Springfield council approves demolition contract as amended after hours-long debate on minority and local hiring

The Springfield City Council on a December evening approved an amended ordinance awarding a demolition and abatement contract and adding binding outreach and participation conditions after extended discussion about minority and local hiring.

Mayor Buscher introduced ordinance 2025-488, describing a bid recommendation to accept a contract (PW26-08-31) with Green Track LLC for abatement and demolition and to authorize a supplemental appropriation not to exceed $977,857.28 for the Office of Public Works. Council deliberations quickly focused on workforce participation: several aldermen pressed staff for documentation showing how bidders had met the city’s minority, female and local participation goals.

Purchasing agent Jeff Peters told the council staff had reviewed past contracts and certified payroll data. He said Schaefer’s prior contract showed zero reported minority and female participation in the city’s certified payroll records, while Green Track’s earlier projects showed minority participation in the mid-to-high 20s (25.53% on one contract; 28.74% on another) and local participation around 9.72% on at least one prior job. Peters also explained the city uses ePRISM for certified payroll uploads and that the system does not segregate “minority female” as a separate reporting category.

Sam Schafer, who signed up for public comment, disputed the characterization that his firm had no minority participation and said his company expected to reach roughly 20% minority participation on the current work. Dozens of council members and the public emphasized the trade-off between cost and city policy goals: awarding to a bidder with stronger documented diversity could cost more but would intentionally invest public dollars to increase local and minority employment.

Alderman Gregory initially proposed an amendment to change the award to Schaefer (a lower bidder) conditioned on union outreach and a commercially useful function. Later Gregory moved to retain Green Track but add requirements: that the contractor perform a commercial useful function (outreach to local unions and firms) before work begins, complete outreach within 45 days, and meet a 33% minority participation goal on the project. Corporation counsel confirmed such an amendment was legally acceptable and would be added to the ordinance language.

The council adopted the outreach-and-goal amendment on a roll-call vote of 8–1. After further discussion about monitoring and enforcement, the amended ordinance was approved by the council 7–2. The chair noted the difficulty of balancing the expense of a more inclusive award against the city’s policy to use procurement to promote local and minority hiring.

What’s next: The ordinance as amended directs the chosen contractor to document outreach (the commercial useful function) and to meet the stated participation goals; council members said staff will monitor certified payroll uploads in ePRISM and flag noncompliance, while enforcement specifics and timing (not issuing a notice to proceed until outreach is verified) were discussed as contract-level steps staff should implement.

Quote: "We're gonna be looking for more companies. We want to see women and minorities included, and we're willing to put our money with that behind that," Alderman Conley said during debate.

Ending: The council’s vote keeps scheduled demolition work moving forward while adding explicit expectations that the contractor demonstrate outreach and reach a 33% minority participation goal within the framework the council adopted.