August 10, 2011. The Daytona Beach New-Journal.
Volusia County is hosting a workship today to discuss an ordinance giving companies that hire locally preference when they bid for work with the county.
One of the ordinance’s goals, officials have said, is to curb local unemployment rates. Volusia County’s unemployment rate is 10.5 percent.
A group called Fighting Against Injustice and Toward Harmony, or FAITH, originally proposed the ordinance, which the Volusia County council agreed to consider in a June meeting. Council members said in June they’d like to have an ordinance in place by October.
They’ll discuss ideas for promoting local hiring from 1 to 3 p.m. today in the County Council chambers of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center at 1233 W. Indiana Ave. in DeLand.
FAITH has 30 congregations countywide, representing 35,000 to 40,000 people. Its proposed ordinance would give different point values for preference on contracts to companies that employ people from the five U.S. census tracts with chronically high unemployment, companies that employ Volusia residents and those that employ people within Central Florida.
Council members will also discuss how a local hiring preference could affect the county’s minority business program.
