Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 26, 1993 TAG: 9306260125
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Mayor David Bowers believes that he and City Council are primarily responsible for the creation of a special team to help local, small and minority businesses get part of the hotel work.
Not so, says Councilman James Harvey.
When city officials and Virginia Tech began developing plans for the project more than two years ago, Harvey said they vowed then to give local businesses and workers an equal chance to bid on it.
The flap over who should get the credit was triggered by Bowers' recent letter to the council noting the efforts by City Manager Bob Herbert and the hotel's general contractors to involve local subcontractors and workers.
"I just don't believe we would have ever made this much progress in making sure that Roanoke workers, laborers and contractors were going to be involved in the Hotel Roanoke project unless this council had strongly impressed that consensus upon the city administration," Bowers wrote.
Bowers said he was pleased Herbert and the general contractors for the project - F.N. Thompson of Charlotte, N.C., and J.M. Turner and Co., a Roanoke Valley firm - are trying to get more local firms and workers.
Harvey is upset that leaders in several construction unions keep saying that the hotel project is a "done deal," with most of the subcontractors already selected.
"These are false statements and it irritates me that they continue to be made," said Harvey, who is chairman of the Hotel Roanoke Conference Center Commission.
Harvey said that Horace Fralin, a well-known Roanoke Valley developer who played a key role in the early stages of the hotel project before he died, wanted local subcontractors and workers to have an equal chance.
Harvey suggested that Bowers send copies of his letter to union leaders so they can be reassured they will have a chance to get part of the work.
Councilman William White acknowledged there has been talk for two or three years about giving part of the work to local businesses. But he said it remains to be seen whether that will happen.
"All we have had until now is talk. We need to see some action now," White said.
A pre-qualification procedure is being used to help expand the number of bidders. City officials said this will make it easier for small companies to team up or join with large companies to bid on different parts of the work.
by CNB