ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Erie County Legislature held a panel recently to discuss how efforts can be increased to support local small business when the time comes to bid on contracts for the new Buffalo Bills stadium.
Along with this Turner Gilbane, the developer who oversees the design and construction, has also been a part of the discussion and connecting with local businesses for collaboration on the contracting bids.
They met with the the Minority and Women Business Enterprise Committee and heard the results of a survey they conducted over the summer by the county's Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.
The survey results are what encouraged the Buffalo Bills to host various outreach events across the county, including in three local areas such as Buffalo, Lackawanna, and Tonawanda.
At the meeting members of a task force were introduced as well, and will be utilized to provide the legislature with regular updates on progress towards hiring local businesses for the stadium project.
People on the community inclusion task force include:
- Richard A. Cummings, who represents a Minority-Owned Business.
- Larry Stitts, who represents the construction MWBE compliance industry.
- Elizabeth Vealey, a WBE owner
- Rev. Mark Blue, the President of the NAACP
- Tony Roman, who represents the Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Business industry
- Sydney Brown, representing Black Chamber of Commerce
- Stephen Tucker, who is an expert in local workforce recruitment
- Frank Daniel, who is an expert in local MWBE subcontractor recruitment
- Pat Freeman, an expert in sports stadium development
- Richard C. Cummings, the past president of the Black Chamber of Commerce
- Thomas Beauford, the CEO of the Buffalo Urban League
Members within the Buffalo Bills organization, and Turner Gilbane were also there to represent their groups at the meeting.
At the meeting each one of these members was given the opportunity to introduce themselves and describe their experiences as small business owners in the community.
“We have the talent and experience in this county to figure out a system and a plan to ensure every Erie County business that wants to work on this project can work on it,” chair April Baskin said. “That’s why I’ve created the task force we introduced, to work with the new stadium decision makers to combine their local, on-the-ground expertise with the large-scale, stadium construction experience of Turner Gilbane.”
Everyone present at the meeting expressed one of the biggest things to take away from the panel and creation of the task force is that it is vital for the small business community owners in Erie County to be included in the new stadium's creation.
So far there have been 37 local contracts awarded for a bid on work with the stadium thus far, and 70% still remaining to be awarded. The awards given thus far have been given to both minority women and service disabled veteran enterprises.
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