Minority-biz panel meets rarely: City watchdog commission often is unable to muster a quorum

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(Arizona Daily Star, The (Tucson) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 21--A city of Tucson commission that is supposed to be a watchdog for minority-owned businesses has met only three times this year because it can't get a quorum, records show.



The Minority and Women Business Enterprise Commission is supposed to be an independent, third-party monitor for the city's Minority and Woman-Owned Business Program. The all-volunteer group, created by the City Council in 1990 to monitor and increase minority-owned business participation in city contracts, hasn't been able to get much done this year.

Even when it does meet, the information the members need to do their jobs is typically unavailable, members say.

The group met once in January and once in June. Five other monthly meetings were canceled for lack of quorum.

One commissioner, Carmen Pettiti, recently was excused from her position after she missed 40 percent of the meetings or four meetings in a row, the rule that automatically removes a person from a city commission.

Pettiti, owner of Que Bonita, an import retail store, said, "I hardly saw anything that was productive" at the meetings, adding that she wasn't notified of the locations of some meetings.

Pettiti said she never got an answer from the city staff about how many local businesses benefited from the Minority and Woman-Owned Business Program, which encourages the city to do business with minority- and female-owned firms. She said she was excited about being a part of the group but was disappointed by its inability to act.

Another part of the problem was vacancies after the November City Council election. Since members are appointed by their council member, some seats turned over. Four of the current commissioners were newly appointed in the past 12 months.

The commission seat for Ward 3 remains empty. Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said she hasn't appointed anyone to the position because her staff has been interviewing applicants. She wants to make an appointment in the next few weeks, she said.

A new attendance problem could begin when four of the commissioners' terms expire at the end of 2007.

When four members gathered Monday, the group elected officers, a task it was supposed to complete in January.

They elected new member Clarence Boykins to chair the group. Boykins is executive director of the Tucson-Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce and a former director of the Minority and Woman-Owned Business Program.

A lengthy agenda that rehashes old issues has held up progress for the group, he said.

"I would like for us to be able to send a report to the mayor and council, monthly or quarterly at the very least, saying this is what we have accomplished," Boykins said.

Holding meaningful meetings that lead to successes will solve the attendance problem, he said.

The group also elected new member Walter Soto, owner of Soto Construction Co. and a vocal critic of the Minority and Woman-Owned Business Program, to be vice-chair.

The fact that the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Commission hasn't met often doesn't mean the commission isn't needed, Soto said.

"The reason we have this commission is to create a watchdog for the city and the way they do business with the underrepresented parts of our community," he said.

Soto said he joined the commission because of its attendance problem. He started going to meetings as a concerned business owner a couple of years ago and realized most of the meetings were canceled.

Soto was disenchanted with the program and said he won't do business with the city until it changes what he calls discriminatory behaviors.

Being a commissioner is not an easy job. The group deals with "very tangled procurement issues" and legal topics, Soto said. Among the items on its agenda are hot-topic reports on nonretaliation procedures and subcontractor bid listing.

The commission's inactivity is partly the city's fault, too.

In June 2005, the commission requested reports on city payments for goods and services to see how much money the city spends with minority-owned businesses and whether it meets goals for that spending.

Because of problems gathering the data, staff members produced the first-ever, albeit incomplete, report of this type at Monday's meeting. The reports are mandated by the city's own ordinance, Soto said.

Because the data isn't available, the commission really has no way to check the system it is supposed to scrutinize, he said. And the city can't know whether its ordinance is working effectively.

The city's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs also has been asking for the reports, and staff members have made the reports a new priority, said Liana Perez, who directs that office.

City of Tucson's Minority and Women Business Enterprise Commission

--Marlene Ashton, president of Southern Arizona Paving & Construction Co., appointed in 2003.

--Clarence Boykins, executive director of the Tucson-Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce, appointed in March.

--Thomas Curley, owner of Curley's Downtown Barber Shop, appointed in 2003.

--Andee Leisner, president and CEO of Southern Arizona Electric, appointed in December.

--Eddie Muniz, owner of Sol Design, appointed in June.

--Walter Soto, owner of Soto Construction Co., appointed in April.

--Contact reporter Becky Pallack at 573-4224 or at [email protected].

Copyright (c) 2006, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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