Board questions diversity, residency in hiring

There is no penalty for failing to hire minorities, women or city residents.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown Board of Education wants to know why a company doing nearly $3.5 million worth of work on two city school buildings hasn't hired any minorities or city residents to work on those jobs.
The board is sending a letter to the Conti Corp. of Lowellville, asking that a representative attend its July 25 meeting to explain.
Al Curry, the school district's equal employment opportunity compliance officer, said the "special conditions" contracts awarded to Conti and other contractors working in the district's $194 million rebuilding program require them to make good-faith efforts to have diverse employee groups, setting goals of 20 percent minorities, 20 percent women and 50 percent city residents.
There is really nothing, however, the board can do if it is dissatisfied with a contractor's performance on diversity hiring. The contracts don't provide any penalty for noncompliance, Curry said.
Conti is doing the plumbing work at Chaney High School on the city's West Side and the plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning work at P. Ross Berry Elementary School on the East Side. The company has about six employees at each site, Curry said.
None of those employees is a minority, woman or city resident, Curry said. Conti hasn't returned calls to The Vindicator seeking comment on the issue.
Anthony DeNiro, assistant superintendent of school business affairs, said the Chaney contract is for $1,339,000, while the Berry job is $2,124,000.
Previous compliance
DeNiro said that Conti also did work on the West Elementary School project completed last year and didn't have any compliance problems then. Curry confirmed that there were no problems on the West job.
Curry said his efforts to get some explanation from the company haven't been successful. He asked the school board to approve sending the company a letter directing that a representative appear to explain.
Curry said the "special conditions" contract sets up that mechanism to address hiring issues.
The board agreed to send Conti President John Wilha a certified letter asking that he or a representative attend the meeting.
Curry said the school district's legal counsel is assisting in preparing the letter, which should be mailed next week.
gwin@vindy.com