Mayor & City Council

MINUTES Regular Meeting of the College Park City Council Tuesday, February 12, 2019 Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. – 9:32 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Kujawa and Mitchell. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Bill Gardiner, Assistant/Acting City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Peggy Higgins, Director of Youth, Family and Senior Services; Alex Tobin, Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Regular Meeting at 7:30 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Councilmember Kabir announced the next North College Park Community Association Meeting. Councilmember Kennedy announced the Parents Night Out event on Friday. Councilmember Brennan announced that Ms. McClellan and Ms. Hakes are the new Co-Chairs of the Seniors Committee. He discussed the services provided to City seniors through the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program. (301-222-3434 or coordinator@nhn-cp.org ) Councilmember Rigg announced that St. Andrews Church will be hosting Warm Nights week. Councilmember Mitchell announced a Prince George’s County Public Schools meeting at Buck Lodge Middle School about the Adelphi area middle school relief plan. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Gardiner announced the second Public Forum hosted by the Charter Review Commission is on March 11 at Davis Hall. He reviewed items in the Weekly Bulletin and said Good Neighbor Day will be held on April 13. AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was approved without amendment (Rigg/Brennan) 8-0. PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS: Jamie Lark, President, Prince George’s County Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association, resident: Announced the upcoming session of the Citizens Police Academy and urged participation. Oscar Gregory, resident: Encouraged anyone to attend the Citizens’ Police Academy. PRESENTATIONS: A. Mayor Wojahn was joined by Education Advisory Committee member David Toledo in presenting a ceremonial $2,500 Public School Education Grant Check to Ms. Lori Colding of Hyattsville Middle School. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 2 B. Miss College Park 2018-2019, Daja Benton, reviewed the highlights of her year as Miss College Park. C. Quarterly Financial Presentation: Gary Fields, Director of Finance, presented the quarterly financial presentation to the Council (copy attached). PUBLIC HEARINGS: A. Public Hearing on Charter Amendment 19-CR-01, An amendment to §C6-3 of the City Charter to authorize the Mayor and Council to meet in closed session to discuss cybersecurity under certain circumstances Ms. Ferguson said the purpose of this Charter Amendment is to conform our Charter to state law by adopting an additional provision to allow the Mayor and Council to meet in a closed session. There was no public testimony, and Mayor Wojahn closed the public hearing. CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Day to adopt the Consent Agenda, which consisted of: 19-G-21 Award of contract to Criswell Chevrolet in Gaithersburg, MD to purchase two (2) dump trucks with snow equipment packages to replace fleet vehicles #338 and #339 for a total amount of $220,862.66 to be funded from CIP #925061 19-G-22 Approval of Minutes: January 6, 2019 Council Retreat; January 8, 2019 Worksession; January 8, 2019 Special Session; and January 15, 2019 Regular Meeting 19-G-28 Award of FY ’19 community services grants as follows: $2,500 to Embry Center for Family Life for BOOST program; $2,500 to National Museum of Language for Summer Camp; $1,500 to Holy Redeemer Church for Safe Haven, for a total of $6,500. 19-R-03 Authorization for the City to participate annually in the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation The Consent Agenda was adopted with a vote of 8-0. ACTION ITEMS: 19-G-23 Annual report for renewal of County liquor licenses held by businesses in the City, and approval of a letter from the City Manager to the BOLC Mr. Ryan referred to the staff report and said staff has not identified any concerns with City establishments that would cause the City to oppose the renewal of any of the 39 liquor licenses. Staff will return to Council with respect to Hard Times Café, Taqueria Habanero and La Tao Hot Pot. Staff recommends approval of the attached letter in support of all of the licenses. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 3 A motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Day to recommend to the Board of License Commissioners that liquor licenses issued within the City limits of College Park be renewed for the following year and to authorize the City Manager to send a letter to the BOLC to that effect. There were no comments from the audience or the Council. The motion passed 8-0. 19-G-24 Award of contract to Greenplay, LLC for either: a) comprehensive needs assessment of recreation/activities, program space, and transportation for City seniors city-wide; or b) comprehensive needs assessment of recreational activities, program space for the community at-large to include assessment of transportation for City seniors Ms. Higgins reviewed the staff report. This is a follow up to Council’s November Worksession request for pricing for a comprehensive recreational needs assessment for both the seniors program and for the community as a whole. Two proposals are provided for review. The Seniors needs assessment is $34,999 and the community-wide assessment is $44,999. Either of the studies could be funded by the grant to the City under the M-NCPPC contract. Council asked about the different scopes of work in each proposal and the project timeline. The scope will include the already existing resources, program space and transportation resources. They will conduct a focus group in Spanish. The timeline is six months from commencement depending on how quickly we respond to their questions. Ms. Ferguson