In an attempt to justify the city of Springfield’s low percentage of minority
employees, Mayor Tim Davlin this week referred activists and reporters to a
study that suggests the city’s numbers are on a par with the percentage of minorities
in the work force. However, the study Davlin cited is based not on the population
of Springfield but rather on the combined populations of Sangamon and Menard
Counties.
“That’s the work force we draw from,” Davlin says. “We hire a lot of people from Menard County, a lot of Petersburg residents.”
Using this broader geographic region yields a more favorable minority percentage, because the counties have much lower minority percentages than the city of Springfield.
City administrators have been dodging questions about minority hiring for weeks. The issue was raised more than a month ago by the Mayor’s Race Relations Task Force, and was first publicized three weeks ago by Illinois Times [see Dusty Rhodes, “What are they hiding?” Sept. 2], in a story that showed comparable Illinois cities readily provide information about the race and sex of employees.
Soon, other media outlets then began asking about Springfield’s personnel data. After initially denying a Freedom of Information Act request filed Aug. 31 by Illinois Times, the city’s corporation counsel Jenifer Johnson last Friday released a summary of statistics showing race and sex of city employees, along with a heavily redacted copy of the city’s 2003 Equal Employment Opportunity report.
The summary showed that minorities make up 7.1 percent of city employees, a figure roundly criticized by activists who compare it to the city’s 19 percent minority population.
But this week, in a series of encounters with reporters and activists, Davlin defended the city’s employment record by pointing to a study that shows minorities make up only 7.2 percent of the overall workforce. That number, however, reflects the minority percentage of an area much broader than the city of Springfield.
According to city spokesman Ernie Slottag, the statistic Davlin cited comes
from the Illinois Department of Labor’s 2004 annual report, which can be found online
at www.state.il.us/agency/idol/wmbook.htm.
The 7.2 percent number Davlin cited is found in a table on page 58 of that report.
That table is titled “Springfield MSA.” MSA stands for Metropolitan Statistical Area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as “a large population nucleus, together with adjacent communities having a high degree of social and economic integration with that core.” A list of MSAs and their components available on the Census Bureau Web site shows that the Springfield MSA includes all of Sangamon and Menard counties.
This figure effectively dilutes the minority percentage of Springfield. Springfield’s population is 81 percent white, 15 percent black, and 4 percent other races, or 19 percent minority. Sangamon County is 87 percent white, 10 percent black, and 3 percent other races. Menard County is 98.6 percent white, and less than half a percent black.
Baker Siddiquee, chair of the mayor’s Race Relations Task Force, said he spent more than an hour Wednesday morning with the mayor, discussing personnel statistics. Even though Siddiquee repeatedly questioned the figure cited by the mayor, Davlin never mentioned that it included two counties, Siddiquee says.
“He was telling me, ‘Look, our numbers are not bad.’ I tried to explain to him this number is not right. I didn’t know this was two counties. I would have immediately said to him, ‘Hey, you can’t use that number.’ This is city government, not county,” Siddiquee says. “That’s apples and oranges.”
Meanwhile, another report suggests that minority hiring in city government has actually declined over the past two decades. A book called Achieving the Dream published in 1993 by the Springfield Urban League contains a chapter examining the city government’s track record on minority hiring. The focus of the report was to determine whether the 1987 change from a commission form of government to the aldermanic system actually improved minority hiring at city hall.
Comparing EEO reports (which Hugh Harris, author of that chapter, recalls having no problem obtaining from the city), the Urban League study shows blacks accounted for 8.1 percent of city employees in 1987 and 9.4 percent in 1993. The figures just released by Johnson show blacks accounted for 6.8 percent of city employees in June 2003.
Davlin, who took office in April of that year, says minorities comprise 11.94 percent of his hires for non-tested positions, and he’s proud of that record.
“You’re damn right I am. I think 11.94 percent is a very good start for the first year on the job,” he says.
Siddiquee also says he believes the mayor is making an honest effort. “I don’t think it would be fair to blame him for numbers he inherited,” Siddiquee says. “I think he’s sincerely trying to make some changes, and I think he needs to be more open about that.”
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2004.
