Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, February 4, 2020 Davis Hall, 9217 51st Avenue 7:30 P.M. – 11:10 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Mackie and Mitchell. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Brenda Alexander, Assistant Director Public Works; Ryna Quinones, Communications Coordinator; Gabi Wurtzel, Event Coordinator; Dan Alpert, Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Worksession at 7:30 p.m. AMENDMENT TO/APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: The agenda was approved without amendment (Mitchell/Day 8-0). DISCUSSION ITEMS 1 Discussion of proposed tree trimming around the College Park Airport – Lee Sommer, College Park Airport Manager; Stephen Edgin, College Park Assistant Airport Manager; Chanda Washington, Division Chief Public Affairs; Laura Connelly, Acting Park Planning Supervisor; Rae Wallace, NHRD Outreach and Communications Coordinator: Lee Sommer began by stating the airport must be maintained to COMAR regulations. Using LIDAR equipped aircraft, airport engineers evaluated tree encroachment on the runway approach and take-off paths, and are recommending a surgical method to remove problem trees, unlike how it was done in the past. Two areas will be addressed: one going toward the railroad tracks and one going toward the disc golf course. The numbers on the map relate to either a single tree or tree cluster. The map is interactive and gives a description of each tree. They are working with the National Park Service for permits on the federal land and will also need to access City land south of Lakeland Road. Only one individual property owner is impacted, and they have received a release. They are operating under a state grant that has a short deadline of June 30. They have engaged two companies to share the work. Each will have an arborist and an engineer to determine if a tree could survive pruning or alternatively if it must come down. The tree replacement plan is three trees planted per one removed. They will plant low growth indigenous species such as redbud, serviceberry, dogwood and crepe myrtle. Approximately 100 trees need to come down toward Kenilworth/disc golf and 120 trees toward the railroad tracks/MFRI. They realize this is short notice, but they will host an Open House on February 6 (this is a statutory requirement). Council expressed that the loss of 220 trees is significant and noted that the replacements does little to replenish the tree canopy that the City is currently trying to increase. Council asked if they could replant taller species where possible? Laura Connelly said they could consider black cherry or black gum in certain locations and would get back to us. Council asked if they could plant 100’ replacement trees in other parts of the City that wouldn’t impact airport operations? College Park Worksession Minutes February 4, 2020 Page 2 They will check with their arborist and let us know. Council stated that when the trees were removed five years ago, they never followed up with us on their mitigation plan. Council requested they work with the Tree & Landscape Board and City horticulturalist and report back on the mitigation plan. Mr. Sommer said if anyone has any questions, he can be reached at 301-864-5844. 2. Discussion on plans for the City’s 75th anniversary celebration on June 6 – Gabi Wurtzel, Event Coordinator and Ryna Quinones, Communication Coordinator: Ms. Wurtzel reviewed the staff report and touched on highlights of the event: a parade with an emcee and reviewing stand, and a festival at Duvall Field. She said that staff is requesting an additional $10,000 for the event over what was in the FY ’20 budget. There was discussion about the location (Duvall Field doesn’t have good parking) – Ms. Wurtzel said one reason for the increased budget was for shuttles. A suggestion was made for valet bicycle parking. Questions were asked about reducing the budget through sponsorships or if there are any revenue opportunities? The reply was that this is a City event celebrating our anniversary and we don’t want to dilute it by sharing billing with sponsors. The event was described as a free community event with a low barrier to participation. Question about the need for a one-day liquor license – reply was that beer gardens are popular. Note that we should have a policy on who can/cannot table at the event since it will be election season. Discussion about how the City will highlight the history of College Park both at the event and in other ways. Ms. Wurtzel was requested to consult with the Recreation Board, which she will do. To Consent next week. 3. Discussion on City events - Gabi Wurtzel, Event Coordinator and Ryna Quinones, Communication Coordinator: Consensus to support the proposed new events, movies in the park and Lake Artemesia concerts. Regarding the concerts: concern about Thursday nights - would weekend events get more participation? Put more money toward attracting good talent. Motion to support proposed new events on Consent next week. General interest in having parades. Consider events during the winter and balancing the timing of events throughout the year. Consider events that engage younger/student residents. Expect emotions around some of these changes. We are establishing new policies where the committees take direction from the Mayor and Council. This is why we hired an event planner. We need to move toward “what are the goals of City events and is this event meeting those goals” and away from “what is my personal feeling about the event” and “this has always been done.” Having the data is helpful in this evaluation. Discussion of needing more input from the Recreation Board on these proposed changes and on how to evaluate our events. Schedule future W/S discussion about these specific events: College Park Worksession Minutes February 4, 2020 Page 3 • Blues Festival: is there a way to keep it going that doesn’t conflict with City policy? Charge an admission? Why are we hosting a fundraiser for another entity (DC Blues Society)? Councilmember Kennedy will research this and return with a recommendation. • Veterans Memorial events: Are we reaching the younger veterans in the community? Councilmember Mitchell will research this and return with a recommendation. • Martin Luther King Tribute event: Councilmember Dennis will come back with recommendations. 