said the contract is not completed yet; they are reviewing the proposal. A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Kabir to approve a contract with GreenPlay, LLC for $44,999, pending approval by the city attorney, for a comprehensive community and senior recreation needs assessment to include an assessment of transportation resources for city seniors. Councilmember Brennan believes this is a well-timed and thoughtful plan that blends well with the work of the Seniors Committee. There were no comments from the audience. Mayor Wojahn asked if the transportation assessment is primarily for recreation purposes or is it a broader assessment of City transportation. He referred to the Aging-In-Place survey where seniors expressed transportation needs. Ms. Higgins said they are prepared to do a broader transportation assessment for seniors beyond their recreational needs. Councilmember Rigg discussed the City of Greenbelt’s Parks and Recreation program and the associated cost and said this is a good first step to provide the information we need if we want to move in that direction. The motion passed 8-0. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 4 19-G-25 Award of contract for Construction Manager for City Hall project Mr. Gardiner said the City Hall project involves a new City Hall, UMD office space, retail and a public plaza on this current City Hall site and includes the Route 1 frontage. Last year the City hired Redgate as the development project manager and Design Collective as the architect. Katie Hearn is here tonight from Redgate. The next step is to hire a construction management firm. In December the RFP was issued to solicit proposals for pre-construction and construction management services using a process called “construction management at-risk” which will protect us by providing a guaranteed maximum price. We received three strong proposals from well-regarded firms between $3.9 - $4.8M. We invited two teams to interview with the project team. We received best and final offers from Davis and Gilbane. The consensus of the team was to select Davis. References were checked by Katie Hearn and we are recommending to the Council that the contract be awarded to Davis. Ms. Hearn added this is a contract in two parts. The $3,043,540 contract with Davis that Council would approve tonight includes $115,000 in pre-construction fees (Part 1) awarded immediately to help guide design through the pricing phase. The balance of the fee is general conditions through the entire term of the contract plus their fee (profit) for the entire term of the contract. At the end of this preconstruction phase, we have the option to amend the contract and bring them on for the balance of construction, or to terminate the contract and go in another direction. This does not include the cost of the work, only their management and their profit. Councilmember Kabir asked if this is for only the City’s portion, or the entire building. Ms. Hearn said it is for the entire building. It will be split with the University. Ms. Hearn said the estimate for the entire project at this time is $30.5M. That includes the entire building, but only a cold dark shell for the retail space, not the tenant fit-out. She added that the references were overwhelmingly positive. A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Day to approve the selection of James G. Davis Construction Corporation to be the Construction Manager at Risk for the City Hall project and to authorize the City Manager to sign the contract in substantially the form attached and upon review and approval of the City Attorney. Councilmember Brennan asked when we would know more about the proportional calculation between the City and University. Ms. Ferguson said the basics of this were spelled out in the term sheet already approved, and that the appraisals are being done now. Councilmember Brennan asked about a contractor leveraging their position on other projects in the City and noted that we need to be aware of the relationships. The motion passed 8-0. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 5 19-CR-01 Adoption of Charter Resolution 19-CR-01, A Charter Resolution Of The Mayor And Council Of The City Of College Park, Amending Article VI, “Meetings”, § C6-3, “Closed Sessions”, To Authorize The Mayor And Council To Meet In Closed Session To Discuss Cybersecurity Under Certain Circumstances. Mayor Wojahn said that due to the public hearing earlier this evening, no additional public comment would be taken at this time. A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Kennedy to adopt Charter Resolution 19-CR-01, A Charter Resolution Of The Mayor And Council Of The City Of College Park, Amending Article VI, “Meetings”, § C6-3, “Closed Sessions”, To Authorize The Mayor And Council To Meet In Closed Session To Discuss Cybersecurity Under Certain Circumstances. Councilmember Brennan noted that cybersecurity is an issue of growing concern for small municipalities and it is important for the Council to be able to discuss these emerging problems. Councilmember Day is pleased to see the City adopting this amendment because matters such as these should not be discussed in public session. Mayor Wojahn reminded everyone to pay attention to the emails that come from our IT department. The motion passed 8-0. 