Agenda - 02-10-2015 - 1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date:February 10, 2015 Action Agenda Item No.1 SUBJECT: Discussion Regarding Potential Requirement that Contractors Doing Business with Orange County Pay Employees aLiving Wage No DEPARTMENT:PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) County Attorney ATTACHMENT(S):INFORMATION CONTACT: John Roberts,245-2318 Public Bid Requirements City of Asheville Staff Reports PURPOSE: To discuss requiring certain contractors to pay employees a living wage. BACKGROUND: At the December 9, 2014 meeting the Board adopted a motion to direct the attorneyto “come back with an explicit policy for when and under what circumstances the board of commissioners can, might, and cannot require vendors orcontractors to pay a living wage.” In 2013 the North Carolina General Assembly limited the authority of counties and cities by amending §153A-449, which authorizes contracting with private contractors, to include a new sentence, “A county may not require a private contractor under this section to abide by any restriction that the county could not impose on all employers in the county, such as paying minimum wageor providing paid sick leave to its employees, as a condition of bidding on a contract.” Thislanguagelimits the County’s authority tocontractually require a living wage to those contracts for which the County does not solicit bids. A contractual living wage requirement could therefore only apply to construction contracts below $30,000, purchases of supplies and apparatus below $30,000, and service contracts in any amount so long as the County did not choose to solicit bids. Proposed policy: It is the policy of Orange County that vendors who enter contracts with Orange County must pay their employees a living wage. This policy shall not apply to contracts in the formal and informal bidding ranges or to any other contract on which the county solicits bids. This policy maybe adopted as a standalone policy, as part of the budget ordinance, or as part of the general ordinances.