Agenda for Regular Meeting

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the City to accept four grants totaling $18,500 which would allow the City to contract with Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University to receive information about education financing mechanisms that could support Wilmington students. The grants to be accepted are $8,000 from the New Castle County Government, $5,000 from the United Way of Delaware, $3,000 from the American Liberties Foundation and $2,500 from the Christina Cultural Arts Center.

This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an amendment to the City’s Personnel Code to provide City employees who have worked for the City for at least one year up to 20 days of paid leave for either the birth parents or the adoptive parents of a minor child who is six years or under. The paid leave must be used within the first four weeks immediately following either the birth or adoption of a child. The Ordinance also creates a new section under Chapter 40 of the City Code outlining all of the details of the new Personnel Code revisions. If approved, this new benefit would apply immediately to all non-union City employees. This benefit must be negotiated with the City’s unionized employees.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the City to accept four grants totaling $40,000 which would allow the City to continue its agreement for the job search website Wilmington.TweetMy Jobs.com. The grants to be accepted are $25,000 from the Delaware Department of Labor, $5,000 from Capital One, $5,000 from New Castle County and $5,000 from Richards, Layton and Finger.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration to issue a General Obligation Bond not to exceed $20 million to support upgrades and improvements to the City’s Porter Water Treatment Plant and a General Obligation Bond not to exceed $5 million to support upgrades and improvements to water mains throughout the City.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Public Works Department to enter into a one-year, $29,900 contract with Modern Controls, Inc., for HVAC preventive maintenance and general and emergency repairs at the City’s Municipal Complex on Wilmington Avenue. The contract contains two possible one year extensions at the City’s option for the same annual contract cost as listed in this Ordinance. Modern Controls, Inc. was selected as the vendor through a public bidding process.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Department of Public Works, to enter into a five-year contract with American Water Resources LLC (AWR) to administer and provide a voluntary warranty protection program for Wilmington’s residential owners of water service lines and sewer laterals (water and sewer service lines). This program would enable residential owners of water and sewer lines to purchase warranty protection from AWR for water and sewer line maintenance and repair costs on portions of the water and sewer system that are the responsibility of the property owner and not the City government. AWR would pay the City an initial $50,000 administrative fee and would also annually pay the City 10% of the warranty fees it collects from residential owners. In addition, AWR will pay the City $20,000 annually to be used at the City’s discretion to assist residential water and sewer line owners who are not AWR warranty customers. The annual cost to a residential owner to have both their water and sewer lines under warranty with AWR is approximately $100.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be urging the Administration to ensure that ride-sharing services such as UBER and LYFT are properly regulated and registered with the City in order to provide services in Wilmington. The Resolution notes that as these types of service companies become more prevalent, it is imperative that local governments ensure that City laws and policies are followed and that the companies are paying their required taxes and fees.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Human Resources Department, to enter into a three-year contract with Express Scripts to administer and provide a prescription drug program for City employees beginning July 1, 2016. The cost of the agreement is $5.6 million in the first year, $6.3 million for the second year and $7 million in the third year. The agreement also allows for successive one year renewals of the contract until terminated by either party with 90 day notice. Express Scripts was selected as a vendor through a public bidding process.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the issuance of up to $50 million in General Obligation Funds in order to enable the City Treasurer to refinance current City bond debt at a lower interest rate. This Ordinance would authorize the Treasurer to proceed to secure a lower interest rate which would save the City money on future payments to retire its outstanding debt.

This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing implementation of a new salary structure for City Council Members who will take office in January 2017, after the November, 2016 general election. The new salary structure is based on methodology from a 1987 Council Compensation Commission report that recommended salary increases every four years for those citizens who are elected to the 13 part-time positions of City Council. This Ordinance is also in compliance with Rule 25 of City Council dealing with the establishment of Council salaries. The new salary structure to begin in 2017, if enacted by Council, would be $35,650 for President of Council (current salary is $34,950), $33,150 for the Finance Committee Chair (current salary is $32,500), $32,030 for the President Pro Tem of Council (current salary is $31,400) and $28,205 for the remaining members of what will be the 107th session of Wilmington City Council (current salary is $27,650 for members of the 106th session).

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Department of Police, to enter into a one-year agreement with Graves Uniforms LLC for the purpose of providing police clothing for department personnel. The cost to the City is $108,770. The agreement contains a one-year extension option at the same terms. The vendor was selected through the City’s competitive bidding process.

This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Department of Police, to apply for a $25,000 grant from the State of Delaware’s Criminal Justice Council in order to conduct a citizen satisfaction survey of the Wilmington Police Department.

This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an amendment to Chapter 8 of the City Code regarding economic opportunity plans. Specifically, this Ordinance would add a new section to City law which would require any developer who receives City funding, City subsidies, a grant or an in-kind contribution exceeding $200,000 to submit an economic opportunity plan to the Office of Economic Development. Such a plan would demonstrate how the developer will maximize participation in the project by disadvantaged businesses, disadvantaged individuals and City residents. Failure to comply with this new requirement may result in the revocation of City funding assistance for the immediate project and/or subsequent projects.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be expressing its support for all Federal, State and local government action to remove barriers to equal pay for equal work. The Resolution states that the City Council applauds and encourages any and all legislation that addresses the disparity in pay between men and women.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be expressing its support for Delaware Senate Bill 242 which would allow a convicted felon to vote before that person has paid all of their fines or fees levied by a court. The Resolution states that supporting the State legislation would give ex-offenders the same rights as other citizens and would encourage them to become productive citizens by being afforded them the principles of inclusion, fairness and respect.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be expressing its support for Delaware Senate Bill 239 which would replace out-of-school suspensions of students with effective and restorative interventions. The Resolution states that such non-suspension interventions would begin to correct disparities that currently exist in school discipline across various groups of students.