ORDINANCE NO. 260688
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Sponsor: Mayor Lucas, Councilmembers Bough, O'Neill, Duncan, Robinson, Patterson Hazley, Curls, French and Bunch
Directing the City Manager to suspend application and enforcement of the City's Minority and Woman Business Enterprise ("M/WBE") and Construction Workforce Programs; directing the City Manager to develop new business enterprise and workforce programs and report back on the implementation of said programs in sixty days; and directing the City Manager to initiate the process to have a new disparity study completed in five years' time.
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WHEREAS, the City of Kansas City has operated its Minority and Women Business Enterprise Program since 1981; and
WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States, in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., 488 U.S. 469 (1989) ("Croson"), requires local governments to make an empirical assessment to determine whether past discriminatory practices have contributed to the underutilization of M/WBEs in the provision of goods and services; and
WHEREAS, since the Croson decision, the City has worked with consultants to undertake disparity studies at various times to assess the utilization of M/WBEs on City contracts and subcontracts as well as the M/WBE Program's compliance with the constitutional standards established by Croson and subsequent caselaw; and
WHEREAS, in September 2024 the City contracted with Griffin & Strong, PC ("Griffin & Strong") to conduct a Disparity Study on behalf of the City to determine whether M/WBEs are utilized on the City's prime contracts and subcontracts at the level they are available in the Kansas City MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area ("KC MSA"); and
WHEREAS, Griffin & Strong completed the disparity study in early May 2026, and the findings were presented to City Council in May 2026; and
WHEREAS, Griffin & Strong included with its 2026 Disparity Study recommendations for changes or amendments to the City's M/WBE Pro...
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