Agenda for Regular Meeting

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval.If approved, Council would be urging the Williams’ Administration to take the necessary steps to have the City of Wilmington to be designated as a Promise Zone Region. The Promise Zone Initiative is a federal program with a stated objective of revitalizing high poverty communities across the country by creating jobs, increasing economic activity, improving educational opportunities, leveraging private investment, and reducing violent crime. The Federal Government intends to approve five Promise Zone Designations in the United States each year for the next four years.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Department of Real Estate and Housing to transfer title of 2110 North Jessup Street to Edwin Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell responded to a City Request for Proposals (RFP) for the property and agreed to pay the City $8,000. Mr. Mitchell has agreed to renovate the property and sell it for home ownership.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by the City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be urging the United States Congress to approve a bi- partisan, long-term funding program for transportation infrastructure which will ultimately benefit Wilmington. The Resolution notes that the nation’s transpiration infrastructure needs have been neglected and are in dire need of new funding before the current transportation funding authorization expires on September 30, 2014.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing certain traffic and parking regulations affecting East 12th Street, East 13th Street, North French Street and Wilson Street. These traffic and parking changes are due to the anticipated movement of bus and vehicular traffic related to the opening of the new Community Education Building on North French Street. You can view a complete list of the changes by accessing the Ordinance atwww.WilmingtonDE.gov/government/ccagenda

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s
review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing changes in Chapter 48 which is the City’s Zoning Code. In particular, this Ordinance would correct an inconsistency in the Administration and Enforcement section of the Code by making it clearer that all applications for single-family to multiple-family property conversions must first be approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The recommended change in the Zoning Code was made by the City’s Planning Commission.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an 11-month contract, August 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015 (with an option for three, one-year extensions) with Willis of Delaware, Inc., to be the City’s property and casualty insurance broker. Willis was selected through a CityRequest for Proposal (RFP) process. Willis will be paid a total price not to exceed $55,000 for the initial 11-month agreement. Subsequent one-year extensions, if exercised, will not exceed $60,000 per year.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an 11-month contract, August 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015 (with an option for three, one-year extensions) with Willis of Delaware, Inc., to be the City’s life and health insurance broker. Willis was selected through a City Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Willis will be paid a total price not to exceed $123,750 for the initial 11-month agreement. Subsequent one-year extensions, if exercised, will not exceed $135,000 per year.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing changes to Chapter 4 of the City Code related to the responsibilities of property owners to maintain the buildings and fences in order to prevent decay and weather-related damage. Specifically, the Ordinance requires property owners to remove loose paint, peeling, cracking and other signs of decay from buildings and to re-paint or re-apply a protective coating. The Ordinance also addresses fences saying all such structures shall be maintained in good condition with all evidence of disrepair such as large holes, collapsed sections, missing sections or broken railings and posts repaired.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the City Council for Council’s review and approval. An Ordinance to provide a more transparent process by which the City’s Expenditure Review Board looks at spending trends among City departments. The Ordinance would require that the Board hold each of its required quarterly meetings during a regularly-scheduled session of the Council Finance Committee. These public review sessions would also be expanded to include a discussion of departmental vacancies as well as the City’s General Fund andWater/Sewer Fund. Under the Ordinance, the City Budget Director would also be required to notify members of the Council Finance Committee if department expenditures reach or exceeded 75% of appropriated funds within a fiscal year. The Budget Director would also be required to notify the Finance Committee in writing whenever the City is projecting a budget shortfall of 3% or more (instead of the current 5%) of budgeted revenues in any fiscal year. In addition, the Ordinance would change the date (to January 31 instead of March 1) by which the City Council must enact legislation reconciling, amending or transferring funds among financial accounts in City departments for the prior fiscal year. This revised date will bring the reconciliation process in line with the availability of the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) which is completed by December 31 of each year.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the City Council for Council’s review and approval. An Ordinance to clarify the process and criteria by which the City’s Police and Fire Chiefs schedule a training academy to fill vacant staff positions. The Ordinance would require the two Department heads to appear before the Council Public Safety Committee four times a year, instead of twice a year, to review staffing levels. The Ordinance further requires the fire and police chiefs to present a Resolution to Council calling for the commencement of an academy should staffing levels fall below 95% of each Department’s respective authorized maximum staffing total as stated in the City’s Position Allocation List (PAL). Currently, there is no requirement in City Code for the Fire and Police Chiefs to come before Council before deciding to schedule a training academy.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. A Budget Amendment Ordinance that would reduce the Fiscal Year 2015 appropriation to the Wilmington Fire Department by approximately $447,000. The savings will allow the Department to operate at maximum efficiency while not filling seven currently vacant firefighter positions that are due to retirements over the past several months. One of the positions has been vacant for more than three months, five positions have been vacant for about two months and another has been vacant for a month. According to the 2012 Berkshire Report, a reduction of staff will not affect the Department’s response time in arriving at fire scenes, will not affect overall firefighting activities, and will not reduce public safety to citizens. The budget amendment also reduces the authorized staffing of the Fire Department by seven positions which would coincide with the reduction of appropriations to the department and thus solidify the intended savings to taxpayers.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. This Ordinance authorizes the City to enter into City Contract 15003PD – Police Clothing – with Graves Uniforms LLC for a period of one year at a price of one hundred eleven thousand seven hundred eighty dollars ($111,788.00), with a possible extension of one year at the City’s option upon the same terms and conditions (including price).

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be endorsing the Federal Pell Grant Program
and urging Congress to continue funding program at the level needed to achieve the president’s goal to produce more college graduates to make America the best nation possible. Congress established the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program in
the 1972 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which was later renamed the
Pell Grant program in 1980 in honor of Senator Clairborne Pell, a Democratic Senator from Rhode Island. The program provides federal grant aid directly to financially needy undergraduate students to pay for the cost of attending at any eligible institution of highereducation. Pell Grants are the nation’s largest source of need-based education assistance serving about one in four of all undergraduate students in the United States.