The City Council held the first of three meetings this afternoon to review and approve the Strategic Plan for Seattle City Light. Ironically, our rates are going to go up unless we start using more power.
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How NCIS Went Badly Wrong
Thanks to a public disclosure request and some helpful folks at SPU’s public information office, I got copies of the monthly reports of Tim Almond, the QA consultant for the troubled NCIS project. NCIS is the new billing and customer-service IT system for Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities that has been under development for the last two and a half years, and is now a year late and $43 million over their original budget. Almond’s monthly reports paint a harrowing picture of a project that went wrong early, often, and predictably.
Continue readingCouncil struggles with how to pay for Office of Labor Standards
The City Council has put in a lot of worthwhile hours working on labor regulations to protect vulnerable workers — most recently on “secure scheduling” and paid family leave. They have also clarified that the Office of Labor Standards (OLS) is on point to enforce them. But the laws are meaningless if OLS doesn’t have the manpower to enforce them — and that means finding money.
Continue readingThis week in Council Chamber: housing!
Despite the Monday federal holiday, there’s still a lot going on this week; much of it relates to housing.
Continue readingUtility discount program gets a boost
The city’s Utility Discount Program, which gives a break to low-income residents on their Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities bills, is great but underutilized. But that’s changing quickly.
Continue readingNews roundup: slumlord law, other tidbits
It’s a bit of a slow news day… I guess everyone went to the Beyoncé concert last night.
Continue readingA Tale of Three Budgets
It’s a good thing that Council member Tim Burgess just put the 2016 Housing Levy to bed, because he now needs to wrestle three separate budgets to the ground. And the early numbers suggest that there’s some belt-tightening coming in 2017 and 2018.
Continue readingThis week: moving things forward, and a book
The Council will be pushing forward on a number of fronts this week, including the confirmation hearings for Sam Assefa, the 2035 Comprehensive Plan, the Bicycle Master Plan, and Sound Transit 3. Also, there’s a book you should read.
Continue readingOffice of Labor Standards is growing, but where will the money come from?
There’s no question that the “small but mighty” Office of Labor Standards needs to grow. The question is how to pay for it.
Continue readingNCIS hearing: things were learned.
This afternoon the City Council conducted a hearing on the NCIS billing and customer service IT system being co-developed by Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, and SeattleIT, the city’s newly-consolidated IT department. It was neither the bloodbath I expected, nor was it a font of revelations as to why a $66 million project went $43 million over budget. But if you listened carefully, arranged the puzzle pieces just so, and squinted a little bit, you could make out roughly what happened — and the rough waters ahead.
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