Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, April 4, 2017 Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. – 9:20 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Brennan, Dennis, Stullich (arrived at 7:45 p.m.), Day, Kujawa, and Cook. ABSENT: Councilmember Nagle. ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager, Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Terry Schum, Director of Planning; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Steve Halpern, City Engineer; Chris Keosian, Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Worksession at 7:30 p.m. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Somers reported on the Farmer’s Market Schedule, the Spring Clean-Up on Saturdays at Public Works, the Spring Egg Hunt and Brunch with the Bunny events, and the Saturday budget Worksessions. Comment from Michael Brizinger and Nick Arnold regarding a community event at Terrapin Row: They discussed their plans for an outdoor concert featuring local student bands and food trucks at the Terrapin Row courtyard on Saturday, May 6 from 12 – 6. They are aware of noise concerns and will reach out to residents with their names and phone numbers. Councilmember Day will get the message out to the Calvert Hills and Old Town Civic Associations. The City will assist by assigning Contract Officers to provide security and PGPD has been informed. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Approved without amendment Brennan/Day 7 – 0 – 0. AGENDA ITEMS: 1 Presentation by SHA on the relocation of utilities in advance of US 1 rebuild between College Avenue and Route 193 - Vivian Berra-Figuereo, SHA Highway Design Division; Marissa Lampart, SHA Project Engineer; Nadia Pimentel and Jim Sappington, Utility Coordinators, KCI Technologies; John Nesbitt, SHA Utility Engineer: They discussed the utility relocation plan on US 1 between College Avenue and Route 193 which will begin in August of 2017 in advance of the US 1 reconstruction project (October 2018 to Fall 2021). Expect daytime lane closures between 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and some night work (9 p.m. – 5 a.m.). They will provide notice if they are going to work during peak hours due to extenuating circumstances. Don’t anticipate any full closures or detours. They can arrange for message signs with alternate routes indicated. Their SHA website will include details. Their Traffic Management group will approach the fire, police and schools regarding the traffic impacts. Vivian Berra Figuereo: vberrafiguereo@sha.state.md.us; 410-545-8852 College Park City Council Worksession Minutes April 4, 2017 Page 2 2 Council decision on how to handle an Advisory Planning Commission Sign Departure case that ended in a tie: This was a free-standing sign case; they are not allowed under the Sector Plan. APC had four members, which is a quorum, but the case ended in a tie-vote, so there is no recommendation, either to approve or to deny. Council can remand the case to APC or can take it up at a future date (in Oral Argument) and decide the case. Applicant requests the Oral Argument because he thinks that would be faster. In the future we will offer the applicant a continuance so this doesn’t happen again. Council decided to remand the case to the APC. Resolution next week to remand. 3 Review of draft charter revisions (follow up to March 21 W/S): The City Attorney reviewed the most recent amendments to C3-1, C3-2, C6-1, C6-2, C9-3 as outlined in the staff report. No further amendments. Bring forward for introduction next week. 4 Discussion about responding to resident letters addressed to Mayor and Council: Follow up to the January 3 discussion. We don’t always know what letters come in to Mayor and Council so they need to be routed to staff to be sure we have seen them. Public Comment submitted for agenda items doesn’t require a response. Letters that are political in nature should be responded to by Mayor or Council, but staff can help draft the response, if requested. Councilmembers of the relevant district get the first opportunity to respond, but if they prefer the Mayor to respond, they can say so. The Mayor can also respond on his own behalf to any letter. Non-political letters will be responded to by the City Manager, with the assistance of relevant staff when needed. Council will be copied on the correspondence (both incoming and outgoing). The decision on whether an elected official or staff responds to the letter depends on whether the content is political or not. If in doubt, ask. Staff will keep track of the letters that come in and make sure that someone responds so that nothing falls through the cracks. 5 Review of legislation (Possible Special Session to take action on time-sensitive legislation): Mr. Gardiner reviewed the legislative report. He said the Governor’s budget provides $1.3M of additional funds to SHA for US 1; $150,000 for the Duvall Field lighting project, $0 for Complete and Green streets, and the City Hall Bond Bill is tentatively extended for two years. 6 Requests For/Status of Future Agenda items: Cook – Wants the Council to look at the reasons that residents are leaving College Park. Wait and see if the community survey results address this issue first. Dennis – Comments on Next Door about the cable provider not providing clear instructions when they replace cable equipment. Can our Cable Commission look at this? Kujawa – Status of City Hall project to include plan to move forward, timeline, status of bond bill. Kabir – Guests to invite to the Fire Department Worksession Concern that April 18 agenda looks long – can anything be moved? 7 Appointments to Boards and Committees Dennis: Reappoint Charlene Mahoney to the Education Advisory Committee Cook: Reappoint Suzie Bellamy to the Animal Welfare Committee Kabir: Appoint Rosemarie Pertarci to the Seniors Committee College Park City Council Worksession Minutes April 4, 2017 Page 3 Stullich: Appoint Mary Anne Hakes to the Seniors Committee and Daniel First to the Education Advisory Committee Brennan: Reappoint Patti Stange to the Animal Welfare Committee 8 Mayor and Councilmember Comments: Councilmember Cook thanked the Phi Psi Phriends who helped clean a neighbor’s yard. Councilmember Dennis said the Good Neighbor Day event had record-breaking participation from around the City. He discussed a meeting last week on the Zoning Rewrite hosted by Council Member Glaros. Ms. Schum is following the progress and will bring the draft back to the Council when it is out – perhaps in mid-May. Mr. Keosian announced that the SGA Town Hall is scheduled for April 17 at 7:30 p.m. Mayor Wojahn also discussed Good Neighbor Day and thanked the Office of Community Engagement. Several houses are participating in a community yard sale in north College Park on Saturday. He attended the CPCUP Board meeting: there will be a letter coming to request the reappointment of Mayor Wojahn and Steve Brayman to the Board. The transportation subcommittee also met. There was a presentation from the Hyattsville CDC and one about a pilot project using autonomous vehicles on campus. They discussed lighting on the bridge over the Paint Branch. They discussed access to and the appearance of the individual Purple Line stations – this will come to Council in the future. He also met with the new DCPMA president (Joe from Bookholders) who is interested in being involved in the City’s efforts for a more lively downtown. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Dennis to adjourn into a closed session to discuss the possible acquisition of real property for a public purpose, and matters directly related to said acquisition; to consult with Counsel on a legal matter; and to discuss a negotiating strategy before a contract is awarded. The motion passed 7 – 0 – 0 and the Worksession was adjourned at 9:20 p.m. ____________________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date City Clerk Approved