Electric scooters are headed to Richmond, but this time legally.

After two months of talks and review, Richmond City Council appears poised to approve legislation that would authorize scooter companies such as Bird and Lime to begin offering rental service.

The council approved Monday night a series of amendments to an ordinance Mayor Levar M. Stoney introduced in November authorizing operations and put the legislation on track for passage at the next meeting in two weeks.

The preliminary vote came on a night when the council also overhauled the city’s pay system for the first time in 25 years and raised the minimum wage for City of Richmond employees from $11.66 an hour to $12.07 an hour, retroactive to Saturday, Jan. 5.

The scooter legislation grew out of controversy last year when Bird began putting scooters out for rental without first getting permission, with city workers scooping them up.

The mayor endorsed the concept of allowing rental scooters to operate in Richmond, as they do in other large cities around the country, and his staff then spent time crafting regulations.

Assuming passage, the new regulatory scheme would be delayed for 45 days before becoming effective, giving City Hall time to prepare and train staff.

Bobby Vincent, director of the Department of Public Works, would take charge of reviewing applications and regulating operations of participating companies.

Under the current plan, Richmond would allow a maximum of 1,500 electric scooters to operate at any one time, with each applicant limited to fielding no more than 500 scooters, which the ordinance calls “shared mobility devices.”

The scooters could be parked on sidewalks, but owners of the scooters would have the burden of ensuring customers park scooters upright like bicycles after their ride and not leave them leaning against bus benches or sprawled in a way that creates a hazard for pedestrians or vehicles, on pain of revocation of the operating license.

Any approved scooter would have to have equipment that would limit the operating speed to no more than 15 mph. The scooters also must be equipped with brakes, reflectors, a bell and front and rear lights.

The legislation also would allow scooter operations only between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily.

Under the ordinance, applicants must submit a $1,500 application fee, and if approved, pay an annual fee of $200 per scooter to offer up to 100 scooters; $150 per scooter to offer up to 200 scooters; and $90 per scooter to deploy up to 500 scooters.

On the employment front, the council approved without debate the pay plan changes that also include awarding a 1 percent pay increase to most city workers with at least a year of service. Police officers and firefighters were excluded because they have received other pay upgrades.

The legislation sets minimum and maximum pay rates for each position and is aimed at giving management more flexibility to decide promotions and raises for employees.