In addition to the prescribed rates of pay and other allowances provided for in this chapter, officers, employees, and volunteers of the City shall be entitled to the payment of or reimbursement for the following classes of official expenditures:
A. Transportation, lodging, meals, and other related expenditures which may lawfully be incurred by officers, employees, and volunteers of the City when approved by the City Manager or the Director of Utilities, as applicable, within or without the City:
1. For purposes which generally promote, develop, or publicize the City's best interests, including sales promotional and institutional activities of its municipal utilities;
2. For incurred expenditures associated with attendance at sessions of the Washington State Legislature or in connection with appearing before or conferring with any individual, group, or committee of state legislators or other persons at Olympia or elsewhere for the purpose of presenting data, exchanging information, and otherwise consulting on matters of mutual concern in the development of intergovernmental understanding and cooperation, for the proper evaluation of legislative programs affecting the municipalities, and for such other purposes as may promote or tend to promote the best interests and general welfare of the City;
3. For coffee, nonalcoholic beverages, and refreshments of de minimis value at City meetings attended by City officials, employees, and/or the public, at which City business matters are the primary matters of discussion, consistent with the written policies adopted by the City Manager or Director of Utilities, as applicable.
B. The cost of meals lawfully incurred on behalf of or by City personnel within the City or at other normal areas of employment while they are conferring, consulting, or otherwise meeting with non-City specialists, technicians, executives, or others for purposes generally associated with the routine official duties of such personnel where not otherwise covered by other provisions of this chapter.
C. The City shall pay the cost of premiums or fees for:
1. Trip Travel Life insurance covering each employee, officer, and official of the City for an amount not to exceed $100,000 each, payable to the beneficiary named by the insured, while traveling on City business authorized by competent authority. All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable policy.
2. Policies of insurance or self-insurance retention insuring the Police Chief and all duly commissioned police officers of the City of Tacoma against false arrest.
3. Policies of insurance or self-insurance retention insuring City employees while driving City vehicles operated in any municipal capacity against liability for bodily injury and property damage resulting from said operation.
4. Policies of insurance or self-insurance retention insuring Fireboat Pilots and relief pilots while operating the City’s fireboat against liability for bodily injury and property damage resulting from said operation.
5. The cost of such additional driver’s license endorsement and examination fees as may be required for City employee drivers of certain types of heavier motor vehicle equipment, as may be specified by the Director, Washington State Department of Motor Vehicles, pursuant to Chapter 20, Laws of 1967, Extraordinary Session.
6. Policies of insurance or self-insurance retention insuring the City against claims arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of City-owned facilities and property and including coverage for City employees for claims arising out of their employment by the City.
D. Whenever the qualified appointing authority of the City of Tacoma may determine that in order to secure the services of any person not residing within the Tacoma area as an employee of the City of Tacoma, it is necessary to pay the cost of moving the household goods and personal effects of such person from his or her place of residence to the City of Tacoma upon his or her appointment to City service, and/or to provide temporary lodging expenses not to exceed six months for such person until such person can move his or her place of residence to the City of Tacoma upon his or her appointment to City service, and/or to provide a temporary housing cost supplement to mitigate a significant increase in the cost of comparable housing for such person who moves his or her place of residence to the City of Tacoma upon his or her appointment to City service, such supplement not to exceed 80 percent of the increase in median housing cost and not to exceed three years, then payment of reasonable and necessary moving costs, lodging costs, or housing cost supplement may be made from appropriate available maintenance and operation funds in the City’s annual budget, upon the recommendation of the appointing authority and the approval of such an expenditure by the City Manager, Director of Utilities, or Public Utility Board. An annual report showing the recipients of all benefits granted under this provision shall be submitted to the City Council in the month of December of each year.
E. Whenever the Council finds that in selecting personnel to fill positions in the City of Tacoma requiring special experience and training to qualify for such positions it becomes necessary, in order to insure selection of the most qualified applicant, that applicants for such positions be personally interviewed, and that in certain cases the expense to the City of sending members of boards, commissions, and other officers of the City to various localities for the purpose of conducting such interviews exceeds the cost to the City government of providing that the interviews be had in the City of Tacoma at the City’s expense and that the payment by the City of the necessary travel and subsistence expenses for a limited number of applicants to be brought to the City will result in a saving or expense to the City in the outlay of travel and subsistence expenses or in the time which would be lost by reason of regular officers or employees of the City conducting the interviews elsewhere. The Council further finds that in such cases the payment by the City of the travel and subsistence expense of applicants requested to come to the City of Tacoma for interview is a proper municipal expense and for a proper municipal purpose.
In order to make a proper determination of the facts in cases where authority is requested to bring in applicants for any position in the City of Tacoma at the City’s expense, the City Manager as to the filling of all positions in the general City government, and the Director of Utilities as to the filling of all positions under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Utilities, be and are hereby authorized to determine the facts, and upon approval by the City Manager or the Director of Utilities, as the case may be, based upon a determination that the payment by the City of the expenses of bringing a limited number of applicants to the City of Tacoma for interview is necessary to make possible the selection of the best available applicant for a position involving special skill and experience to properly discharge the duties thereof, and that the payment of the expense of bringing said applicants to the City is less than the expense and loss to the City in sending its officers, commissions, or boards to conduct said interview elsewhere, and that funds for the payment of such expenses are lawfully available, payment therefor shall be considered as approved by the City Council and shall be paid from the fund to which said expenses are properly chargeable.
