Shelby County officials are due to vote on ordinances relevant to small businesses and minority and women-owned businesses on December 14th.
The relevant measures, proposed by the Shelby County Commission, involve establishing a new minority and women-owned business enterprise and purchasing program, and making changes to the existing small business enterprise purchasing program.
Many amendments and changes to the ordinances have been proposed, which will be evaluated at the December 14th meeting.
Among these are rules proposing that businesses already certified with similar programs through the City of Memphis or Shelby County Schools be added to the Shelby County Program by means of a resolution. It has also been suggested that a reduction in the revenues companies needed to qualify for the County’s existing small business purchasing program, from $5 million to $1 million (with certain exceptions - the threshold for technology companies would be raised to $15 million, and architecture and certain other firms remaining at the $5 million threshold), is in order.
Additionally, some have voiced concerns that the objectives for the new minority and women-owned business program are divided in ways that don't allow for business owners who are both female and minorities to be fully recognized as such. Some believe that the required term of operation for a business to qualify under the proposed programs, at six months, is not long enough to forestall "shopping" for county contracting, and should be extended to one year.
The new ordinances were proposed in light of a disparity study released in 2014 which found that 88 percent of Shelby County contracting was awarded to businesses owned by white males, and that furthermore 55 percent of County contracts were awarded to firms outside of Shelby County.
Members of the Shelby County Commission are hoping to have the new and modified programs operational in 2017.
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