Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin Edwards, and city officials announced today the tremendous success of the Brightwood/Lincoln Elementary School project under the new revamped Responsible Employer Ordinance (REO). This is the first major project monitored under the City’s new REO guidelines.
As the first major project monitored under the City’s amended Responsible Employer Ordinance, the Brightwood/Lincoln Elementary School project faced a unique challenge. The construction of this state-of-the-art elementary school was ongoing during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. The project broke ground in the late spring/early summer of 2019, with the majority of construction occurring during 2020 and completing in 2021. During construction, all requirements of operation during the COVID-19 restrictions were adhered to, including physical distancing, mask wearing, and quarantining when necessary. Despite these challenges, the Brightwood/Lincoln Elementary School project was a tremendous success.
Pursuant to the REO, projects like Brightwood/Lincoln are required to utilize its workforce in the following manner: 35% of work hours to be performed by residents of Springfield, 20% of work hours to be performed by minorities, 6.9% of work hours to be performed by women, and 5% of work hours to be performed by military veterans. Below is the workforce breakdown for the project:
Category | Goal | Actual |
Springfield Residents | 35% | 30.4% |
Minorities | 20% | 27.47% |
Women | 6.9% | 6.73% |
Veterans | 5% | 6.17% |
There were a total of 251,083 work hours performed on this project. The total workforce hours performed by Springfield residents was 76,324. In addition, based upon the prevailing wage rates, this project provided in excess of $3.5 million directly to Springfield residents and, by extension, to the Springfield economy.
The general contractor on the project, Daniel O’Connell & Sons, worked consistently and proactively with the Compliance Department to meet the REO goals.
Mayor Sarno states, “I want to commend the project contractor Daniel O’Connell & Sons for their efforts working on this project. This was not an easy project to accomplish, especially during this unprecedented pandemic, however the general contractor not only finished this project ahead of schedule but also under budget, all while successfully reaching or exceeding our REO goals.”
“I want to applaud our dedicated city team for their continued dedicated efforts in making our new REO 2.0 a tremendous success,” Mayor Sarno continued. “Special shout-out to Senior Project Manager Patrice “Chae” Swan and Senior Compliance Project Manager Hope Button for their hard work and due diligence in checking to make sure that our contractors met these benchmarks. My administration is committed to creating more opportunities for our diverse and capable workforce that will lead to more of that good four letter word – ‘JOBS’. I am very happy we’ve been able to meet and exceed the benchmarks that were set. We will continue to drive this revamped REO so that everyone will have an equal playing field.”
“My Administration will continue to work with City Councilor Melvin Edwards, REO Committee members, and our labor brothers and sisters in the Building Trades,” Mayor Sarno added. “This project continues my Administrations commitment to investing in our schools. To date, working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, we have invested over $700 million towards new schools and renovated schools in the City of Springfield – the most in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
“This is exciting news. I’m appreciative of the Mayor and his Administration, especially Patrice ‘Chae’ Swan and Hope Button for their efforts. In total, there was over 250,000 work hours performed on this project and over 76,000 workforce hours were performed by our Springfield residents. This project provided over $3.5 million directly to our residents and by extension our local economy. These are real numbers and money that went directly into the pockets of our working residents and families. This is the data and the results we all envisioned seeing when we passed this ordinance and it is truly great to see the positive results from this first major project under our City’s amended REO.” said City Councilor Edwards, who also serves as the Chairman for the City Council REO Monitoring Committee.
Senior Project Manager Patrice ‘Chae’ Swan stated, “I am humbled to be part of the work we have accomplished on the Brightwood Lincoln Elementary School. It was a total group effort, with my partner Hope Button, and the collaborating team at Daniel O’Connell & Sons, and the REO Committee. I’m excited for future REO projects as we seek to increase economic and employment opportunities for the citizens of our beautiful City.”
Senior Compliance Project Manager Hope Button added, “I am extremely proud of the success of the Brightwood Lincoln Elementary School project. Working with my colleague, Chae Swan, the team at Daniel O’Connell & Sons, and the REO Committee we established that the goals of a workforce in the construction trades reflective of the community can be achieved. This was a true team effort in every sense of the phrase.”
Chief Finance and Administrative Officer TJ Plante said, “I want to applaud our dedicated city team, especially Patrice Swan and Hope Button for their efforts on this project. This was the first project under the new revamped REO and we are happy to report that it came under budget and ahead of schedule, while exceeding or closely meeting our REO goals set.”
Mayor Sarno and the City Council approved the newly revised Responsible Employer Ordinance in 2019, that requires contractors on pubic construction projects, including new schools, that are in excess of $500,000 to meet minimum hiring requirements for women, minorities, veterans and city residents.