F. In addition to the City paying the cost of premiums or fees for general liability insurance as otherwise set forth in this chapter, where the City has acquired insurance coverage on a self-insurance retention basis, in lieu of paying full coverage, premiums, or fees, for policies of general liability insurance insuring the City against claims arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of City-owned facilities and property, and including coverage for City employees for claims arising out of their employment by the City, the City may upon timely notice and in appropriate factual situations, subject to the approval of the City Attorney, pay the cost of such claims incurred, and for claims settlement service, as do not exceed the self-insurance coverage limits required in conjunction with the overriding provisions of such policies.
G. In order to encourage a greater number of City employees to use public transportation and, therefore, benefit the City by conserving fuel resources, roads, and parking spaces, the proper officials of the City are authorized to subsidize permanent, project, appointive, temporary pending exam, and temporary City employees’ and volunteers’ monthly public transportation tokens, passes, and authorized van pools, by paying per month 50 percent of the full price of said vanpools, and up to the full price of public transportation passes, or the IRS tax exempt benefit limit (whichever is less); provided, however, that this shall not apply to commissioned Police Department personnel, effective August 1, 2020. The proper City officials are authorized to provide passes or appropriately reimburse said City employees in order to implement this City employee public transportation subsidy program. Additionally, the proper officials of the City are authorized to provide cash and other in-kind incentives as part of an adopted Commute Trip Program.
H. Whenever the City Manager, the Director of Utilities, or the Public Utility Board determines that, in order to secure or retain key qualified personnel possessing specialized technical or professional skills for unrepresented positions, it is necessary to offer said individuals additional compensation, benefits, or both, then the City Manager, the Director of Utilities, and the Public Utility Board shall each have discretion to authorize the payment of up to an annual total of $200,000 in additional compensation, benefits, or both. Such compensation, benefits, or both under this provision of this paragraph shall be limited to a maximum of $15,000 per employee per year; provided, that payment can lawfully be made from funds appropriated in the current biennial budget of the employing department. In addition, the City Council and Public Utility Board shall each have discretion to authorize the payment of severance benefits associated with an employment agreement in the event of termination without cause, in order to secure or retain the City Manager and Director of Utilities positions up to an amount corresponding to one year of salary. If the Public Utility Board determines that payment of severance benefits should be authorized as part of an agreement to secure or retain the services of the Director of Utilities, then such agreement shall be initiated by the Public Utility Board, subject to approval by the City Council. All agreements authorizing severance benefits shall include, at a minimum, language that prohibits payment of such benefits when the event of termination is the result of gross negligence, intentional acts which are not in the best interests of the City or interfere with the employee’s ability to perform the duties of the position, acceptance of another position while still employed with the City, or conviction of a gross misdemeanor or felony offense. An annual report showing the recipients of all severance, compensation, and benefits granted under this provision shall be submitted to the City Council in the month of December of each year.
I. Whenever the City Manager or the Director of Utilities identifies positions for elimination as part of departmental reorganization, streamlining, elimination of duplication, layoff, or other such efforts, the City Manager or the Director of Utilities also shall each have discretion to authorize the payment of severance benefits or retirement incentives up to the limits of their delegated contracting authority; provided, that payment can lawfully be made from funds appropriated in the current biennial budget of the employing department. An annual report showing the recipients of all severance benefits and retirement incentives granted under this provision shall be submitted to the City Council in the month of December of each year.
J. The City Council may, as part of an employment agreement, authorize payment of a car allowance for the City Manager.
(Ord. 16723 § 1, 1961-01-24; Ord. 17885 § 1, 1965-07-20; Ord. 17911 § 2, 1965-08-24; Ord. 18548 § 2, 1968-04-23; Ord. 18697 § 6, 1968-12-26; Ord. 19000, 1969-12-30; Ord. 19483 § 2, 1971-12-28; Ord. 19584 § 4, 1972-05-30; Ord. 20127 § 1, 1974-05-28; Ord. 20937 § 2, 1976-12-21; Ord. 21565 § 1, 1978-12-19; Ord. 22833 § 1, 1982-12-21; Ord. 23111 § 4, 1984-02-07; Ord. 23350 § 3, 1985-02-26; Ord. 24263 § 1, 1988-12-20; Ord. 24330 § 1, 1989-04-04; Ord. 24722 § 1, 1990-09-25; Ord. 24834 § 1, 1991-02-12; Ord. 24855 § 1, 1991-03-05; Ord. 24856 § 3, 1991-03-05; Ord. 24935 § 1, 1991-06-25; Ord. 25064 § 2, 1992-02-25; Ord. 25133 § 1, 1992-06-30; Ord. 25316 § 3, 1993-06-08; Ord. 25445 § 1, 1994-02-22; Ord. 25620 § 1, 1994-11-01; Ord. 25645 § 4, 1994-12-13; Ord. 25871 § 1, 1996-03-19; Ord. 26116 § 1, 1997-08-19; Ord. 26181 § 1, 1997-12-16; Ord. 26182 § 2, 1997-12-16; Ord. 26209 § 2, 1998-04-14; Ord. 26379 § 1, 1999-03-16; Ord. 26450 § 1, 1999-06-22; Ord. 26761 § 2, 2000-12-19; Ord. 26797 § 1, 2001-04-03; Ord. 26874 § 1, 2001-11-13; Ord. 27033 § 1, 2002-12-17; Ord. 27170 § 2, 2003-12-09; Ord. 27301 § 1, 2004-12-07; Ord. 27495 § 1, 2005-06-20; Ord. 27636 Ex. A, 2007-07-31; Ord. 28037 § 1, 2011-11-22; Ord. 28497 Ex. A, 2018-03-27; Ord. 28681 Ex. A, 2020-07-14; Ord. 28824 Ex. A, 2022-07-26)