By Lizzie Stone, city council reporter
Beginning in January, city employees can use up to eight weeks of paid parental leave within a six month period.
Paid leave will be available to all full-time and part-time employees of the city after they have been employed for at least six months and have worked at least 500 hours. It will be offered to employees with a newborn, newly adopted or newly placed child in their household.
City leaders said at Tuesday night’s city council meeting that this new leave policy will match or exceed policies at similar government agencies.
Council member Monica Robinson said she appreciated the policy’s flexibility in providing leave for people with newly placed children, not just births or adoptions.
Changes to the parental leave policy came after the city conducted a study on employee benefits during which 75% of city employees participated in sessions to give feedback on benefits and the pressures facing their households.
Other issues the city hopes to address through employee benefits include offering additional options for daycare, health insurance, education reimbursement, other forms of paid leave, and housing assistance. Officials evaluated the priority level of each benefit based on employee feedback and expected financial costs, with plans to focus on the city contribution to retiree health next.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
- EMU received approval to amend and add land to its Institutional Overlay District, a special plan that allows nonprofit entities — including universities — to develop land without following every city zoning requirement. As part of this recent process, 94 acres of land that either the university owns or is adjacent to EMU’s campus were added to the zoning plan. Additionally, the update allowed for buildings to be up to 10 feet higher in each type of zone to allow for construction of solar panels. Requirements for parking lot capacity and landscaping also will be relaxed.
- The council approved two rezoning applications for future residential construction in the city. Two parcels currently located at 439 and 445 Myrtle Street will be subdivided into four, with two new homes set to be constructed on the new parcels. Land at 715 North Dogwood Drive was also rezoned with plans to construct 16 units of single family housing, split into two eight-unit buildings.
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