At least six of the 13 Shelby County commissioners will leave the commission in just over two months — or after four more meetings including the Monday, June 27, session.

In that short span of time, the commission that took office Sept. 1, 2018, has two ambitious goals it hopes to get off its plate.

One is a massive $750 million capital remake of the county-owned Regional One Health system.

The other is a new plan for minority-owned businesses to get a larger share of county government spending on goods and services.

County government’s share of the capital goal for the region’s safety net hospital and trauma center would be $350 million over several years and probably the first funding that is committed to the undertaking.

County Commission approves budget specifics in marathon session

“We are committed to finding the other half,” Regional One CEO Dr. Reginald Coopwood told commissioners last week in committee sessions.

“We’ll put the first $350 million that we would love for you all to consider to start that process,” he said. “The most critical part of the hospital would be redone as we search for other partners as well as philanthropic dollars.”

Hospital and health committee chairman Van Turner said he hopes the private and possibly state and federal match for county funding can be found “before we term out.”

“I think we have to at least get this ball rolling before we get out of here,” said Turner, who is serving his second consecutive term on the commission and is thus barred from seeking a third term under term-limit provisions of the county charter.

Memphis area NICU babies celebrate Halloween

The commission votes Monday on a five-year capital improvement plan that would include the county’s share of funding for Regional One over those five years.

The five-year plan could change beyond the next fiscal year that begins July 1. But a start toward the goal would be unlikely to be changed by a future commission, especially if it leads to the commitment of private as well as state and federal government funding.

Also in committee sessions last week, commissioners got their first look at a disparity study by the Atlanta consulting firm Griffin-Strong that makes the case for specific minority-owned and women-owned businesses getting a larger share of county government spending.

County Commission approves budget specifics in marathon session

The disparity study is a necessary legal step for the county implementing such a program. The study looks at such specifics as how many minority- and women-owned firms there are in sectors from construction to professional services.

“On a contract-by-contract basis, you look at the actual availability that is available for that particular project and you set goals for that,” Rodney Strong of Griffin-Strong said.

Because the county’s previous program was more than five years old with no new disparity study done by the end of 2018, a subcontractor for county contracts successfully challenged the county’s previous MWBE — minority- and women-owned business enterprises — in court.

County settles minority contracting lawsuit, agrees to end program

Griffin-Strong did the disparity study used for the city of Memphis’ current minority business program, which has not been challenged in court.

Like the city’s program, the county disparity study recommends “aspirational goals” for minority businesses on an annual basis and then looks at what such goals should be by individual contracts and based on the number of MWBEs working in that sector.

“This is the best way to proceed because now you’re targeting participation to a specific project,” said Shep Wilbun, administrator of the county’s Equal Opportunity Compliance office and a former Shelby County commissioner and Memphis City Council member.

Shelby County officials say Strickland can’t compare city’s minority purchasing program to the county’s

“That’s the real difference between what we previously had and what we are looking at doing going forward,” he said. “There are certain contracts you look at and there is no availability in those areas and you don’t expect to have participation.”

The program still to be developed could include measures that help minority- and women-owned businesses compensate for the lack of a business credit score and a lack of data that would otherwise reveal MWBE firms that could compete for county government’s spend on contracts.

“Our responsibility is to try to grow our city and our county, make it diverse,” said Commissioner Reginald Milton, who is also leaving the commission at the end of August. “We set goals that we strive for that we may or may not ever achieve but we have a responsibility to try to achieve.”