Agenda for Regular Meeting

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. This Resolution names two additional appointments to the Residency Taskforce for the City of Wilmington and extends the time for submitting findings and recommendations regarding recruitment to the City’s workforce from July 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024.

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. In accordance with the Wilmington City Council’s 2022-2025 Strategic Plan goal of promoting a Wilmington for All Ages, this Resolution encourages the Administration to work collaboratively with all interested parties, including but not limited to individuals residing in the vicinity of Eastlake Park; relevant community organizations; Kaboom!, a nationally known non-profit dedicated to achieving “playspace equity;” Philadelphia 76ers Franchise, and other relevant parties to renovate Eastlake Park.

Synopsis:  This Substitute Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Substitute Ordinance amends Article V of Chapter 11 of the City Code to revise the City of Wilmington Pretreatment Ordinance to (i) incorporate the updated and approved local limits as required by the EPA, (ii) update select definitions to better align with specific language in the EPA regulations, (iii) clarify select general prohibitions intended to prevent the discharge of corrosive and explosive substances, (iv) codify requirements (a) regarding the time allocated for permittee review of draft permits (b) regarding the required use of accredited laboratories for all compliance monitoring, (c) to ensure consistency between the Pretreatment Ordinance and its enforcement response plan, and (d) to update maximum penalty levels to reflect EPA adjustments since 2011, and (v) move the detailed local limits and  program fees to appendices to facilitate future updates. Finally, as a housekeeping matter, this Substitute Ordinance replaces certain written numbers with numerals for consistency.

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Resolution authorizes the Office of Economic Development’s grant application to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control for a Surface Water Matching Planning Grant in the amount of $50,000. The proposed grant funds would be used to support the City’s (i) analysis of the riverine, tidal, and shoreline characteristics of the Seventh Street Peninsula shoreline and (ii) exploration of and recommendations for shoreline protection approaches for the Seventh Street Peninsula shoreline. Local matching funds are required.

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Resolution authorizes the  Department of Public Works’ grant application to the United States Department of Transportation in the amount of $200,000. The  proposed grant funds would be used to support the development of a Safe Streets for All Action Plan for the City, which will build on the  City bike plan’s Vision Zero goal, the Delaware Department of Transportation’s pedestrian safety study, and the final report and  recommendations of the New Castle County Safe Streets for All Action Plan. Local matching funds are required. In addition, this  Resolution endorses the final report and recommendations of the New Castle County Safe Streets for All Action Plan and commits to a goal of Vision Zero, a safety philosophy which states that no loss of life due to traffic collisions is acceptable.

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Resolution authorizes the Department of Public Works to accept grant funds from the Delaware Department of Labor, Division of Employment & Training, in an amount up to $40,000. The grant funds will be used to support training of new City employees and current City employees who are promoted to a higher pay grade. No local matching funds are required.

Synopsis:  This Resolution is being presented by the  Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Resolution authorizes the Department of Public Works’ grant  application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the amount of $333,558. The proposed grant  funds would be used to support the City’s planning project to  produce designs for the restoration and enhancement of 12.7  acres of degraded wetland habitat along the Christina River in  the Southbridge community. The implementation of these  designs will help the community reduce flooding, enhance  resiliency, accomplish ecological restoration, improve water  quality in the Christina River, and create recreational  opportunities for the City’s residents and visitors. No local  matching funds are required. 

Synopsis:  This Ordinance is being presented by Administration for Council’s review and approval.  This Ordinance amends various sections of Chapter 40 of the City Code to: (i) increase of the number of salary steps in the classified service from seven (7) to eleven (11) to align the steps with the updated salary structures; (ii) entitle any non-bargaining unit classified service employee who is promoted to a position in a class with a higher pay grade to the lowest step in the higher range which exceeds such employee’s prior rate of pay by a minimum of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) annually; (iii) set the salary for any non-bargaining unit classified service employee who is voluntarily demoted to the highest step in the class to which the employee was demoted that will provide a pay decrease; (iv) adjust the range of starting salaries for E/M employees to between the minimum and the first third of the applicable salary range; (v) increase the combined leave pay-out for all eligible employees who have accumulated between (a) thirty (30) and one hundred (100) days of combined leave to forty dollars ($40.00) per day and (b) one hundred one (101) and two hundred forty (240) days of combined leave to fifty dollars ($50.00) per day; and (vi) make members of the non-uniformed classified service eligible to receive City-sponsored benefits upon the date of hire commensurate with the treatment currently received by uniformed classified service employees, appointed employees, and elected officials.  Finally, as a housekeeping matter, this Ordinance replaces the terms “personnel director” and “personnel department” with “director of human resources” and “human resources department”.

Synopsis:  This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. This Ordinance makes the following amendments to Chapter 4, section 4-27, 120.0 entitled Annual Registration of Vacant Buildings and Registration Fees and section 202.0:

 Increases the registration fees for properties vacant two (2) or more years;

• Defines “vacant” to include commercial buildings that are intermittently occupied by the business-occupant and subjects such properties to the registration and fee requirements of this section;
• Establishes a program allowing delinquent registration fees to be voided if the owner obtains a certificate of occupancy or certificate of completion within one year;
• Lengthens the time period triggering the requirement to register a building from forty-five (45) days vacant to six (6) months vacant;
• Provides for two (2) one-year extensions to the exemption from vacant registration fees for properties deemed “occupancy ready”;
• Clarifies that past due vacant registration fees are not subject to the one-time waiver and appeal provisions;
• Clarifies that past due vacant registration fees must be paid in order to obtain a one-time waiver;
• With regard to an extension of a one-time waiver, clarifies that the vacant registration fee must be paid if the property is not occupied, sold, demolished, or rehabilitated prior to the expiration of the extension period;
• Clarifies that in subsection (f) (which addresses the failure to register a vacant property) the issues on appeal are 1) whether the person subject to the violation notice is the owner of the property; 2) whether the property was required to be registered; or 3) whether the property was properly registered;
• Removes the requirement for Law Department review of the commissioner’s decision to grant a waiver of a vacant registration fee;
• Provides that individuals who purchase a vacant building directly from the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank Corp. are billed a vacant registration fee based on the duration of vacancy from when they received the building from the Land Bank, rather than a vacant registration fee based on the total number of years the property has been vacant; and
• Provides that the $50 filing fee for an appeal will be refunded if the appeal is successful.