19-G-29 Motion to approve the Supervisors of Elections recommendations for early voting and the addition of a third poll at Stamp Student Union Ms. Miller said this is a follow up to last week’s Worksession with the Board of Election Supervisors. The City Code says the polls shall be designated by the Supervisors of Elections with approval of the Mayor and Council, and shall remain open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Council is being asked to approve the polling locations and to show different hours for Early Voting. We anticipate using City Hall, Davis Hall and Stamp Student Union as the polling places, but in the event that City Hall is not available, possibly due to the timing of our move, we will return to Council to designate an alternative location. Early Voting will be held at the College Park Community Center on Sunday October 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Councilmember Mitchell asked if the vote tonight would be permanent. Ms. Miller said the Council would approve polling locations and hours each election year. A motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Rigg to approve Stamp Student Union, Davis Hall and City Hall as polling locations on Election Day, and to approve Early Voting at the College Park Community Center on Sunday, October 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. If City Hall is not available as a polling location on Election Day, an alternative location will be designated. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 6 Councilmember Kennedy said we want to expand voting rights and access to as many people as possible, and that it is good governance to support the recommendations of our Board of Election Supervisors. Comments from the audience: Oscar Gregory, resident: Opposed to the voting center at Stamp but supports no excuse absentee voting for students. Samantha Gray, SGA Civic and Government Affairs committee, non-resident: Supports the poll at Stamp. Julia Dickinson, UMD student, resident: Supports the poll at Stamp. Tino Fragale, President, MaryPIRG Students, non-resident: Supports the poll at Stamp. Councilmember Brennan said we want all eligible voters to participate in our elections. Whether you are a landowner is not a litmus test. He asked how we will monitor and provide feedback on the success of these voter outreach measures. Ms. Miller said we can count voter turnout and turnout at each poll, but we can’t parse how many voters are students. She added that other municipalities have reported that early voting has not increased overall turnout but is a convenience measure. He thought it would be a good gesture if SGA could work with us to help eliminate the parking fee on campus. Councilmember Kennedy also encouraged a measurement for success of the Stamp poll. Councilmember Dennis asked about BOES activities regarding voter registration and publicity. Ms. Miller said the Board is not involved in voter registration activities; municipalities may opt-in to same-day voter registration, but it is not required. The Board is interested in pursuing same-day voter registration in the future, but not this year when we are exploring other new initiatives. She added that staff will work with our Communications Coordinator on voter outreach. Mr. Tobin said the SGA supports this policy and that the Stamp poll is not just for student voters. Councilmember Rigg said that we should be putting voting centers where the voters are and that students are residents of our City too. Voter turnout is low. Councilmember Day repeated that students are residents of our City and that any eligible voter should have the opportunity to vote and this is an important step toward creating participation in the election process. Councilmember Kabir supports the idea of voting centers. He said residents are nervous about the Stamp poll because they are not sure if it will serve the purpose of increasing voter turnout. He would like to know how many students actually vote. He will abstain from voting. Mr. Tobin said he has requested student voter participation data from the state. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 7 Mayor Wojahn said it is a minimal amount to pay - $60 – for parking at the University. The University is providing the room at Stamp and the pollworker parking for free. This is a matter of equity. A lot of people come to Stamp Union which is exactly why it should be a polling place; we should put our polling places where the people are. Greenbelt, with a smaller population, has five polls. Roll Call Vote: Aye: Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Rigg, Day, Kujawa Nay: None Abstain: Kabir, Mitchell Ms. Mitchell abstained because there is a lack of information and Council’s priority should be on increasing engagement of citizens instead of adding another polling place. The motion passed 6-0-2. 19-O-03 Discussion, and possible introduction, of an Ordinance to amend City Code Chapter 34, Elections, to allow for early voting in the November 2019 election Ms. Miller said this ordinance would remove the reference to the polling hours and locations from the City Code and allow them instead to be set by the Council through a general motion. A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Dennis to introduce Ordinance 19-O-03, amending Chapter 34, Elections, §34-5, “Polling Places; Hours of Voting” to make provision for early voting and to change the manner in which poll hours and locations are set. Mayor Wojahn said the Public Hearing will be held on February 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. 19-G-27 Appointments to Boards and Committees A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Day to reappoint Larry Bleau and Stephanie Stullich to the Advisory Planning Commission and James Garvin to the Airport Authority; and to appoint Alexa Bely and Caroline Wick to the Committee for a Better Environment, Andy Miller to the Complete Count Committee, Rose Colby to the Education Advisory Committee and Mary Cook to the Veterans Memorial Committee. The motion passed 8- 0. A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Day to appoint Jim Nealis and John Payne to the Complete Count Committee. The motion passed 8-0. COMMENTS: Mr. Tobin reported on the meeting of the Student Advisory Committee. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes February 12, 2019 Page 8 ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to adjourn the meeting, and with a vote of 8-0, Mayor Wojahn adjourned the meeting at 9:32 p.m. _______________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date City Clerk Approved