Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, May 2, 2017 Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. – 10:37 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Nagle, Dennis, Day, and Cook. ABSENT: Councilmembers Brennan, Stullich and Kujawa. 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; Bob Stumpff, Director of Public Works; Brenda Alexander, Assistant Director of Public Works; Chris Keosian, Student Liaison; Brandon Carroll, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Worksession at 7:30 p.m. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Somers reported on the Fuze 47 fire: the building is stable, engineers are readying a portion for demolition, the fire is considered accidental. He announced the new hours for City Hall and Davis Hall which became effective on May 1. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was approved without amendment (Dennis/Day) 5 – 0 – 0. AGENDA ITEMS: 1 Presentation on the Hollywood Streetscape project - Terry Schum, Director of Planning; Zolna Russell and Megan Maffeo, Flora Teeter; Brian White, Sabra Wang: Ms. Schum said this is presented under a contract for 30% design, which is not yet completed. Ms. Russell said this is more than a “streetscape” and presented a plan to bring a cohesive identity to the Hollywood Commercial District and that would include placemaking, connectivity from the neighborhoods, intersection improvements, gateway features, lighting improvements, and a wellness tract. She described the option of closing the two service roads between Edgewood and Nantucket for parklets. The hope is that these improvements will incentivize redevelopment. Rhode Island Avenue is a County road, but ownership of the service roads is unclear. The County is OK with the concept plans but the question of maintenance remains. Routine maintenance estimated at $10,000 per year. The next step is completing the 30% design contract, doing a field survey, then the scope-of-work for 100% design. Staff requested feedback from Council on what was presented. Community support is important but response has been lukewarm. Options for further community engagement were discussed: social media, on- line comment process, Hollywood Farmers Market. Return later in the summer after additional community input has been received. College Park City Council Worksession Minutes May 2, 2017 Page 2 2 Council approval of compost-related fees (products, tipping, delivery) – Bob Stumpff and Brenda Alexander, Public Works: Public Works looked at the fees we charge for products and the areas we deliver to. We want to advantage College Park residents and charge a market-driven-rate when we deliver outside of College Park. Reviewed the proposal to re-align delivery fees, stop delivering beyond 20 miles one way, and increase the tipping fee so it is in line with Western Branch. Consensus to proceed. 3 Davis Hall AV Upgrades – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager: Reviewed the staff report and options. Discussion about type of furniture, number of seats, whether we considered building an A/V room. Get input from Marcellus – he needs to see and be seen – consider a riser. Granicus is not PEG-fund- eligible and can be added later when we are meeting at Davis Hall on a regular basis. Proceed with Option #1 for now and expand later as meetings increase. Add 1 screen and projector for the side wall. 4 Discussion of City comments on the Interim Report of the Office of the Attorney General on the Implementation of the Public Information Act – Janeen Miller, City Clerk and Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney: Reviewed staff report and letter. Council agreed with staff comments. Letter to consent next week. 5 Discussion of the City’s fence ordinance – Terry Schum, Director of Planning and Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney: Ms. Ferguson reviewed the staff report and the history of getting to this point. Does Council want to maintain control over front yard fences? Does Council want to keep or repeal the City’s fence ordinance? Reviewed the County ordinance, which would prevail if the City’s ordinance is repealed. Council was divided. Agreed to get public input on these issues before proceeding. 6 Discussion of an ordinance prohibiting discrimination in the provision of City services based on immigration status and providing that the City, in its provision of services, does not request information about an individual's immigration status: Mayor Wojahn provided some material in the red folder about the legal implication of doing something like this; there would not be any risk of losing federal funding. Council took a unanimous position in support of the Maryland Trust Act earlier this year, but since that bill did not pass, he hopes to do the same thing with this ordinance. This would pertain only to City services and not to any police actions, to help ease fears in the immigrant community. Questions about the legal definition of sanctuary city, whether Prince George’s County is a sanctuary now? Ms. Ferguson said warrants are separate actions from detainers. She believes most police departments do not check immigration or detainer status, but will pick someone up if there is a warrant. The question is whether the City should voluntarily cooperate in the federal government’s program of detainer and immigration checks, which we are not required to do. The question was asked whether any City employee ever asks a resident about their immigration status when providing City services; the answer is no. We can’t tell our contract police what to do because they work under the County’s General Orders. Councilmember Nagle thinks we discriminate in our voting laws and that individuals who live here, pay taxes and receive City services should be able to vote in our elections. It was agreed that this is a different issue. Proof of eligibility for employment is also a different issue. Mayor Wojahn said he would like to College Park City Council Worksession Minutes May 2, 2017 Page 3 keep this possibility in mind but there does not seem to be interest in moving forward at this time. 7 Discussion on frequency of rental inspections – Bob Ryan, Jeannie Ripley and Scott Somers: This came about because Mr. Somers asked whether there is an opportunity to reallocate some code resources from doing mandatory rental inspections to doing more exterior property maintenance. Mr. Ryan reviewed the staff report. To do such a reallocation, some annual inspections would need to shift. He reviewed the numbers of total inspections and the most at-risk unit-type: the single-family rental. He recommends against any deviation from annual inspections of single family rentals. He believes the least risky type of unit is the new high-rise structure where additional life safety systems and unitary on-site management are present, and where maintenance inspections are done. If Council decides to deviate from annual inspections, that is the only area where he thinks there is the least risk. In those buildings, the City would still do annual inspections of the public areas and check the life-safety-systems. He believes this would free-up 450 hours per year for additional exterior property maintenance inspections. There was a question about how we charge for the inspections and the fiscal impact. There is an annual permit fee per unit in Chapter 110; we did not calculate the difference in fees or the fiscal impact. Changing how often inspections are done would require a code change. Fiscal impact can be calculated based on Council direction. There is a cost to maintain the Code Enforcement division; they will always respond to complaints. Can there be a different permit fee for people who are always compliant? Ms. Ripley said years ago there was a registration fee and an inspection fee. The inspection fee would be reduced if there were no violations. The inspectors did not like the position this put them in because property owners put pressure on them not to find violations. That is when the City went to a single application fee. Mr. Somers said he has heard concerns about improving the appearance of homes and communities and this idea has been brought forward to try to reallocate the resources from inspecting less-risky properties to walking through neighborhoods for greater code compliance. We can do the calculation on how our fees might be adjusted. Return future Worksession and provide some alternatives for Council to consider and an update on anticipated revenue loss. 8 Requests For/Status of Future Agenda items  Extending municipal voting rights to non-citizens  College Park Day  Credit Card convenience fees 9 Appointments to Boards and Committees  Tonukkah Baldridge to the Candidates’ Debate Workgroup 10 Mayor and Councilmember Comments  CPCF 5K race  Hollywood Farmers Market opening  North College Park clean up  MilkBoy Arthouse opening College Park City Council Worksession Minutes May 2, 2017 Page 4  AJ Pruitt elected new SGA President  SGA passed a Sanctuary Campus bill  Chris Keosian will be the Student Liaison again next year  Next year is the 100th anniversary of the 1st air mail flight from College Park Airport  MML Board Meeting  Ethics reporting requirements might be changing next year. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Day and seconded by Councilmember Nagle to enter into a Closed Session Pursuant to §C6-3 of the College Park City Charter, 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 5 – 0 – 0 and Mayor Wojahn adjourned the Worksession at 10:37 p.m. ____________________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date City Clerk Approved