During Thursday night’s ‘State of the City’ address, Mayor Dana Ralph reminded residents that the City Council recently passed her ordinance to bring apprenticeship utilization to Kent.

“When I ran for Mayor, I promised I would find a way to work with the City, labor unions and workers to bring more training and opportunities for those in the building and construction trades,” Ralph said. “These are hard jobs and require skilled labor, and they are good paying jobs that offer competitive salaries and benefits to workers and their families.”

Ralph says that now – when public works projects have an estimated construction cost of $1 million or more – at least 15 percent of their labor force must include apprentices in state-approved apprenticeship programs.

“This is an ordinance that costs the taxpayers absolutely nothing – yet provides training, living wage jobs and economic opportunity for folks right here in our community,” Ralph added.