Agenda for Regular Meeting

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 Licenses and Inspections to demolish ten vacant residential properties and one vacant garage, all of which have been deemed to be nuisance properties. L&I is certifying to Council that the owners of these properties have failed to respond to repeated requests to rehabilitate or demolish these properties, placing the City in the position of having to take action for the safety of residents who live near the properties. Once the property is demolished, the City will place a lien against the property making the owner liable to repay the City for costs incurred for the demolition.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration and City Council for
City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be approving amendment to chapter 38 of the City Code regarding animals in City Parks. Specifically, this Ordinance would make it illegal for citizens to walk or allow their animals to roam on the playing fields or athletic surfaces of City parks. This provision would be added to the current law which already prohibits citizens from hunting with animals, disturbing animals in their natural abode, bringing vicious or unruly animals into a park, or bringing or riding a horse in a City park.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing an amendment to Chapter 11 of the City Code to add a new section that preserves the health, comfort and environment of Wilmington residents. Specifically, passage of this Ordinance will bring the City into compliance with an MS4 permit (municipal separate storm sewer system permit) issued to the City by the State Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. The City is required to adhere to the MS4 permit by adopting regulations prohibiting incidents of illegal dumping into a MS4 and illicit discharges that can adversely affect local waterways. An estimated 90% of Wilmington’s stormwater collection system is a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) system while the remaining 10% is a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4).

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the elimination of a traffic and parking regulation related to the Community Education Building (CEB) on French Street. Pursuant to Substitute No. 1 to Ordinance No. 14-024, City Council had previously authorized temporary traffic and parking regulations related to the CEB that will expire on May 14. This new Ordinance would continue all of the previous traffic and parking regulations regarding the CEB with the exception of allowing the closure of French Street to vehicular traffic which is currently permitted two times each weekday to allow for the loading and unloading of students from school buses. After passage of this Ordinance, only the intermittent closure of French Street would be permitted for the loading and unloading of students and only when such a closure is directed by the Wilmington Police Department in consultation with officials of the CEB for the safety of students.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be granting certain construction and utility easements to the New Castle County government for the construction, operation and maintenance of a new sanitary sewer line on and across City-owned land known as Bringhurst Woods Park.

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 convey ownership of two City-owned properties—1104 A Street and 1106 A Street—to Thomas Hicklin, Jr. for the purpose of Mr. Hicklin renovating the properties as residential and occupying the properties.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be supporting the expansion of the Port of Wilmington to a site on the Delaware River in New Castle which would enable the Port to accommodate larger ships that require larger terminals. The Port expansion would involve a public-private partnership that would produce a single, larger pier or dock that could accommodate seven or more berths thus allowing the Port to accommodate larger container ships. The expansion is projected to create as many as 4,000 additional higher paying jobs for longshoremen.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be supporting the Delaware House of Representatives Concurrent Resolution No. 30 which calls for the creation of the Port of Wilmington Exports Task Force. This body would be charged with exploring the feasibility of introducing new agricultural products for export which would likely result in new jobs at the Port.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Department of Public Works to enter into a five-year contract not to exceed $324,000 with Itron, Inc., for automated water meter reading services. Itron, Inc. previously installed Itron radio transmission modules on the water meters that allow for the reading to be recorded electronically.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the City, through the Department of Public Works, to sell 550 of the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) that have been generated from the City’s renewable energy solar panel project at the Porter Water Filtration Plant. The SREC’s would be sold over a 20-year period. For the first ten years, they would be sold at $49.98 per SREC which would generate $27,489 per year in revenue for the City and at a rate of $35.00 per SREC for the second ten year period which would generate $19,250 per year in revenue for the City. This action is part of the State’s Renewable Portfolio Standard which is amandate to increase energy production from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and other alternatives to fossil and nuclear electric generation.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the removal of a portion of a city street from the Official City Map. Specifically, New Riverfront Associates, LLC, which owns an eight- parcel property at 415 Seventh Avenue, has requested that a portion of Seventh Avenue, located between Duncan Street and the Penn Central Railroad right-of-way, be removed from the Official City Map. The City Planning Commission met on March 17, 2015 and adopted a resolution which recommended approval of the request by New Riverfront Associates, LLC. The City Law Department has determined that the City’s ownership of the portion of Seventh Avenue that is proposed to be removed cannot be established.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be approving certain traffic and parking regulations. These changes would involve a variety of regulations such as all-way stop signs, no parking signs, no loading zone signs, four-hour parking signs and others. For a complete listing of the traffic/parking regulations and the street that are affected by this proposed Ordinance, please download a complete copy of the Ordinance by visiting the City’s website 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 the City to enter into a Volume Licensing Agreement with Microsoft Licensing, GP to purchase Microsoft computer software licenses to run City technological devices. The term of this Agreement is for a period of three (3) years.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be pledging the City’s full faith, credit and taxing power to assist the Wilmington Parking Authority (WPA) as it refunds its Guaranteed Parking Revenue Bonds, Series of 2005, and issues Guaranteed Parking Revenue Bonds, Series of 2015 in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15 million. The refunding will allow the WPA to obtain a lower interest rate on the new bond issuance which the City deems to be in the public interest of the City.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Department of Human Resources to enter into an amended one-year contract with an option for three, one-year extensions with USI Insurance Services (USI), a successor to Willis of Delaware, Inc., to serve as the City’s property and casualty insurance broker. The contract, for the period of August 1, 2014 through July 31, 2015, would not exceed $60,000 and could be renewed up to three times at the same annual amount. USI was selected through a competitive City bidding process.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the Department of Human Resources to enter into an amended one-year contract with an option for three, one-year extensions withUSI Insurance Services (USI), a successor to Willis of Delaware, Inc., to serve as the City’s life and health insurance broker. The contract, for the period of August 1, 2014 through July 31, 2015, would not exceed $135,000 and could be renewed up to three times at the same annual amount. USI was selected through a competitive City bidding process.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by City Council for Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be expressing its support for State Senate Bill No. 83 which would expand the legal protections for victims of domestic violence and reduce the ability of the perpetrators of domestic violence from purchasing or otherwise obtaining a firearm. The state legislation would also extend protections concerning domestic violence to include those involved in a substantive dating relationship as well as those who have co-habited at the time of an offense or within five years prior to an offense.

Synopsis: This Ordinance is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s  review and approval. If approved, Council would be authorizing the City, through the Wilmington Police Department, to enter into a one-year contract totaling $30,645 with Blue Swan, Inc. for the cleaning of police uniforms. The Ordinance also allows the contract to be renewed for at least two, one-year renewals at the same cost.

Synopsis: This Resolution is being presented by the Administration for City Council’s review and approval. If approved, Council would be endorsing the City’s Economic DevelopmentStrategic Action Plan which presents a vision and path forward for economic development within the City. The City’s Office of Economic Development has produced a plan that sets forth ten initiatives that act as the guiding principles for the City’s future economic vitality and prosperity.