Austin City Council delays roadwork over contractor’s offensive words

June 14, 2018 — Council members voted unanimously today to ignore the recommendation of the city’s contracting office and deny a winning bid to a construction firm for roadwork in East Austin because a company officer had used the term ‘wetbacks’ at a public forum.

Council Member Ora Houston moved to reject the contracting office’s recommendation to award a $325,000 contract to Aaron Contract because the firm’s president Aaron Cabaza last month referred to construction workers as ‘wetbacks,’ a term used derogatorily to describe immigrants from Mexico

“I will be voting no because of the racial slurs that are being used yet again about workers in our community,” she said.

Aaron Concrete had submitted the lowest of two bids for a contract to remove flawed paving stones from two intersections in East Austin and replace them with colored concrete. New sidewalks are also part of the plan. The two intersections are East 7th Street and Chicon Street, and East 7th Street and Calles Street.

City Manager Spencer Cronk suggested that he could write a public letter outlining the city’s objections to the racial term used by Aaron Cabaza as an alternative to denying Aaron Concrete the contract altogether. City staff in the contracts department cautioned that rejecting the bid could result in heavier traffic at the intersections if construction is done at a less optimal time of year.

Capital Contracting Officer Rolando Fernandez Jr. told council members today that if Aaron’s bid were rejected the contract would need to be put out to bid again, which would delay work. “We’re basing our decision on the state’s requirement and the city’s decision for contracting… they’re the lowest bidder,” he said, adding, “I don’t know how we can look at that [the racial slur] as part of the reason why we don’t recommend that contractor.”

Another city official in the contracting office testified that the city had wanted to complete the work over 35 calendar days this summer. “Our goal and objective was to complete this work during the summer to minimize the impact on the traffic there,” he said.

City Council Member Pio Renteria has been in his opposition to the proposed contract award even before today’s meeting. “I have been subject to that kind of language and it was very hurtful and disrespectful and I don’t want to see our funding supporting a business that has that kind of attitude so I’m going to be voting no,” he told the council today.

Delia Garza of District 2 concurred: “I too will not support this measure…. I understand the timeline (delay) but I can’t in good conscience vote for a company making such comments.”

Austin Mayor Steve Adler joined the rest of the council in opposing the contract after first asking city staff whether there would be any safety issue created by delaying the work. The staff informed him that the issue was about getting the work done during the summer when traffic was lower, not about safety.

Council Member Kathie Tovo stated, “I’m not going to support this because of the reasons my colleagues said.” Tovo said she hopes that by doing the bidding process over again or in a different manner they can find a different contractor. She said, “I’m hopeful we’ll come to a good outcome along the way.”

Ahead of today’s council meeting, Aaron Concrete President Aaron Cabaza had apologized for using the term ‘wetback’ during last month’s meeting sponsored by Travis County, saying he had made a “poor choice of words.”

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