[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was vetoed by the Mayor, but
said veto was overridden by the City Council 9-11-2018.
In addition to any other conditions that may be required in
connection with tax relief granted by the City under the Housing Development
Incentive Program, each Tax Increment Exemption Agreement entered
into between the City and the recipient of such relief (the "Sponsor")
shall be subject to the following set of mandatory conditions:
A.
It shall be a special and material condition of this Agreement that
any construction manager, general contractor or other lead or prime
contractor, or any entity functioning in any such capacity, and any
other contractor or subcontractor of any tier or other person that
is engaged to perform the construction work during the term of this
Agreement (hereinafter, collectively and individually, the "contractor")
on the property that is the subject of the Certified Housing Development
Project (the "HD Project") shall comply with the following qualifications
and conditions at all times during their performance of work on the
property:
(1)
The contractor has not been debarred or suspended from performing
construction work by any federal, state or local government agency
or authority in the past five years;
(2)
The contractor has not been found within the past five years by a
court or governmental agency in violation of any law relating to providing
workers' compensation insurance coverage, misclassification of employees
as independent contractors, payment of employer payroll taxes, employee
income tax withholding, wage and hour laws, prompt payment laws, or
prevailing wage laws;
(3)
The contractor must maintain appropriate industrial accident insurance
sufficient to provide coverage for all the employees on the project
in accordance with MGL c. 152 and provide documentary proof of such
coverage to the Office of Economic Development to be maintained as
a public record;
(4)
The contractor must properly classify employees as employees rather
than independent contractors using applicable federal and state law.
Individuals properly classified as employees according to applicable
law must be treated as employees for the purposes of minimum wages
and overtime, workers' compensation insurance coverage, unemployment
taxes, social security taxes and state and federal income tax withholding.
(MGL c. 149, § 148B, on employee classification);
(5)
The contractor must comply with MGL c. 151, § 1A, and MGL
c. 149, § 148, with respect to the payment of wages to properly
classified employees;
(6)
The contractor must be in compliance with the health and hospitalization
requirements of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform law established
by Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006, as amended, and regulations promulgated
under that statute by the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
Authority; and
(7)
On public construction projects as defined herein, the contractor
shall comply with the following requirements and such requirements
are incorporated by reference into the bid specifications:
[Amended 11-16-2020]
(a)
In accordance with this article, the contractor shall be required
to provide employment in the amount of 35% minimum of the total project
hours worked by Massachusetts residents retained by the contractor
on the project to Springfield residents.
(b)
The contractor shall be required to provide employment in the
amount of 20% minimum of the total project hours worked by the contractor
or otherwise retained by the contractor through subcontracting to
minorities.
(c)
The contractor shall be required to provide employment in the
amount of 6.9% minimum of the total project hours worked by the contractor
or otherwise retained by the contractor through subcontracting to
women.
A.
If any person or entity subject to the foregoing qualifications and
conditions fails to comply with any of the foregoing qualifications
and conditions with respect to work on the property, the parties agree
that such an event materially frustrates the public purpose for which
this Agreement and any certification of the HD Project by the Department
of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) was intended to advance.
In such an event, the City shall petition DHCD for revocation of certification
of the HD Project. Upon notice of revocation from DHCD, the tax relief
provided by this Agreement shall be terminated upon written notice
by the City to the Sponsor, the Sponsor shall pay to the City an amount
equal to the value of the tax relief already received under this Agreement.
B.
Complaints concerning compliance with the qualifications and conditions
set forth above shall be directed to the Compliance Officer, who shall
investigate the complaint and make a determination as soon as administratively
feasible and notify the complaining party and the property owner or
its designee. Such complaints must be submitted, in writing, no later
than 270 days following the completion of the construction project.
Any party may appeal the Compliance Officer's determination to the
REO Committee, which shall take such steps as it deems necessary to
investigate and, after giving the parties an opportunity to be heard,
shall make its determination concerning the question of compliance.
C.
In the event the Sponsor challenges the City's efforts to obtain
revocation by DHCD of, or challenges DHCD's decision to revoke, certification
of the HD Project, the Sponsor shall set aside in an escrow account
an amount equal to the full amount of the tax savings that previously
had and that would have accrued under this Agreement while any such
challenge remains pending. The Sponsor shall have a continuing obligation
to contribute to the escrow account amounts equal to the additional
tax savings that accrue under this Agreement while its challenge remains
pending. The Sponsor shall promptly provide to the City with documentation
of its compliance with this obligation. The conditions of the escrow
account shall provide that, in the event the Sponsor is unsuccessful
in its challenge, the funds in the account shall be paid to the City.
The Sponsor's obligations under this subsection shall be judicially
enforceable. It is the intent of the parties that the residents of
this municipality are third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement,
and that it may be enforced in a civil proceeding brought by not less
than 10 taxable inhabitants.
