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Portland Mayor Charlie Hales on Thursday pledged his office’s 鈥渇ull support鈥� to the city’s Equitable Contracting and Purchasing Commission and apologized for appearing distant at a meeting that showcased all the issues raised by progressive advocates.

It was the first time the mayor attended a meeting of the ECPC, and it came after months of talk by commissioners of feeling ignored.

鈥淚’m not interested in having this appear to work; I’m interested in this actually working,鈥� said Hales, who sat alongside commissioners and took notes. 鈥淚’m not interested in photo-ops or shelf studies. What should we do?鈥�

Following Hales’ exit, to attend a different meeting, commissioners resumed airing their frustrations with his office.

鈥淥ne thing we’ve been missing is the other side,鈥� said Marcela Alcantar of Alcantar and Associates. 鈥淲e can’t go too long. It becomes a rathole, and I think right now, we are in that rathole.鈥�

The ECPC was formed by ordinance last year to increase the utilization of minority-owned and women-owned businesses in city contracting. In the months since, its nine members 鈥� a mix of community leaders and minority business owners 鈥� have complained of being stonewalled by City Council and city staff and not given requested data.

The commission voted 鈥渘o confidence鈥� in the City Council at a charged meeting in February. The matter was compounded when the city delayed release of the meeting video and omitted hostilities from the meeting minutes.

Hales’ office has responded by sending city personnel 鈥� including Office of Management and Finance Director Fred Miller and Chief of Staff Josh Alpert 鈥� to ECPC meetings.

Thursday’s meeting was held at the water bureau’s Interstate Maintenance Facility, the renovation of which was one of two projects in a pilot program testing so-called Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) as a means of disbursing city contracts. The two projects (the other was the Kelly Butte Reservoir project) were hailed at the meeting for achieving much higher participation rates than the traditional low-bid procurement method.

鈥淲hat I’m hearing from everyone here is there’s a disconnect in the process, and you cannot have equity with a disconnect,鈥� said audience member Ranfis Giannettino Villatoro of the MRG Foundation. 鈥淚’m led to believe it’s deliberate.鈥�

He said MRG supports CBAs.

A regular source of frustration for commissioners, notably Maurice Rahming of O’Neill Electric, is the way the city has handled a set-aside for DMWESBs for the upcoming renovation/seismic retrofit of the Portland Building. The council voted to allot 1 percent of the cost of the highly-technical design-build-relocate project. ECPC commissioners have questioned why the figure is 1 percent of rough construction costs (approximately $100 million) rather than the total project cost ($195 million).

Beyond that, Rahming has said repeatedly that he wants the conversation regarding minority participation in the Portland Building project to involve the 鈥�99 percent鈥� rather than a 1 percent set-aside.

The request for proposals for the Portland Building project includes participation targets of 18 percent for minority-owned businesses and 9 percent for women-owned businesses. Those goals aren’t 鈥渁ggressive鈥� enough, according to Rahming.

鈥淎 CBA can produce 50 percent,鈥� he said.

Three design-build teams submitted proposals for the Portland Building project; the city is expected to select one next month.