REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Consider Adoption of Local Hiring Program
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
The City Council considered study issue NOVA 14-01 in November 2014 - "Examine Ways to Increase Local Hiring in Major Developments" - and directed staff to move forward with a local hiring program for both public and private major developments (see Study Issue Paper, Attachment 1). Local hiring programs are generally defined as programs that require developers and contractors using public funds to hire local residents, and are targeted at addressing unemployment. As with most public policy issues, however, attempting to translate that relatively simple concept into day to day operations raises any number of complex and controversial issues. The very premise of a local hiring program is challenging because it puts constraints on private employer/employee relationships and commerce, and seeks to give preference on the basis of residency-all areas limited by a number of laws and legal decisions. Additional challenges posed by the development and implementation of program details are examined in the context of this study.
Programs can range from official encouragement supporting local hiring, emphasizing its value to the community and focusing on education and outreach, to mandatory resource-intensive programs that set targeted goals for local hiring and the use of apprentices, require "good faith" efforts on the part of developers and contractors to secure local hires, and require detailed compliance reporting and monitoring.
Construction projects that are paid for in part or total with public funds appear to achieve many of the objectives of local hiring programs due to state and federal prevailing wage requirements (which eliminate the attraction of hiring low-wage, non-local labor, and require the use of apprenticeships). Coincidentally, two recent state laws relating to prevailing wage requirements associated with public works projects became effect...
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