City of Tacoma News: Tacoma City Council

Tacoma City Council
Study Session
Noon, Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Room 16
Tacoma Municipal Building North
733 Market St.

Anti-discrimination code changes
The City Council will review proposed amendments to the anti-discrimination code. Human Rights and Human Services Director John Briehl will provide the council with recommendations resulting from a legal review of the code, including:

– Changing the definition of employer to include only those with eight employees or more-currently the anti-discrimination ordinance covers employers with one or more employee.

– Expanding youth participation on the commission to include students of all ages, not just those in high school.

– Updating exemptions for same-sex housing for groups such as YMCA, YWCA, fraternities and sororities.

Vacation of street rights of way
The second portion of the study session will focus on potential changes in the city’s policies on vacation of street rights of way. Recent changes in the state law allow cities to collect 100 percent of the appraised property value when a right of way has been dedicated for 25 years or more. In the past, cities could collect 50 percent. Another change says at least 50 percent of the revenue generated from street vacations must go to either acquisition and maintenance of open space or to transportation-related capital improvements Tacoma currently collects 50 percent of the appraised value for vacated streets and deposits all of the money into the open space fund. At the study session, Asset Management staff will present its recommendations for how much Tacoma should collect for street vacations in residential and commercial development situations and how to use that revenue. Staff also will propose other improvements to the street vacation process.

Tacoma City Council
Regular Meeting
5 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Council Chambers
Tacoma Municipal Building
747 Market St.

Employee pay, compensation changes
The City Council will review employee pay and compensation amendments ranging from the amount of pay employees receive for hauling fish to paying overtime to part time employees who work more than 40 hours in a week. Some other amendments to the ordinance include:

– Allowing deferred compensation for unrepresented, appointive Tacoma Rail employees.

– Giving 3 percent wage increases to all employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 483, Supervisors’ Bargaining Unit and providing a 5.9 percent wage adjustment to non-automatic step 4 for both classifications in the bargaining unit.

– Providing language for existing classifications that include non-automatic steps within the pay ranges and describing how those pay steps are attained.

The Council will take public comment March 25 and expects to vote on the ordinance April 1.

Daffodil royalty to visit council
Everything’s coming up daffodils for the City Council. The Daffodil queen and princesses will introduce themselves and promote their upcoming events at the City Council’s meeting. In the next couple of weeks, the Daffodil troupe will take part in festivities such as the Junior Daffodil Parade on April 5 and the Grand Floral Parade on April 12.