Mayor & City Council

MINUTES Regular Meeting of the College Park City Council Tuesday, May 14, 2019 Council Chambers 7:30 p.m. – 10:08 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Kujawa and Mitchell. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Terry Schum, Director of Planning; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Peggy Higgins, Director of Youth, Family and Senior Services; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Alex Tobin, Student Liaison; Serena Saunders, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Regular Meeting at 7:30 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Councilmember Brennan announced the Berwyn District Civic Association meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Fealy Hall. Councilmember Dennis announced the Coffee Club at Jason’s Deli. Councilmember Rigg discussed the joint Old Town and Calvert Hills civic association meetings with Gilbane Development. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Somers announced Bike to Work Day on Friday; the College Park Pit Stop is from 6:30 – 8:30 a.m. PROCLAMATIONS AND AWARDS: Mayor Wojahn read the proclamation for “National Kids to Parks Day.” AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was approved without amendment (Rigg/Day 8-0). PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS: David Gray, resident: 1) Questioned why County assessments on City residents are so high. We don’t have a County library, a lot of school age kids, or consume as many County resources as unincorporated areas; we are getting ripped off by the County. 2) Three polling places for the City election is too many. It is better to have one location at the Community Center. 3) The budget document is getting light in details. PRESENTATIONS: A. Mayor Wojahn presented awards to the outstanding essayists in the “If I Were Mayor, I Would…” essay contest. The recipients read their essays, got to bang the gavel, and took pictures with the Mayor and Council. The outstanding essayists are: College Park City Council Meeting Minutes May 14, 2019 Page 2 • Ivan Leiva-Perez, Hollywood Elementary – MML Semi-finalist • Trevor Burgos, Holy Redeemer School – MML Semi-finalist • Colette Foley, Holy Redeemer School - School Winner • Felicia Kalambak-Tchamgoue, Hollywood Elementary - School Winner • Muhammed Mustefa, Al – Huda – School Winner • Areesha Khawaja, Al - Huda - School Winner • Allisson Zuniga, Paint Branch Elementary - School Winner B. Duvall Field Visioning Project and Conceptual Plan: Tom Diehl, Greenplay, LLC and Amol Deshpande, LSG, Landscape Architecture presented the Duvall Field Conceptual Plan and took questions from the Mayor and Council. • Concern expressed about health risks from use of artificial turf: there are many to choose from and they are constantly being refined. When the time comes, invite in several vendors and do the research. Grass fields need to be closed at times. What are UMD and M-NCPPC using? • What would increase the use of the field the most: Design the field for all elements, have a walking track, use a synthetic field that is permanently marked for all sports. • Suggest curved corners on walking tracks instead of hard right angles. • Ask M-NCPPC about local demand for fields – which sports are they seeing demand for? • Is parking sufficient? • Concern about staff capacity to support extra scheduling demands. • ADA accessible playground. C. Farewell to Deputy Student Liaison Serena Saunders: Mayor Wojahn presented a certificate to Ms. Saunders and thanked her for her service. PUBLIC HEARING A. Public Hearing on Ordinance 19-O-10, An Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park to Adopt the Fiscal Year 2020 General Fund, Capital Projects Fund and Debt Service Fund Budgets of the City of College Park MD Mr. Fields reviewed the various steps in the budget process that began last December. Mayor Wojahn invited public comment: David Gray, resident: Pointed out the discrepancy about the $50,000 transfer out of the Parking Debt Service Fund - is it to the Capital Projects Fund or the General Fund? [Mr. Fields noted at the April 23 meeting that the transfer is to the Capital Projects Fund.] Believes it is wrong to take $50,000 from the Parking Debt Service fund that is not actually paying debt – it was designed to pay for construction debt. You are using it to pay for what? Why are we using taxpayer money to pay University of Maryland employees to move here? Council travel budget is too high. You budgeted $70,000 for an events person without any explanation – what is that person going to do? There was no money budgeted for additional events. Funding for College Park Day is just for a big party. What you don’t spend goes back to the General Fund. The variance between what you take in and what you spend gets larger every year. