine Reed hampered discussions on how to advance the program.

The impasse is not a good look for a city with a documented history of discriminatory behavior by organized labor toward minority and women-owned firms. Council members must hash out their differences and take action on this issue soon.

“Whatever plan we have should help those businesses grow and thrive,” Wagner said this week. “That’s the objective.”

For his part, Reed called on the council to unify and unanimously adopt an ordinance. The gesture would reflect how much the city values diversity and inclusion, he said.

“A unity vote on the disparity ordinance is vital to the future success of the MWBE program,” Reed said.

In making changes to the 20-year-old program, the City Council is also considering whether the personal net worth of company owners should affect eligibility.

Wagner is against that personal net worth component. But Reed argues that it would help maintain the integrity of the program.

Federal agencies have similar regulations. But we agree with Wagner that the provision is a deterrent to certain firms.

“A net worth limit hinders or pushes a small business out of the process,” Wagner said.

The City Council has for months struggled to form a consensus. Now it’s time to get the job done.

Any changes to the program must protect smaller or newer shops. Anything less is unfair. An amicable resolution should reflect the city’s goal of diversity and inclusion.

And it starts with having policies and procedures in place that adequately address the issue.