CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
title
AN ORDINANCE relating to staffing shortages in the Community Safety Communications Center and the Seattle Police Department; retroactively authorizing a one-month hiring bonus incentive program for hiring 911 dispatchers and police officers; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.
body
WHEREAS, on October 29, 2021, Mayor Durkan issued a Civil Emergency Order under the authority of the Seattle Municipal Code Sections 10.02.020 and 10.02.025 and her Mayoral Proclamation of Civil Emergency, dated March 3, 2020; and
WHEREAS, the Order authorized an ongoing hiring incentive program that would allow the Seattle Community Safety and Communication Center (CSCC) and Seattle Police Department (SPD) to offer experienced dispatch and officer candidates a hiring incentive of up to $25,000, depending on experience level, and new recruit candidates up to $10,000 per hire; and
WHEREAS, on November 22, 2021, the City Council passed Resolution 32027, which modified the Mayor's Civil Emergency Order to (1) sunset the authority to offer the hiring incentives authorized by the Order on the earlier of December 31, 2021, or the termination of the Civil Emergency proclaimed on March 3, 2020; and (2) limit total expenditures for hiring incentives authorized by the Order to $500,000; and
WHEREAS, on December 30, 2021, Mayor Durkan sent the SPD Chief and the Interim Director of the CSCC a memo instructing them to continue to hire and implement the terms of the order; and
WHEREAS, on February 4, 2022, Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell, sent an e-mail to Councilmembers that indicated, "unbeknownst to the Harrell Administration," the SPD and CSCC "continued to offer incentive bonuses throughout the entire month of January," and that they "have since directed both SPD and CSCC to cease offering the bonuses immediately," and
WHEREAS, the Chair of the Council's Public Safety and Human Services Co...
Click here for full text