Four years ago the Pensacola City Council approved Mayor Ashton Hayward’s recommendation to hire MGT of America to perform a full disparity study to review disparities in the distribution of city expenditures and to recommend “legally defensible methods to remedy any disparities” at cost of $249,942. The disparity study was one of his top campaign promises.
The study was delivered to the mayor in September 2012 and made several recommendations to the improve the city’s procurement program. The recommendations weren’t brought forward to Pensacola until five months later. Then the city council approved the mayor’s recommendation to spend an additional $50,000 to MGT to prioritize the list, develop a work plan and seek input from key stakeholders.
Ten months later, a draft was present to the city council in December 2013. Another eight months has passed and Mayor Hayward has given the city council his timetable to get the new goals for procurement in place by the first of the year.
Change is always difficult. This one may take Hayward’s entire first term to get done. Let’s hope he can meet these deadlines.
Timetable: DisparityTimetable