Dougherty County Commission agrees to look further at disparity study

ALBANY — Told by County Attorney Spencer Lee that it could not list a requested disparity study among its proposed projects for SPLOST VII, the Dougherty County Commission offered a 7-0 consensus vote Monday to pursue such a study if the Albany City Commission and Dougherty School Board vote to take part.

The study, and $1 million in proposed SPLOST funding, was requested by the local Minority Contractors Association.

“You can’t put this request on your SPLOST list; it’s not a capital improvement project,” Lee told the board at its Monday work meeting. “You can, however, attach it to a project as administrative cost. If there is a desire by the county, city and School Board to get a ‘clean study,’ you can agree to participate if such a study is conducted.”

Lee told the board that by reaching a consensus agreement to pursue the study, they would have an opportunity to address it at any time during the six-year life of SPLOST VII, if that 1 percent tax referendum is passed by county voters during the Nov. 8 general election.

Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas suggested — and asked Lee and County Administrator Richard Crowdis for confirmation — that such a study would not cost the million dollars requested by the contractors.

“I would think that our cost share would be nowhere near a million dollars,” Cohilas said.

Crowdis pointed out that none of the three past disparity studies in which the county participated (in 1995, 2001 and 2008) had cost even half as much. He said the cost was closer to $450,000.

“If we do participate with the city and School Board, each would contribute financially on a pro rata basis,” Lee said.

Lee gave the commission a brief history of the three local disparity studies, noting that in the most recent, released in 2008, the independent firm that conducted the study found no basis for charges of intentional or overt discrimination on the government agencies’ part. Thus, the city, county and School Board (and, at that time, Albany Tomorrow Inc. and the Water, Gas & Light Commission) were not required to set up a quota or set-aside program that guaranteed inclusion of minority- and female-owned businesses.

Lee pointed out, however, when the participating entities’ Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization program that had purportedly been set up to advocate for such businesses was found to have morphed into a race-conscious program, it was ordered to change its priorities. The SBDU program was eventually defunded by the local governments.

District 5 Commissioner Harry James said part of the problem with the SDBU program was that the expectations of the eligible and participating business owners were not in line with what the program was tasked with doing.

“One thing we must make clear, if there is such a program in the future, is what is allowed by law,” James said. “I don’t think many of the participants’ expectations were in line with what the program was allowed to do, by law. There has to be clarity.”

Lee said that any talk of discriminatory practices, set-asides, quotas or any other action must come after a disparity study is conducted.

“What action may be taken will depend on the results of a disparity study,” the county attorney said. “If there is evidence of discrimination on the part of the governing boards, such remedials as set-asides and quotas could then become part of the discussion.”

Crowdis also noted changes in the county’s SPLOST VII projects list to account for the $420,000 immediate reallocation approved by the commission last week for needed improvements of the Hugh Mills Stadium track, site of the state GISA and GHSA track meets.

Crowdis recommended, and the board later approved by consensus agreement, taking funding from the proposed Hugh Mills allocations and adding that funding to projects that include improvements on the county police building; jail improvements; purchase of county vehicles; improvements to the Government Center, Judicial Building and Central Square Complex; the county facilities management building, and for Information Technology upgrades.

If, as expected, the city approves an intergovernmental agreement on SPLOST projects at its business meeting Tuesday night, the county will hold a special called meeting Wednesday at 10 a.m. to formally approve the agreement.