NDOT defends minority hiring

Dan Kulin

Monday, Jan. 13, 2003 | 9:44 a.m.

The executive director of Las Vegas' Urban Chamber of Commerce said the Nevada Department of Transportation is missing out on a federal grant for job training and not directing enough state contract work to minorities or minority-owned contractors.

But officials with the state and federal transportation departments said Louis Overstreet is wrong. The state Transportation Department is not missing out on federal job training money, and the department is above its goal for use of minority-owned contractors and minority employment on state road projects, officials said.

In the 2002 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1, the Transporation Department awarded $100 million in contracts involving federal funds, and of that, just under $7 million went to minority -owned firms,Ruedy Edgington, NDOT assistant director of operations, said. NDOT's goal for that year was to distribute 5 percent of its contract dollars to minority-owned firms.

The Transportation Department measures minority-owned business participation in contracts by the value of the contracts, not the number of contracts awarded.

And 19.9 percent of the people who worked on NDOT projects last fiscal year were minorities while the goal had been 13.9 percent, according to figures supplied by Edgington.

But Overstreet said the target percentage of minority participation in NDOT contracts is too low. The goal should be to direct about 20 percent of the contracts to minority-owned businesses, which Overstreet said would bring the figure closer in line with the percentage of minorities in the area.

In Clark County minorities make up about 40 percent of the population, according to the 2000 U.S. census.

"There's a lack of realistic participation by minority-owned businesses," said Overstreet, who runs the day-to-day operations for the 200-member Urban Chamber of Commerce. Edgington said the decision to try to have at least 5 percent of NDOT's federally assisted contracts go to minority-owned businesses was made by looking at the number of minority-owned firms in the area compared to the overall number of businesses.

Overstreet also complains that the percentage of minorities working on NDOT jobs should be higher. He questioned the accuracy of NDOT's 19.9 percent figure, because he said the department is probably including "white Hispanics" in the count of minorities.

NDOT does not differentiate between "white Hispanics" and any other Hispanics, Edgington said.

William Kappus, acting division administrator at the Federal Highway Administration Carson City office, said NDOT's efforts to get contracts and work to minorities has been successful.

"They've got a pretty strong program here. They've been meeting and exceeding their goals," Kappus said.

Overstreet's claim that NDOT is missing out on federal funds available for job training appeared in a letter Overstreet wrote to NDOT. A copy of the letter appeared in the January edition of the Urban Chamber of Commerce's newsletter Urban Expressions, which has a circulation of 1,000, according to Overstreet.

Overstreet said NDOT has failed to seek additional money available through the federal Surface Transportation Program.

But Edgington said Overstreet was wrong about that too because there are no additional federal funds for job training available to NDOT through the Surface Transportation Program.

NDOT does have the option of using half a percent of the money it receives through the program, $41.3 million last year, for job training, he said.

But he said that money for job training is money the department already receives, not a separate pot of money as Overstreet claims.

Kappus said Edgington's explanation for the availability is correct, and he plans to speak with Overstreet to clear up any confusion.

Edgington said he too planned to meet with Overstreet.