Soldotna City Council members on Wednesday gave initial approval to a slew of new strategies the city hopes to implement as a way to boost its staff recruitment efforts.

The ordinance comes roughly two months after the city council convened with city administrators, a researcher with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and a private workforce firm out of Anchorage to discuss the issue. Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen at that meeting said the city has experienced longer than normal recruitment lengths.

The legislation given initial approval by council members on Wednesday night would amend the section of Soldotna Municipal Code that addresses personnel to add new programs and to update and clarify the section’s existing language to align with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Among other things, those clarifications include adding to city code that a candidate’s opportunity for employment will not be restricted by that candidate’s national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or physical or mental disability. Currently, those descriptions are not part of the nondiscrimination section of Soldotna’s hiring procedures.

The same ordinance would also authorize Soldotna’s city manager to institute hiring bonuses, a relocation assistance program and an employee referral program to help recruit new staff. That is in addition to adding Christmas Eve as a paid holiday and expanding bereavement leave. City employees may also be able to take up to six weeks of paid parental leave under the legislation.

The Soldotna City Council will hold a public hearing and final vote on the ordinance during the body’s April 26 meeting. Wednesday’s meeting can be streamed on the city’s website at soldotna.org.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.