A resolution approving a proposed Agreement between the City and County of Denver, on behalf of itself and the Denver Workforce Development Board and Eckerd Youth Alternatives, Inc. to provide one-stop operator and comprehensive services specific to employment and training as required under Denver’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding. Approves a contract with Eckerd Connects for $2,500,000 and through 6-30-21 to provide one-stop operator and comprehensive services specific to employment and training as required under Denver’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding and other special state revenue or grant-funded workforce initiatives, citywide (OEDEV-202054623-00). The last regularly scheduled Council meeting within the 30-day review period is on 6-29-20. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 6-3-20. Pursuant to Council Rule 3.7, Councilmember Herndon called out this item at the 6-15-20 meeting for a one-week postponement to 6-22-20.
Okay. Thanks for the help. And then, Madam Secretary, first up, you put four, eight, eight on our on our screens and this one is for a vote. So, Councilmember, can you please vote Council Resolution 488 on the floor? Yes, I move that council resolution. 20 dash 48 be adopted. And Q has been moved and seconded questions or comments by members of Council Councilmember CdeBaca. Thank you, Mr. President. And real quick, before I explain pulling this out for the second time. For those of you who don't understand what's happening when we get bills sent to us, everything is on what they call a consent agenda. It comes from the mayor's office. And that means the consent agenda means an automatic yes vote from the whole block. And so unless we call things out individually, then we don't vote on them separately from the consent block. So it's important to watch what people call out and what they're asking about it. You can call out for questions, questions and a vote or just comments. I called this out for the second time last week. I called it out because it's a $2.5 million contract with a company called Eckerd Connects. This is for our work for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. And this is a company out in Clearwater, Florida, that we're outsourcing our workforce to workforce development to because we can't find somebody in Denver who can do it. This is a company in Florida who had a $77 million contract with the state of Florida, and they were going to revoke their contracts because of their negligence with with foster youth. And so I called this out again to vote no on it, and I hope my colleagues will also vote no on this one. Thank you, Councilmember Councilmember Gilmore. Thank you, President Clark. Is Tony Anderson here from Dito or is there anybody from Dito? Okay. Well, so one of the workforce development centers that this contract would staff is the Montebello Area Taylor Building and Eckerd. I don't agree with an out of state vendor. We need to do better on this. But we are also in the middle of a pandemic and a lot of folks that represent Denver International Airport that worked out there, they are out of work. And with this contract, I talked to Tony Anderson on Friday and conveyed to him my dismay that there was a local provider here . Apparently their bid was much higher than Edwards bid. And city council is never asked to to put information in to, you know, ask questions during the RFP process so we don't have a say on what qualifications they're asking for a business. And so this contract is for a one year amount. And I talked to Tony Anderson from our Denver Economic and Development Office and told him that we need to start now looking at that RFP process for next year, because we need to make sure that local nonprofits I can list them out. Struggle of Love Montebello Walks Montebello 2020. There's a whole list of organizations that could do some of this work, but the RFP process doesn't allow them to qualify or to apply because there are certain capacity levels. And so I talked to Tony and told him that now we have a little bit of time to start building up that capacity of local nonprofits so that they're ready to apply for this when this comes available next year. And my dilemma in voting for or against this is that we have people right now in Montebello, in Green Valley Ranch and Stapleton that need help in securing employment. And so those are some of the hard decisions that, you know, this could possibly take three or four more months that we wouldn't have a service provider at the moment below RFP, Taylor and at other workforce development centers. And so trying to weigh what the best choices are and so just wanted to share and that Tony was totally willing to convene the community to talk with the community, identify what the gaps are and that we help them build their capacity. And that actually could be some of those funds that we divest from DPD. We could actually provide technical assistance, training software so local nonprofits can actually apply for and get this 2.5 million right here in the community. And so I just wanted to share that. President Clark, thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Councilmember Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. Is there. There's no one here to talk. Okay. So one of the thoughts that I have is by voting no on this, you know, we impede the ability of people who are not employed right now to get jobs. I would say Councilmember Herndon did ask for this to be delayed from last week to this week so that we could get answers to questions. And if no one's here, then makes it tough for me to get answers to those questions. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmembers said walking back up. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. And just want to explain to people, because we use a lot of things you don't a lot of jargon. RFP is a request for proposal when the city needs a job done. We put out an RFP and let companies respond to it. In Denver, for this contract in particular, we had a local trusted entity, Emily Griffith, apply, and because their price was higher, we have a habit in Denver of taking the lowest bid. The price that they say that they're charging is the bid. And because their price for being a local trusted agency was a little bit higher. We choosing to race to the bottom and pick the lowest bid to serve our most valuable people in this city right now. And yes, in a pandemic, it's more important now than it was before, because there are many nonprofits who could step in now that couldn't step in before. And three months is nothing to them with the $2.5 million contract. They could do this. Thank you, Councilmember. Councilmember Hines, you back up? Yes, Ms.. President. Mr. Mayor, is are we required by charter or law or anything to take the lowest bid? Is that is that one of our requirements as a city? Sky sought mayor's office. So there are with certain contracts. I would have to look at this. This is federal dollars. Flowing to us from the federal government. So there are certain conditions. Attached. To these funds. The bid we. Received from Emily Griffith was actually eight times higher. So it wasn't a small difference. It was a quite significant difference. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilmember. All right. Look at video. If we could, please. Thank you. Councilman CdeBaca, you welcome. Yes, thank you. And just a reminder, that's how we had private prisons running our halfway houses because their bid was lower, significantly lower. It's hard work to fulfill these bids and to do them right and to do high quality workforce development and track outcomes and do longitudinal studies. And so I think when you are considering what we're investing in it, the price tag shouldn't be the only thing driving our behavior. Thank you, Councilmember. Madam Secretary, roll call on 488. CDEBACA No. Flynn All right. Gilmore I. Herndon High. Hines No. Cashman I can change my. SANDOVAL. Hi. Sawyer. No. Torres, I. Black Eye Council President. All right, Madam Secretary, please close voting. Announce the results. 3999993 is council bill. A resolution for Haiti has been adopted. Council Member Can you please put Council Bill 495 on the floor for introduction?