St. Louis County’s director of its Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program is suing his own bosses, accusing the county government of retaliating against him after he spoke publicly about the need for reforms.
Nathaniel Adams has been the director of the county’s MWBE program since August 2020. He had also been working with the St. Louis County Council to help draft legislation that would have changed the department in which the MWBE program is housed—and it’s for that reason, he says, that he was suspended in January. He alleges the county’s actions run counter to Missouri whistleblower protection laws.
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Several times last year, at the invitation of Councilwoman Shalonda Webb, Adams spoke at Saint Louis County Council meetings about what he saw as a conflict of interest in the way the MWBE was structured. The program exists as part of the county’s Division of Procurement, which oversees the county’s acquisitions of goods and services from outside businesses. Adams says in his lawsuit that its goals are “misaligned” from the program he ran. The MWBE program’s purpose is to “maximize participation” of businesses owned by women and minorities in projects that get county dollars. Adams went so far as to propose language for a county ordinance that would make the MWBE program independent from Procurement, the suit says.
At a meeting in September, Adams also spoke about an incident in which a general contractor put in a bid that included a woman-owned business as a subcontractor. But subsequently, the general contractor swapped out that woman-owned business for a different subcontractor, and apparently still got the county contract. “There was no way we should have allowed it,” Adams said. He noted that the general contractor saved $200,000 by making the switch, but the county didn’t recoup any of that money.
County Executive Sam Page and most of the St. Louis County Council have been locked in a bitter feud in recent years—which makes complaining to the council something akin to working a little to close with an enemy of Page’s administration. A spokesman for Page declined comment.
Adams says in his lawsuit that he was subsequently reprimanded by his bosses for speaking to and working with the council. The head of county procurement took him to task for not attending meetings that Adams said he had been told not to attend. He also had his work-from-home privileges revoked.
In January, Adams was put on suspension from his role as MWBE director and says he was told it was because he had provided the sample legislative language.
Adams is accusing the county of violating whistleblower protections. He is seeking damages in excess of $25,0000.
Late last year, a bill sponsored by Webb that would have required contractors getting work from the county to create apprenticeship programs and participate in diversity goals also included language that would have elevated the MWBE program to become its own office under the department of administration. County Executive Sam Page vetoed that bill shortly before the new year.
Around the same time that Adams became the county’s MWBE head, the head of the county’s DEI office filed her own whistleblower lawsuit against Page, also on whistleblower grounds. Page had appointed former councilwoman Hazel Erby the county’s DEI head in May 2019, widely seen as clearing the field for Page’s own ascension to the county executive seat. But a little more than a year later, she was out of the job. Erby’s lawsuit claimed Page had fired her because she spoke up to him about a contract for a temporary morgue which she felt like did not have adequate participation from women or minority-owned businesses. Erby passed away in 2021, but after a successful appeal by her attorneys has allowed the lawsuit to continue. It remains pending.
Webb’s legislation moving the home of the MWBE program might fare better next year, depending on who sits atop county government. Page isn’t seeking re-election. State Senator Brian Williams (D-University City) has been outspoken in his support of Webb’s bill. The other leading Democrat contender, Assessor Jake Zimmerman, tells SLM that to his mind the bill “was doomed by lack of trust among squabbling politicians, instead of working together to find a win-win for everyone. I’m of the opinion that a better process would lead to a better outcome.”
Republican Dennis Hancock, also vying to replace Page, voted against Webb’s bill the first time around.
