SIMI VALLEY : Council OKs 2-Year Employee Contract

The Simi Valley City Council has approved a two-year contract with a city employees’ union that will give the 246 members a 5% raise beginning in July, followed by another 5% raise during the second year of the contract.

The council Thursday unanimously approved the contract agreement with the California League of City Employees Assn., which represents the city’s clerical and maintenance workers.

The new salary package will cost the city about $500,000 for the two-year period of the contract, said Laura Wylie, the city’s personnel and budget administrator.

She said the city and the union have been negotiating since March and that both sides were pleased with the contract, which becomes effective July 1.

Also on Thursday, the council voted to approve a 231-unit housing project to be built by the Milner Development Corp. of Beverly Hills.

The development, which will be built on a 63-acre site near Tierra Rejada and Madera roads, will include 58 housing units for low-income residents as well as a 3.2-acre park. The 58 housing units will sell for about $138,000, or about half of their market value, said John M. Williamson, a Simi Valley attorney representing the developer.

The project had originally been planned for 237 housing units, with 59 for low-income residents.

However, the Planning Commission and the Rancho Simi Park District recommended that the City Council not approve the project unless a park was included in the development.

The developer agreed, with the condition that the park district pay to develop the park. The developer also retains the right to raise the price of the remaining 173 housing units, which will sell for about $230,000, to offset the cost of the park space.