Economic Development Committee Meeting on Responsible Contractor Ordinance and New Orleans East Corridors - August 25, 2026
Economic Development and Special Development Projects Committee Meeting - August 25, 2026
The Economic Development and Special Development Projects Committee met on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 10:00 AM, chaired by Councilmember Matthew Willard. Present were Councilmembers J.P. Morrell, Aimee McCarron, and Eugene J. Green (who entered after roll call). Councilmember Jason Hughes was absent. The committee considered a major rewrite of the responsible contractor ordinance, approved two contracts, and received a presentation on the New Orleans East Innovation and Industrial Corridors. All votes were unanimous.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Ordinance 35,543 (Responsible Contractor Ordinance): Ten speakers testified, all in support. Key speakers included:
- Erica Zucker (Workplace Justice Project): Endorsed the rewrite as an improvement, but stressed the necessity of implementation and enforcement. She also called for the release of the long-awaited labor audit.
- Matt Olson (New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice): Supported the ordinance and urged the council to request the Mayor and CAO publicly present the results of the labor audit (funded by ARPA and completed nearly a year ago) by the end of 2026.
- Calvin Lawrence (IBEW Local 130): Supported, stating that contractors who break the law should face penalties.
- Andrew Schmidt (IBEW): Supported, saying the amendments will create fairness.
- Jennifer Hernandez: Supported, emphasizing fair competition, worker protection, and public transparency.
- Parker Diaz (IUPAT): Supported, noting that worker misclassification and wage violations are rampant in the city.
- Luis Mendons (IUPAT): Supported, calling misclassification "modern day slavery" and citing an example at the Superdome where no workers were classified as employees.
- Aldo Duran (Iron Workers Local 623): Supported, asking for a level playing field.
- New Orleans East Innovation and Industrial Corridors Presentation: Five speakers commented:
- Edward Parker: Raised concerns about the Lincoln Beach and Bayou Phoenix projects and the need for adequate staffing at the Office of Supply Diversity to monitor projects.
- Jerry Cook (CAB member, business owner): Thanked the presenters, asked that his building at 7700 Lake Forest be considered for future facade grant opportunities.
- Sage Michaels: Expressed excitement about investments but called for infrastructure improvements (signage, catch basins, water leaks) and a water study for areas east of the Industrial Canal.
- Chris Lane: Questioned potential negative impacts of the corridor, including increased flooding and low wages, and asked for evidence of higher career trajectories and community care. He also called for a resource recovery hub and attention to hazardous waste.
- Brad Gross and Ronnie Rosser submitted support cards but did not speak.
Discussion Items
- Ordinance 35,543 – Responsible Contractor Ordinance: Councilmember Willard introduced the full rewrite, stating it builds on a 2021 ordinance to create administrative and enforcement pathways. Key changes include:
- Enforcement authority transferred to the Chief Procurement Officer and Bureau of Purchasing.
- A responsibility hearing process for deeming bidders non-responsible.
- Collaboration among the Chief Procurement Officer, department heads, and the Law Department.
- Effective date of January 1, 2027.
- Stipulated damages for contractor violations.
- A public database of non-responsible contractors, with designations lasting three years.
- The ordinance was developed with input from the AFL-CIO building trades. Representatives Tiger, Chip, and Andy testified in support, describing widespread worker misclassification and citing past cases (e.g., $260,000 in back wages on one project, $220,000 on another). They emphasized the need to hold general contractors accountable and noted that the Hard Rock collapse might have been prevented if similar rules had been in place.
- Councilmembers expressed support. Councilmember McCarron asked about reporting mechanisms for waivers by the CAO; it was agreed that waivers would be reported to the council and published on the Bureau of Purchasing website. Council President Morrell highlighted concerns about labor brokers undermining the living wage ordinance and supported stronger enforcement.
- Contracts for Consideration:
- Loan Agreement with YWCA: The city amended the loan to swap CDBG COVID dollars for regular entitlement funds for the rehabilitation of 601 S. Norman Francis Parkway as a comprehensive resource center. The effective date was May 1, 2026.
- Consulting Services Agreement with Greater New Orleans Development Foundation: The city will receive $75,000 from GNODF for student programming and referral services at workforce centers.
- Both contracts were approved unanimously (3-0), and after the vote, the councilmember requested that all three voted items appear on the consent agenda for the full council.
- Presentation on Mayoral Executive Order HM 26-21 and New Orleans East Innovation and Industrial Corridors:
- Deputy Mayors Jeffrey Schwartz and Renee Lapeyrolerie presented a quarterly update. The executive order established the Me Shute Innovation Corridor (anchored by NASA Michoud) and the Louisiana International Terminal corridor.
- Highlights included:
- NORA’s Facade Renew program awarded 12 grants (up to $150,000 each) to New Orleans East businesses, primarily on Lake Forest Boulevard, Crowder, Bullard, and Reed Boulevard.
- U3 Advisors is finalizing a strategy for the Me Shute Corridor, akin to Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park.
- The city obtained its first certified site in the Regional Business Park and is working on a second 45-acre site.
- $1.5 million in ARPA funds completed a roof replacement at the Regional Business Park Enterprise Center.
- Planned small business supports: Prosper in Place (National League of Cities) and Main Street Resilience (CDBG-DR funds for solar and battery backup).
- Infrastructure: DPW completed over 1,800 streetlight repairs since January; repairs on Old Gentilly Road near NASA are ongoing.
- Updates on problem properties: 6700 Plaza Drive demolition permit issued; Willows Apartments sold to a new developer committed to complete renovation.
