Agenda for Regular Meeting

A public hearing will be held at tonight’s meeting prior to a vote being taken on this Resolution which is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an amendment to the Price’s Run/Riverside/11th Street Bridge Neighborhood Comprehensive Development Plan in order to revise maps A through Q to include a property located at 3604 Downing Drive. The City Planning Commission, at its March 15, 2016 meeting, recommended that City Council approve the change to the plan.

A public hearing will be held at tonight’s meeting prior to a vote being taken on this Ordinance which is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration to annex a parcel of land in New Castle County at 3604 Downing Drive into the City of Wilmington based on a Petition for Annexation from the property owner, Moat Street LLC. The property lies within the Downing Industrial Park and is contiguous to the City boundary and the Riverside neighborhood. If approved, the ordinance would annex the land, assign a zoning classification of M-1 (light manufacturing) to the land, amend the City’s Building Zone Map to reflect the new property, amend the 3rd Councilmanic District to add the property and amend the City’s official boundaries to include the new property.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration to enter into a two-year lease agreement with the Urban Bike Project of Wilmington, Inc. for use of a City-owned property at 301 East 15th Street to house the operations of the non-profit agency. The monthly lease fee to the City would be $500. The Urban Bike Project supports Wilmington communities by providing access to bicycling as a healthy, affordable and practical means of transportation and recreation.

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 extend, for one additional year, the contract with Utility Service Company, Inc. (USC), for the inspection, water flow testing and rehabilitation of the City’s approximately 2,500 fire hydrants. The original contract with USC became effective last March and contained two, one-year contract extension periods. The City will pay USC $386,920 (the same amount as the first year of the agreement) for the second year of the agreement which is scheduled to begin on or about March 12, 2016.

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 extend, for one additional year, the contract with Utility Service Company, Inc. (USC), for valve inspection, exercising and rehabilitation services. The original contract with USC became effective last March and contained two, one-year contract extension periods. The City will pay USC $386,920 (the same amount as the first year of the agreement) for the second year of the agreement which is scheduled to begin on or about
March 12, 2016.

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 regulation changes.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing portions of E Street, Claymont Street and Green Street to be removed from the Official City Map. The request for the change is being made by 200 LLC, the owner of eight parcels of contiguous land in South Wilmington. The request, which has already been approved by the City Planning Commission, would allow the City and New Castle County governments’ access to existing buried utilities as well as water and sewer infrastructure in the area.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be urging the Delaware General Assembly to pass House Bill 283, also known as the Veterans, Skilled Workers and Community Workforce Act. This legislation would require that on all State-funded construction, public works or improvement projects, contractors and sub-contractors draw 30% of the workforce for a particular project from the Representative District within which the project is located and 5% of the workforce from among eligible Delaware veterans.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing a portion of Liberty Street to be closed based on the recommendation of the Departments of Public Works and Planning. The City Planning Commission approved the recommendation at its March 15, 2016 meeting.

This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing amendments to Chapter 40 of the City Code that would require elected and appointed City employees to report annually any outstanding delinquencies to the City in taxes or fees. Specifically, this Ordinance would require all elected and appointed City officials to file an annual declaration of delinquent obligations with the City’s Human Resources Department by the last day in January. Elected and appointed employees would have to declare if they are delinquent on property taxes, water/sewer fees, license and inspection fees, parking or red light fines or fees, or any other obligation owed to the City. Failure to comply with the law would be a Class A misdemeanor offense under a State law that prohibits individuals from making a false written statement. Maximum violations of the law are punishable by up to one year of incarceration and a fine of up to $2,300, restitution or other conditions as a court may deem appropriate.

This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be requesting that the Administration require that the Wilmington Police Department [provide training and certification for police officers to carry and administer Narcan, an emergency medication that has been shown to counteract the effects of opioid-related drug overdoses. This effort would help to mitigate a dramatic increase in heroin and opioid abuse in recent years and save lives.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration to enter into an agreement with the auditing firm of Belfint, Lyons & Shuman, P.A., to provide an annual audit of all City government departments, as required by the City Charter, for Fiscal Years 2015, 2016, and 2017. The estimated cost of each annual City government audit is estimated to be $185,000. The agreement also allows for the possibility to two, one-year extensions of the contract by mutual agreement of the City and auditing firm. Belfint, Lyons & Shuman, P.A. was awarded the audit contract as the result of a public request for proposals.

This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City 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 part of a 1987 Council Compensation Commission methodology that recommended salary increases every four years for those citizens elected to the 13 part-time positions of City Council. 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 Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Administration, through the Departments of Planning and Police, to accept two appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly’s Fiscal Year 2016 Bond and Capital Improvements Act. Specifically, the Police Department would be authorized to accept a $750,000 appropriation for the new Real Time Crime Center and the Planning Department would be authorized to accept a $500,000 appropriation for park improvements. There are no local matching funds required for either appropriation.

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 Division of Integrated Technologies (IT), to enter into a five year agreement with VAR Resources LLC to finance the procurement of hardware and software top upgrade the City’s IT services. The total cost of the agreement is $1,108,098.63 to be paid in five equal installments of $221,619.73.

This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be joining with the Administration in asking the Delaware General Assembly to make certain changes to the City Charter related to the City’s contracting and procurement requirements. Specifically, the changes would improve the City’s procurement procedures, increase public access to contracting opportunities through Internet advertising, and allow the City to participate in cooperative purchasing agreements.