Plans to build a $30-million dollar state of the art building at Erie Community College is now on hold.
The Erie County Legislature is calling for an investigation on the bidding process for a contractor to build the new stem building on E.C.C. North Campus. The contractor who won the bid reportedly did not properly submit a minority and women business enterprise utilization report. This report ensures equal opportunity for minorities and women. Lawmakers believe this could be a serious problem if it’s true.
“The precedence this sets is that we don’t care if our contractors don’t follow the minority and women owned business clause of our bidding process,” Erie County Legislator, Joe Lorigo said.
“I think it’s an issue that we need to step back and do diligence to find out if in fact that’s what occurred,” Erie County Legislator, Barbara Williams-Miller said.
Erie County Legislature was supposed to vote on hiring the contractor today. Instead they decided to send the bid back to committee. In the meanwhile they will take a deeper look at the allegation made.
This will delay construction on the new stem building by at least a few weeks. However, Erie County Lawmakers are hoping to get this resolved very quickly.
