Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, January 17, 2017 Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. – 9:53 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir (arrived 7:32 p.m.), Dennis, Day, Nagle and Cook. ABSENT: Councilmembers Stullich, Kujawa and Brennan ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager; Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Jill Clements, Director of Human Resources; Chris Keosian, Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Worksession at 7:30 p.m. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT:  Email regarding MML Hotels  Updates on Duvall Field, Narragansett stormwater project, Rhode Island Avenue stormwater project and Public Works modular building  Yard trim collection has resumed; Christmas Tree collection  Family Fun Bowling Bash Sunday APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Without amendment Dennis/Day 5 – 0 – 0. AGENDA ITEMS: 1 Presentation on College Park Early Learning Center – Governing Committee: Denise Mitchell, Fran Favretto, Cat Peretti, Carolyn Bernache, Sen. Jim Rosapepe, Valerie Woodall, and Dwayne Arbogast and Steve Baldwin from The Children’s Guild: This idea came out of discussions between the Education Advisory Committee, the CPCUP Education Sub-Committee and The Children’s Guild, which is a non-profit based in Baltimore. Proposal for a high quality pre-school for 3 – 5 year olds based on the model of the UMD Center for Young Children. 2 certified teachers per class. Target 2018 opening. 120 children, tuition $1,150 per month. The Children’s Guild would hire and do the HR. Not a day-care center. Project based learning. 21,375 sq.ft. footprint: 12,375 sq.ft. building + 9,000 sq.ft. outdoor space. Review of potential locations and requested feedback. Traffic may be a factor. Not asking for any money from the City but if potential location is on city-owned property we could make a deal. How does this fit with other City interests? Valerie will contact relevant Councilmembers as sites are identified. 2 FY ’18 Budget Guidance – Gary Fields, Director of Finance and Scott Somers, City Manager: Reviewed budget calendar and Saturday Worksession dates. Council does not want to rush through the budget review and said plan on both Saturdays. Reviewed information in staff report including an explanation of the anticipated revenue surplus. Request to get the budget to Council sooner – goal is to get as much as possible out by March 24 instead of March 31. Discussion of the budget document itself. City Manager’s College Park City Council Worksession Minutes January 17, 2017 Page 2 goal is to maintain a constant yield which will effectively reduce the tax rate, but we don’t know those numbers yet. 3 Support a filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to respond to the Mobilitie, LLC Petition for Declaratory Ruling and the FCC request for comment on streamlining deployment of small cell infrastructure, including installation of poles and antennas on public land, and authorize expending up to $5,000 in legal fees associated with preparation and development of the filing. City Attorney reviewed the information in the staff report. We have received applications for three sites in City neighborhoods to install 75 foot towers on City rights-of-way. This type of request hasn’t come up before and we need to decide how to regulate it. The footprint is larger than a telephone pole and the poles are twice as high. We will discuss an ordinance next month to formalize the regulation of our rights-of-way for these types of requests. The company making these requests – Mobilitie – has asked the FCC to override local control of these applications and to handle them at the federal level. The FCC is seeking comment from localities on this request. This is our opportunity to join a consortium of localities to advocate for local control. These matters require special legal counsel. The City’s legal fee to join the consortium would be $5,000. Councilmember Cook to agenda. 4 Presentation on Compensation and Classification study – Jill Clements, Director of Human Resources, and Carolyn Long and Russell Campbell from MAG, Inc.: Presented an update on the Compensation and Classification Study. Reviewed methodology and approach: salary and benefit survey, job analysis questionnaire, analysis of internal salary relationships, update of job descriptions. No changes recommended in benefits. Overall, the City lags behind the market in wages: minimum by -9.32%, midpoint by -5.61%, maximum by -3.51%. 107 out of 111 employees would receive adjustments. Total of $365,274 in compensation adjustments is proposed but there are various implementation options to migrate to the new structure, including a phased approach. This part has not been decided yet. The Pay Plan is outside the bargaining agreement so we don’t need to go back to the union. They will discuss with employees. Other factors such as longevity and performance evaluations will be considered in the implementation. This item will return for formal approval prior to the budget. 5 Agenda items for January 25 Four Cities Meeting in College Park: FCC request for input on small cell infrastructure; state error on allocation of income taxes; update from Greenbelt on DSP for north core infrastructure. 6 Requests For/Status of Future Agenda items: Councilmember Nagle: Schedule Homeowners’ Resource Fund and Frequency of Rental Inspections before budget. Also we are ready to schedule review of fence ordinance. When will we get an update on the 1-495/Route 1 interchange? 7 Appointments to Boards and Committees Councilmember Dennis: Reappoint Mr. Patterson to the CPHA. College Park City Council Worksession Minutes January 17, 2017 Page 3 8 Mayor and Councilmember Comments: Councilmember Cook: City hosted PGEMW meeting on Saturday – 11 people attended. Councilmember Kabir: Last week’s NCPCA meeting Councilmember Dennis: BDCA meeting, Third Thirsty Thursday, and PGCMA meeting this Thursday; 26th annual MLK Tribute – request for feedback on new location. Student Liaison Keosian: Winter break; SGA legislative affairs committee is supporting legislation for an intern tax-credit bill; Council internship program – projects? Mayor: MLK event; Mayor’s Innovation Project – regulation of autonomous vehicles, mental health services, innovative ways to finance infrastructure; USCM winter meeting; Women’s March on Saturday. 9 City Manager's Comments – None. ADJOURN: Day/Kabir, 5 – 0 – 0, 9:53 p.m. ____________________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date City Clerk Approved