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DRAFT MINUTES COMMITTEE ON MINORITY AFFAIRS JUNE 10, 1997
Present: Chairman, Clinton I. Young, Jr. Member, Lois Bronz Secretary, Lynne Creighton Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Staff: Pat Gorski, George Gretsas, Dan Rodriguez, Aldo Vitagliano Millie Hernandez-Becker, Westchester Air, Harry Ortiz, Texaco Carlos Bernard, Sir Speedy, Carolyn Leonard, Snelling Personnel Woodrow Brown, Parkway Bldg. Svcs., Jose Montiel, Prof Tech Corp., John Ballini, Prof Tech Corp., David L. Jones, African American Chamber of Commerce, Michael Morrow, Westchester Putnam Affirmative Action, Brandon Kinley, RNN Channel 3, Albert E. Williams, citizen, Dr. Ben Dyert, AAAB, Charles Gonzalez, Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Douglas Thornton, Tri-State Transportation, Robin Douglas, African American Chamber of Commerce, Winston Ross, WESTCOP/NAACP, Hal Fitzpatrick, African American Men of Westchester, Shayla Titley, BOL Intern, Dr. Maria M. Kantha, Society for the Advancement of Latino Agenda, Martha Elena Alvarez, Globrite Cleaning Service, Ernie Prince, Urban League, Chandira Hickson, Amex F.A., Hector Garced, WHCC, Demetrius Patterson, Gannett, George A. Malone, Jimmy MacDonald, Rockland Community Mental Health.
The meeting was called to order at 12:50pm by Mr. Young, who extended greetings to everyone.
Mr. Young introduced Mr. Rodriguez and said that he had been instrumental in helping to set up the meeting with Texaco. Mr. Rodriguez in turn introduced Mr. Ortiz, Manager of Texaco’s Minority Vendor Program.
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Mr. Ortiz spoke about how minority businesses might be able to sell their products and services to his company, and said it’s his office’s responsibility to ensure possible vendors are given correct information and directed to people who can assess Texaco’s needs.
Mr. Ortiz said that the program has picked up a lot of momentum and that there are a lot of in-house programs and minority vendor expos and he expects to see more growth in this direction.
The floor was open to discussion at this point, most of which centered on whether there has been an increase in the number of minority vendors used by Texaco since a 1994 tape recording was discovered which contained negative remarks about Black employees, which prompted a discrimination lawsuit settlement,and Texaco’s promise to increase the use of minority and women-owned vendors.
Ortiz said he didn’t have figures on how much Texaco has increased its business with minority and women vendors, as they didn’t pertain to his position. He stated that he would ask Texaco to send a representative to address those issues at a future meeting.
Robin Douglas of the African-American Chamber of Commerce and Charles Gonzalez, President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said they would help Texaco to find businesses that would qualify as vendors for Texaco.
Mr. Garced said that he and the WHCC had reached out to Texaco in the past without any success, and that they had gotten better response from Coca-Cola in Atlanta than from Texaco and other companies in Westchester.
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After further discussion, Mr. Young thanked everyone for attending the meeting and said that they would be contacted as soon as another meeting with Texaco representatives was set up.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:30pm on motion of Mr Young, seconded by Mrs. Bronz, passed by a vote of 2-0. |