Tri-City leaders hold the door open for Uber

An official with Uber, the smartphone-based taxi service, met with law enforcement representatives from Kennewick, Richland and Pasco Monday to discuss possible changes to local codes that would encourage the “transportation network company” to add the Tri-Cities to its service territory.

San Francisco-based Uber offers transportation services in a number of Eastern Washington communities but reached an impassed with Kennewick this spring when the city balked at allowing Uber to conduct background checks on drivers.

The city insisted it wanted to conduct the checks and noted that Uber could begin operating immediately under current codes.

Monday, Evelyn Lusignan, spokeswoman for the city of Kennewick, said staff from all three police departments met with Jonathan Hopkins, Uber’s operations and logistics manager, to learn more about how Uber conducts background checks and the steps cities can take to audit the results.

The cities agreed to take another look at their existing codes for taxi service. Any change will require approval by the respective city councils.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Tri-City leaders hold the door open for Uber."