Minority business owners aren’t getting a fair share of city contracts. That was the opinion expressed Tuesday by African American entrepreneurs offering personal accounts to a national consulting firm hired by the city of Charlotte.

At the city’s request, MGT of America Inc. is conducting a study to evaluate whether racial or gender disparities exist in the awarding of city contracts.

An MGT official said the company has conducted more than 130 such surveys since 1989. The Charlotte report is expected to be completed in late June or early July.

Tuesday’s meeting at the Government Center was designed to collect input from business owners. Nearly all who spoke were African American.

Clifford McClain, who owns a construction company, said he once received $100,000 to $200,000 a year in business with the city. But since the Charlotte scrapped a program that steered business to women and minorities, he said, he has not gotten a single contract.

“I would like to see a (set-aside) program put in place,” he told two MGT officials who conducted the public meeting.

Referring to 2010 Census data indicating that African Americans now make up 35 percent of Charlotte’s population (up from 32.7 percent in 2000), McClain said he would like to see city contracts awarded in a way that reflects the city’s growing diversity.

No quota system

But in a candid moment later, MGT senior consultant Vernetta Mitchell said her firm would not be recommending to the city any type of quota system, even if the study finds evidence of racial or gender disparities.

“We cannot recommend anything that’s legally indefensible in North Carolina,” she said. “We cannot make recommendations that are going to get you sued.”

Indeed, courts in the United States increasingly have ruled minority set-aside programs illegal.

It was the fear of litigation that led City Council to scrap a former program that steered a percentage of city contracts to minority- and women-owned firms. It was replaced by a race- and gender-neutral policy that sets “aspirational goals” for women and minorities.

Those who attended Tuesday’s meeting said goals alone are insufficient.

Some who testified said large companies seeking multimillion-dollar deals with the city often call minority-owned firms simply to show “good faith effort” but rarely employ those minority-owned businesses after contracts are awarded.

Sylvester Johnson, who owns a commercial services company, said he gets at least one fax a week from general contractors soliciting his interest in various projects. But once contracts are awarded, he said, those same companies rarely return his repeated calls.

Stephanie Berwald of the Metrolina Minority Contractor’s Association said the city should reinstate a set-aside program with a 20 percent target for minority- and women-owned businesses.

“We live in a diverse community, and this should be considered at all levels of decision making,” she said.

Charlotte must do better

Others who testified said stringent requirements for financial bonding often eliminate minority-owned companies, especially on larger projects. Still others said the city must do a better job holding general contractor’s accountable for using minority subcontractors.

For Charlotte NAACP President Kojo Nantambu, the issue boiled down to racism. He said city dollars going to black contractors has plummeted under the race-neutral rules, even as the percentage of African Americans living in Charlotte has swelled. He called that development “atrocious.”

Nantambu, a former contractor, said the city’s former program should have been tweaked, not discarded.

“Charlotte is a racist community,” he said, repeating a statement he made earlier in the year that drew widespread rebuke. “I think people need to face up to the truth…It’s because of racism. They don’t want these people to work.”

Mitchell, the MGT official, said her firm will consider several factors in determining whether a disparity exists. Those factors include the availability of such businesses, the percentage of available companies that have bid for city work, and the percentage of city contracts awarded to such companies.

The city’s racial makeup, she said, is not a factor in determining disparity.

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