- Business retention and recruitment: Vivachi (at NASA Michoud) won contracts with Textron and Starlab; NASA issued a solicitation for a 50-acre Discovery Park parcel; the city is courting prospects totaling a potential $500 million and 1,600 jobs in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and logistics.
- Councilmember Green noted UPS’s significant investment at Bauman, calling it a great story for the city.
- In response to questions, Lapeyrolerie stated that Bayou Phoenix is in litigation/compliance and Lincoln Beach is on schedule for phase one groundbreaking by end of 2026, with a community meeting scheduled for Thursday at 6 PM at Joe Brown Recreation Center.
Key Outcomes
- Ordinance 35,543 (Responsible Contractor Ordinance) was approved by a vote of 3-0 (Willard, Morrell, McCarron). Councilmembers Morrell and McCarron were added as co-authors.
- Loan Agreement with YWCA approved (3-0).
- Consulting Services Agreement with Greater New Orleans Development Foundation approved (3-0).
- All three items were requested to appear on the consent agenda for full council consideration.
- The council received the presentation on the New Orleans East corridors; Deputy Mayors Schwartz and Lapeyrolerie committed to quarterly updates.
- Councilmember McCarron asked for further details on waiver reporting; council staff will follow up.
- Councilmember Willard stated, "We're gonna track down that audit" in response to public testimony about the overdue labor audit results.
- The meeting adjourned at a vote of 4-0 (Willard, Morrell, McCarron, Green; Hughes absent).
Meeting Transcript
All right, Miss Spears, can we get started? We sure can. Roll called. Council Vice President Willard. Here. Council President Morrow. Councilmember McCarrin. Second item on the agenda is approval of the June twenty third, twenty twenty-six minutes, but we have a correction to the minutes. The minutes reflected that Councilmember McCarron was present, but she was not. They have since been corrected, so we need to approve the minutes as amended. Seconded by Council President Morrell. We know most of the city's contractors do excellent work and comply with our living wage ordinance, classify their workers correctly, and employ licensed subcontractors for work that's contractually obligated that way. Unfortunately, a few do not. Today we're building on this foundation with the full rewrite of the responsible contracting ordinance to create administrative and enforcement pathways to hold contractors on city jobs accountable to federal, state, and local laws in accordance with Louisiana's public bid law. I'm excited to take this on because it represents so many things I believe in, taking responsibilities for our own actions, transparency in government, and fair enforcement to improve conditions and compliance. At the end of the day, this ordinance is about making the city a more transparent and more accountable steward of public projects. We also want our contractors to know that we need you. We appreciate you, but we need you to follow our rules when you're doing work for us. Significant changes to the ordinance include it gives responsibility over enforcement of the ordinance to the chief procurement officer and the Bureau of Purchasing. It creates a responsibility hearing process so that the chief procurement officer has a pathway to deem bidders of contactors non-responsible. It establishes collaboration between the chief procurement officer, department heads, and the law department to investigate issues and complaints. It sets an effective date of January 1st, 2027, so that the administration, department heads, and contractors are clear about when enforcement will begin. It establishes stipulated damages within city contracts so that contractors can be held financially responsible for their own violations of our law or those of their subcontractors. And it establishes a public database of contractors who have been deemed non-responsible and makes the non-responsibility designation last for three years. Couldn't get here today without the partnership of our uh men and women of the AFL CIO. So at this time I'm I'm happy to turn it over to you guys. I don't know what order you want to go into, but uh please introduce yourself and Tiger. Uh it's always great to see you. Andy and Chip, thank you for coming down and thank you for your work on this as well. Thank you, me. Thank you, Councilman Willard. Uh I don't know how you follow up that open remarks because uh you couldn't have said it any better, but uh I want to first address to Councilman Morrell, um Amy, all you guys say McKaren and even Matt Willett. Uh but anyway, in 2012, after being here for Hurricane Katrina representing IBW and building trades. Well, um, you know, we saw thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of people right here in this community, the City of New Orleans, who got beaten cheap, you know, from unscrupulous contractors came in from all over the place. Now we're not reliving that today, but who's to say that doesn't happen again tomorrow? God forbid it doesn't. But with that being said, some six years later, I think it was 2012, uh, that I started with a responsible bidder ordinance here, but when we did that, you know, trying to lobby some of the council members and said, look, Mont just started. Get it introduced, and then we can put some penalties and all that stuff later. Well, later came was 2019. We had another council. We thought maybe we should take another stab at it. And uh right when we was about to do it, COVID hit. So uh in 2021, uh by that time, Chip and Andy now representing the building trades and and uh Secretary Treasurer, AFL CIO took this thing on, and one thing that did come good out of that one was that it made the general contract responsible because I can tell you from just personal experience myself. I remember chasing down contractors where it was a general contract, and they said no, it was uh the electrical contract, and electrical contract said I subbed it out to this one, and you chase it down three tiers of subcontractor, subtract subcontractor, and you wind up with two men in a truck, and you can't find not only two men, you can't find a truck either. So we thought this was deemed necessary, and now we're trying to put some real penalties and some real uh uh restrictions in here for unscrupulous contractors that you know the way I put it back then, rip rape and rob the city of New Orleans and the workers that work in it. So uh I'm gonna turn it back over to Chip now, and uh, because Chip been working on this very diligently with many others, and uh including myself, Nancy, so Chip. Oh council members, thank you. And thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Tiger. Like Tiger had mentioned, um, we we picked this back up in 2019.
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