Mayor & City Council

MINUTES Special Session of the College Park City Council Tuesday, April 19, 2016 Council Chambers 10:00 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Nagle, Brennan, Dennis, Stullich, Day, Cook and Kujawa. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Terry Schum, Director of Planning; Miriam Bader, Senior Planner; Cole Holocker, Student Liaison; Adler Pruitt, Deputy Student Liaison. During a regularly scheduled Worksession of the College Park City Council, a motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Stullich to enter into a Special Session. The possibility of this Special Session was posted on the meeting agenda. With a vote of 8 – 0 – 0, the Council entered Special Session at 10:00 p.m. 16-G-54 Use of City’s resources to support education Carolyn Bernache, Chair, Education Advisory Committee and Peggy Higgins, Director, Youth and Family Services, joined the discussion. Mayor Wojahn gave an overview: This is a continuation of the discussion that began two weeks ago. We received recommendations from the Education Advisory Committee about how to spend the $80,000 in the FY ’16 budget, and some other ideas were raised including putting funds toward the scholarships for UMD summer camps. Ms. Higgins said summer camps are filling up and some are full already so the sooner a decision is made, the better. Council discussed various options. Councilmember Brennan agrees with the summer camp idea. He would like the remaining funds distributed per the EAC recommendation for the literacy program which he sees as a targeted opportunity. Councilmembers Kujawa thanked Council for considering her idea of funding additional summer camp opportunities. Councilmember Kabir wants to help College Park students directly; it is a way to attract families to the City. He wants us to speak with our neighboring municipalities about coordinating efforts to support local schools. Councilmember Brennan said we can lead by example but cannot tell the other cities what to do. Besides, this is a one-time pot of money; there is no guarantee for the future. Ms. Bernache said even though there may be only 14 or more College Park students in a school that receives grant funds, the overall impact to the school is very strong. Councilmember Stullich said that reaching out to our neighboring municipalities to coordinate our efforts should be for future years, not for this money. She appreciates the suggestion to fully fund the summer camps, but the remaining money should go to the schools as per EAC recommendations. College Park City Council April 19, 2016 Special Session Page 2 Councilmember Nagle is in favor of awarding the money for the UMD summer day camps. She does not know what the direction was that was given to the EAC originally, but the Council was not in favor of the recommendations that were brought forth. She does not support spending the additional money at this point. She suggested providing funds directly to schools for school supplies. Councilmember Kujawa read a comment from the West College Park Civic Association: There needs to be both dollar equity for the College Park taxpayer and benefit parity for the College Park child, and this cannot be achieved by giving money to the public schools. A motion was made by Councilmember Stullich and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to spend $60,000 of the $80,000 in the budget to fully fund the UMD summer day camps, and to allocate any remaining funds for grants to the schools in line with the Education Advisory Committee’s previous recommendations, up to the EAC’s determination. There were no comments from the audience. Councilmember Kabir supports funding the summer camps but not the rest. Councilmember Dennis is in support. Councilmember Day thinks we should support the children of College Park any way we can. Councilmember Nagle said just because something is in the budget doesn’t mean we have to spend it; there are other ways to support our schools. Aye: Stullich, Day, Dennis, Brennan Nay: Kujawa, Cook, Nagle, Kabir The Mayor broke the tie by voting Aye. The motion carried. RECESS: A motion was made by Councilmember Dennis and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to recess from Special Session. With a vote of 8 – 0 – 0, Mayor Wojahn recessed the Special Session at 10:18 p.m. RECONVENE: A motion was made by Councilmember Stullich and seconded by Councilmember Kabir to reconvene the Special Session, and with a vote of 8 – 0 – 0, Mayor Wojahn reconvened the Special Session at 10:46 p.m. 16-G-52 Adoption of Council Rules and Procedures A motion was made by Councilmember Stullich and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to adopt the Council Rules and Procedures as presented in the packet, marked “Draft for April 12 Regular Session.” A motion was made by Councilmember Kujawa and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to amend the Rules and Procedures by removing item “Section IV-Miscellaneous, B-Use of Staff Resources” referring to the two-hour rule. Councilmember Kujawa asked for the “two hour rule” to be removed, and instead to add language reflecting that all requests for staff time should go through the City Manager and be College Park City Council April 19, 2016 Special Session Page 3 managed at his discretion. Ms. Ferguson asked clarifying questions, and said she would write the amendment to reflect the direction she received, and will provide the final language. This amendment passed 8 – 0 – 0. A motion was made by Councilmember Kabir and seconded by Councilmember Cook to amend the Council Rules by adding the language in the red folders to Section M: 2. Master List. Staff shall maintain the master list, which will contain a list of proposed agenda items, the name of the submitter and the date of submission. The list will be sorted by the date of submission. The Mayor, Councilmembers and staff (the “body” hereafter) may add to the master list at meetings, and at other times, with notice to the "body" . 3. Preparation. The "body" will discuss and prepare the proposed agenda for the following regular meeting and the following worksession at the end of the preceding Tuesday Worksession. The proposed worksession agenda will be primarily selected from the master list based on the date when the items were submitted to the list, however the “body” may choose to add items to the proposed agenda outside of the master list if it considers them time sensitive or important for other reasons. After the Tuesday Worksession, the “body” may add to the proposed agenda as necessary for the efficient conduct of City business, with notice to the Mayor, Council and the City Clerk, before the agenda is finalized for publication. The proposed agenda for all meetings of the Mayor and Council will be finalized for publication by the City Manager and City Clerk in consultation with the Mayor on the Friday before the meeting. Proposed agendas shall be created that can be reasonably accomplished within three hours. Councilmember Kabir discussed notification to Council when items are removed from the agenda. He is fine with replacing the word “body” with Mayor, Council and Staff as appropriate. Roll call vote on this amendment: Aye: Kabir, Nagle, Cook, Kujawa Nay: Brennan, Dennis, Day, Stullich This amendment failed. Vote on the main motion as amended: 8 – 0 – 0. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Stullich and seconded by Councilmember Kabir to adjourn the Special Session, and with a vote of 6 – 0 – 0, the Special Session was adjourned at 11:04 p.m. (Councilmembers Cook and Nagle had left the table). ____________________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date College Park City Council April 19, 2016 Special Session Page 4 City Clerk Approved