Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COUNCIL: LOCALS WILL GET HOTEL JOBS
DON'T WORRY, Roanoke officials said in answer to union leaders' complaints about outsiders being hired to work on the Hotel Roanoke project. When it comes to construction and renovation work, it'll be done by Roanoke Valley residents.\ Virginia Tech and Roanoke officials said Thursday they will make an "an all-out effort" to make sure local and minority contractors have an opportunity to participate in the construction work on the Hotel Roanoke and conference center.
City Councilman James Harvey said the city will help seek out small-business and minority contractors to make them aware of the $40 million project and the procedures that must be followed to bid on the work.
Harvey, chairman of the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission, said Faison Associates, the hotel developer, also wants local subcontractors to have an equal chance to bid on the work.
"You are going to see everyone working together to ensure that all contractors are competing on an equal playing field," Harvey said during a meeting of the groups involved in the hotel project Thursday.
Earlier this week, a union leader said he feared many of the subcontractors and most of the labor for the hotel project would come from outside the Roanoke Valley.
"It's the same done deal as the [Dominion Tower]," said C.W. Toney, business representative for the Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 891.
The Dominion Tower project was plagued by union leaders' complaints that most of the subcontractors and laborers came from outside the valley.
Toney said he has heard that several subcontractors already have been hired for the hotel project, but Harvey said that was not true.
Attending Thursday's meeting were representatives from Tech, Faison Associates, J.M. Turner and F.N. Thompson (general contractors for the hotel), the Conference Center Commission, the Gainsboro neighborhood and the city.
James McComas, Virginia Tech's president, said university officials recognize the hotel is an important economic development project for the city.
"We want to provide jobs and work for minority and other citizens of the Roanoke Valley, not only once the hotel reopens, but also in the construction and renovation work," McComas said.
"With the federal and the citizens' donations, we feel efforts should be made to assist local businesses in competing for the work," he said.
Specific strategies the group agreed to are:
Informing Roanoke-area contractors about the hotel and conference center project and related work.
Encouraging minority, women and small-business contractors to compete for the work.
Making sure all contractors are competing equally for the work based on price, quality and qualifications.
The group also agreed on several actions to be taken:
Faison Associates, the developer, will provide the city with a listing of needed trades and subcontract specialities as soon as possible, along with the requirements for pre-qualifying subcontractors.
The Southwest Virginia Community Development Fund, Minority Business Network, Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center and the city will use the listing to recruit minority and other businesses, assist them in pre-qualifying and present them to the developer.
A pre-bid meeting will be held for all interested subcontractors at the Roanoke Civic Center for the developer to review the project, contracting requirements and other details. The meeting will be publicized to make sure that subcontractors know about it.
Bids will be taken separately on the conference center because it will be owned by the city and financed with public funds.
Harvey said the city will follow state bidding procedures and its own minority business plan. As with the hotel project, a pre-bid meeting will be held by the city regarding the development of theconference center.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.