D. Concerning Nondiscrimination in the Exercise of County Powers and Performance of its Duties
A NEW SECTION shall be added to Article 10 – General Provisions on NonDiscrimination in the Exercise of County Powers and Performance of its Duties to read as follows:
The San Juan County Council has already passed resolution 31-2020 which is the blueprint of this amendment language; the San Juan County Council resolution is the proper place for such an item, and we totally agree with the San Juan County Council. Why, then, is this amendment needed to be in the charter? It is too verbose and has many items that are enumerated as potential subjects of disqualification if one fails one of the tests.
The second part of this amendment attempts to hold the county hostage to the language when trying to procure services from potential contract bidders. How will this section be enforced and will it, more importantly, it will discriminate against our local contractors that do not have the means and time to check all the necessary boxes to be a qualified contractor in San Juan County. This will put a financial hardship on many of our, small, and local service providers. The chair of the CRC in our July 12th meeting said that large corporations such as Microsoft and T-Mobile “may” be doing this already but will not be scrutinized as they may be “the only providers” of some services. It is neither rational nor fair to impose a stricter bar for our small and local services providers than the large multinational corporations.
The SJC Prosecutor has recommended removal of the proposition on the basis that it will be easy to contest by project bidders.
For the reasons given we oppose this amendment.
Signed _____Bill Appel_______________________Date___7/16/21_______