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes May 14, 2019 Page 3 Oscar Gregory, resident: Necessities are not amenities. College Park Woods is replacing, not repairing, our infrastructure, keeping home values stable. Instead of failing to collect our fair share of taxes from developers or using our taxes to pay for the new City Hall, set up a fund to return a share of taxes to the residents who are paying their proportional share of the infrastructure improvements. CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Councilmember Dennis and seconded by Councilmember Day to adopt the Consent Agenda, which consisted of the following: 19-G-69 Authorization to allow free parking on summer weeknights (M-F) after 5:00 p.m. and free all-day Saturday parking in the City Hall parking lot and the City’s downtown parking garage from May 25 to August 18, 2019. 19-G-70 Approval of a retainer agreement with Lindsey Rader and Funk & Bolton, P.A. for Bond Counsel services for the City Hall project. 19-G-71 Approval of DSP-15031-01 for EZ Storage, 5151 Branchville Road, including the floodplain waiver from DPIE, height and setback variances and departures to reduce amount of parking and the dimensions of loading spaces, subject to conditions. 19-G-72 Approval of a City “Grants and Sponsorship Policy” pertaining to Direct grants, Community Services grants and sponsorship requests. 19-G-73 Award of a three-year, full-service contract for AIMS parking software, subject to the approval of the City Attorney, in the total amount of $139,240, for software support, hosting, handheld ticket writers, on-line permit registration and on-line ticket payment processing. Funding source CIP #162002, Parking Enforcement Equipment Replacement. 19-G-74 Approval of a letter to the Maryland Board of Public Works expressing the City’s opposition to the plan to widen I-495. 19-G-78 Approval of an amendment to the term sheet between the City and the University of Maryland regarding the ground lease for the Child Care Center at the Calvert Road School. 19-G-75 Approval of Minutes: March 26, 2019 Regular Meeting, April 2, 2019 Worksession. The motion passed 8-0. ACTION ITEMS 19-G-77 Appointments to Boards and Committees, including appointments to the College Park City-University Partnership College Park City Council Meeting Minutes May 14, 2019 Page 4 A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Dennis to reappoint Melissa Day to the Education Advisory Committee and to appoint Tessie Aikara to the Education Advisory Committee. The motion passed 8-0. A motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Day to reappoint Sen. Jim Rosapepe as a Class B Director and Richard Wagner as a Class C Director of the College Park City University Partnership. The motion passed 8-0. COMMENTS: Councilmember Brennan thanked staff for installing a speed warning sign on Berwyn Road. He asked staff to provide a central location to post a comprehensive list of all of the street closure notices we are receiving. Councilmember Day thanked everyone for the condolences he and his family received after the loss of his mother. Councilmember Rigg discussed issues he plans to explore when he attends the International Town Gown Association meeting next week. Councilmember Mitchell mentioned the new Real ID law and provided customer service information. Mr. Tobin discussed the end-of-the-year transition. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: David Gray, resident: If you hadn’t given all the tax breaks to the Quality Inn, you could have paid for Duvall Field. The Public Hearing is for public participation. It was the 11th item on the agenda and began 2 hours after the posted time that it would start. If you want the public’s input on the budget, why don’t you explain things more. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Dennis to adjourn the Regular Meeting, and with a vote of 8-0, Mayor Wojahn adjourned the meeting at 10:08 p.m. _______________________________________ Janeen S. Miller, CMC Date City Clerk Approved Closed Session Statement Pursuant to the statutory authority of the Maryland Annotated Code General Provisions Article Section 3-305, the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park met in a Closed Session in the Council Chambers at City Hall on May 7, 2019 to consider matters that relate to collective College Park City Council Meeting Minutes May 14, 2019 Page 5 bargaining negotiations. At 9:56 p.m., after the regularly scheduled Worksession, a motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Dennis to enter into the closed session. The motion passed 6-0 and the City Council began the closed session at 10:00 p.m. Mayor Wojahn and Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Dennis, Rigg, Kujawa and Mitchell were present for the vote to enter into the Closed Session, but Councilmember Kabir left before the Closed Session began and did not attend. The Closed Session was also attended by City Manager Scott Somers, Assistant City Manager Bill Gardiner, City Clerk Janeen Miller, and Human Resources Director Jill Clements. Mayor Wojahn was the designated Open Meetings Trainee. Ms. Clements and Mr. Somers updated the Mayor and Council on the City’s collective bargaining negotiations with AFSCME Local 1209. No action was taken by the Mayor and Council. At 10:10 p.m., on a motion by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Kennedy, and a vote of 5-0, the closed session was adjourned.