The City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday that prohibits city contractors from discriminating against domestic partners when providing benefits.
The city code will be amended to state that the city is prohibited to hire any contractor that “discriminates against its employees ... by failing to provide employment benefits for employees with domestic partners” that they would provide to married couples.
Mayor Pro Tem Diane Goddeeris said the ordinance is part of the city’s philosophy of non-discriminatory policies.
“Having this (ordinance) and expanding it . . . for any businesses doing business with us is just a natural progression of how we feel and how we fill about our community,” Goddeeris said.
Goddeeris said that this ordinance would protect students that might be part of the city’s future workforce.
“East Lansing was a community that first stopped discrimination against students because we recognize it is an important feature of our community to have students,” Goddeeris said.
Goddeeris anticipated the city would start working with people that share their same non-discriminatory philosophy.
“This is a community that we don’t want discriminatory kind of things and we want to work with people with this same philosophy,” Goddeeris said.
The City Council also approved a municipal partnership agreement between the cities of East Lansing and Lansing for the creation of an authority that will license and regulate taxicab companies.
Councilmember Susan Woods said the taxicab authority would create a safe environment for taxicab riders.
“It makes a cohesive, comprehensive regulation so that the wild west of Lansing does not get in or vise versa,” Woods said.
She said the authority would give a forum for taxicab drivers to voice their concerns.
Ride-sharing service Uber will be regulated by the same authority as the regular taxi companies.
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