PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia officials are trying to bar a Northeast paving company from doing any more business with the city, after finding that it used a shell company to get around city rules on sharing contracts with minority-owned businesses.
General Asphalt and Paving — owned by the once-politically powerful Meehan family — has received a healthy share of city work. However, in 2021, the city controller’s office and inspector general investigated its mandated minority-owned subcontract with Empire Services.
They determined Empire was not legitimately minority-owned, but an extension of the Meehans’ business meant to circumvent city law, and recommended the company be debarred from doing business with the city moving forward.
Last week, the city controller wrote to the mayor’s office complaining that no action had been taken against the company, nearly two years after the investigation.
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Mayor Jim Kenney says he shares the controller’s frustration but he maintains that lawyers for General Asphalt and Empire have repeatedly asked that hearings on the matter be postponed.
“They’ve used the system to delay it and that’s frustrating,” said Kenney, “but in the end I think the result will be fair and I think that kind of behavior is disgraceful.”
General Asphalt’s attorney, Mike Burns, declined to comment on the mayor’s assertion but said the companies disagree with the city’s findings and intend to defend against the claims. A final hearing, with no more postponements allowed, is scheduled for mid-September.
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