Buffalo News
But while the about-face is good for Lauren Chmielowiec and Upstate Steel, another large company near the Buffalo Bills' new stadium site says it is struggling to get work on the $1.5 billion project.
"I'm bidding the Bills project right now," Jennifer Kuhn , president of Hamburg Overhead Door, said last month. "They want to meet all these goals, but I can't get through all the red tape to get approved."
Kuhn and Chmielowiec are part of a growing number of women who say they are unintended victims of the state's attempts to crack down on fraud, which has plagued the program for years.
"I find it frustrating that legitimate businesses like ours are being punished for the bad deeds of others," Kuhn said. "We all know that (fraud) was going on for a lot of years. But they've over-corrected."
Brendan R. Wolf , a partner at the Albany law firm Couch White LLP , said in the last year he has helped 15 woman-owned businesses obtain certification after they were originally denied by the state.
"It's a large part of my business, right now, and I'm getting calls all across the state," Wolf said.
Wolf credits Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration for speeding the appeals process from over three years to roughly six months. Hochul last year budgeted $11 million for what she called the "historic elimination" of a yearslong MWBE — minority/women-owned business enterprises — certification backlog.
How the program works
New York's program, which is overseen by Empire State Development , began in the 1980s as a way to encourage the hiring of minorities and women, who have historically been underrepresented in the building trades.
State law requires agencies to set "goals" for the awarding of contracts to businesses that have at least a 51% minority or woman ownership stake. Construction firms who bid on state contracts typically try to meet the goals by hiring subcontractors that are owned by certified minority- or women-owned business enterprises, or MWBEs.
There are more than 9,700 certified MWBE companies listed on a state directory used by contractors, government agencies and private developers seeking minority business participation. They get access to lending and bonding programs and support services from the state.
New York in recent years has been aggressive in booting from its programs companies it says are not authentic WBEs because the husband, father or brother of the female owner controls the company.
A 2021 review of state economic development files and court records by The Buffalo News revealed nearly 500 cases in the last three years where state officials either denied the certification of a woman-owned business or revoked its certification years after the state initially approved it.
Most of those cases involved family businesses where a woman owned a majority stake in the company, but a male member of the woman's family either co-owned or had significant roles in the business.
"We need to do that to ensure the integrity of the program," Goldie Weixel , acting general counsel for Empire State Development , said at the time. "The purpose is to support woman-owned businesses. It's not the family-owned business program."
Upstate Steel
That stance has rankled business owners such as Upstate Steel's Chmielowiec, who in 2015 was denied recertification as a WBE because state officials said her mother, Bonnie Chmielowiec , was listed on tax forms as a "bookkeeper" for the business. State officials claimed her father and other men made most business decisions.
State officials made a similar determination in 2017 when an affiliated company, Upstate Rebar, applied for certification as a WBE and was denied.
"With respect to operations, the (State) Division (of Minority and Women's Business Development) determined that Bonnie Chmielowiec and the other woman owner ( Lauren Chmielowiec ) do not make decisions pertaining to the operation of the business enterprise," a state administrative law judge wrote in a document explaining the denial.
Chmielowiec said the denial cost her $4 million worth of work on the stadium. She hired Wolf, who provided additional documentation to the state showing that Chmielowiec was the legitimate owner of the company. She is now certified as a WBE, meaning her work would count as part of the required percentage on the stadium job.
"I'm blown away that my voice was actually heard," Chmielowiec said. "But it's really sad that you have to go to those lengths just to give yourself a fighting chance."
Hamburg Overhead Door
In the summer, Empire State Development concluded that the Bills' hiring through early June of minority and women-owned businesses, as well as service-disabled and veteran-owned businesses, to build the new stadium was "well below its expected performance" under project participation goals.
Kuhn was surprised when her family's company, Hamburg Overhead Door, was denied entry into the program in 2021.
Kuhn's father founded the business and made Kuhn a vice president in 2004. She had a business degree, graduated from the University at Buffalo's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership program and handled sales, development and administrative functions. Her brother, Jason Kuhn , worked as lead installer for the company.
"I've been on this path since I was 14," Jennifer Kuhn said. "I went to school for this. It wasn't just handed to me. I worked for my dad for 15 years before he sold it to me."
When her parents retired in 2020, they sold a 51% ownership stake to Jennifer Kuhn , who became president, and a 49% stake to Jason Kuhn , who became vice president. State officials claimed Jason Kuhn controlled the company and denied it certification. She said state officials did not perform a site visit.
"That's what they're punishing me for, (because) I'm not out installing garage doors," Jennifer Kuhn said. "I'm doing the billing, HR, marketing, sales. (Installing) is the easy part, honestly. It's all the other stuff on the business side that goes into it."
An Empire State Development spokesperson declined to comment on the case, but said in a written statement that the agency "remains committed to fostering an environment where MWBEs can thrive, and we continuously work to improve the certification process. We will continue to provide clarity and guidance to all applicants navigating the process and will continue to connect the thousands of state-certified MWBEs to contracting opportunities across New York State ."
Jennifer Kuhn said she is appealing the denial and trying to obtain work on the Bills stadium, which will need roughly 200 garage doors. Without state certification, though, she is unlikely to be hired because woman-owned businesses that are not certified with the state do not count toward the project's WBE goals.
"I should not be punished because my brother works here," Kuhn said. "I'm not a wife or a sister someone put on a piece of paper. For so many years, there was a lot of fraud taking place, and I understand they need to stop that from happening. But that's not what's going on here."
___
(c)2024 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.