4. Discussion of Mayor and Council Rules and Procedures: Mr. Gardiner said this is the biennial review of Rules and Procedures and that staff recommended some edits based on the M&C Orientation and Retreat. The purpose of the Rules and Procedures is to help the M&C be as effective as possible and to let the public and staff know how you operate. Council reviewed the redline. Council agreed to refer to the voting requirements chart; to not necessarily schedule adoption of legislation on the same night as the public hearing; to allow occasional consideration of a 7:00 p.m. start time on Worksessions when the agenda is long and Council concurs; to remove Council comments at the end of agendas; that presentations from developers and other outsiders shall be generally limited to 15 minutes; and other clarifying revisions. Council disagreed with the statement, “items that have been posted on the Action Agenda should not be moved to the Consent Agenda” so it will be stricken. Council agreed to delete the “approved physical indicator” statement. Staff will develop a form for the Mayor and Council to use when they want to propose a future agenda item. The City Clerk will begin timing the Mayor and Council during Worksessions and will find a new timer that is more visible to speakers and counts-down the time remaining before the buzzer goes off. Schedule a future Worksession on allowing Mayor and Council to participate in meetings by videoconference, both to create quorum and to vote. The quorum requirement would require a Charter change. We need to have the technology – consider the technology at the new City Hall. Discussion and questions about the pros and cons of the “Disclosure of Communications with outside entities on matters coming before Council” section. City Attorney will develop revised language emphasizing transparency. Return to a future Worksession.  College Park Worksession Minutes February 4, 2020 Page 4 5. Special Session 20-R-03: Adoption of Resolution 20-R-03 in support of the National League of Cities (NLC) “Leading Together Cities Agenda” for the 2020 Presidential Election candidates – See Special Session Minutes. 6. Special Session 20-G-22: Award of Contract for RFP CP-20-01, Strategic Plan and Performance Measurement, to Performance Breakthroughs, Inc. (PBI) for the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan – See Special Session Minutes. 7. Review of Legislation – See Special Session Minutes. 8. Appointments to Boards and Committees: James Meyer to TLB, Seth Gomoljak, Blaine Davis and Rita Zito to the Veterans Memorial Committee. 9. Requests for/Status of Future Agenda Items: • Is staff working on the Cherokee Lane Permit Parking situation? ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Day to adjourn the Worksession, and with a vote of 7-0 (Councilmember Rigg had already left the meeting) the Worksession was adjourned at 11:10 p.m. __________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date City Clerk Approved  SPECIAL SESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, February 4, 2020 Davis Hall, 9217 51st Avenue 10:53 p.m. – 11:03 p.m. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Brennan, Dennis, Day, Mackie and Mitchell. ABSENT: Councilmember Rigg left the Worksession at 10:30 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Dan Alpert, Student Liaison. During a regularly scheduled Worksession of the College Park City Council, a motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Day to enter into a Special Session to consider several time-sensitive matters. The possibility of the Special Session was listed on the Worksession agenda. With a vote of 7-0, the Council entered into Special Session at 10:53 p.m. ACTION ITEMS 20-R-03 Adoption of Resolution 20-R-03 in support of the National League of Cities (NLC) “Leading Together Cities Agenda” for the 2020 Presidential Election candidates Councilmember Mitchell said National League of Cities is asking municipalities nationwide to adopt this resolution in regard to the upcoming 2020 presidential election with the theme, “Leading Together 2020 Cities Agenda.” A motion was made by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Day to adopt Resolution 20-R-03. There were no comments from the audience or the Council. The motion passed 7-0. 20-G-22 Award of Contract for RFP CP-20-01, Strategic Plan and Performance Measurement, to Performance Breakthroughs, Inc. (PBI) for the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan Mr. Gardiner said the City received four proposals in response to our RFP for Strategic Plan and Performance Measure consulting, and based on the discussion Council had after interviewing two of the firms, staff was asked to check references for Performance Breakthroughs, Inc. (PBI) which staff has done. Mr. Gardiner reviewed the references. Staff is recommending that the Mayor and Council authorize the City Manager to sign a contract with PBI and to add the additional work with department directors and the additional public outreach requested by Council. We will not be using their software. College Park Special Session Minutes February 4, 2020 Page 6 A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Day to authorize the City Manager to sign a contract substantially in the form attached for an amount not to exceed $43,000 with Performance Breakthrough, Inc. for strategic plan and performance measurement services. There were no comments from the audience or the Council. The motion passed 7-0. Legislation: 20-G-78 HB 368/SB 424 - Maryland Transit Administration - Funding (Transit Safety and Investment Act Motion by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Kabir to support. There were no comments from the audience or the Council. The motion passed 7-0. 20-G-79 HB 209 – Plastics and Packaging Reduction Act Motion by Councilmember Day and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to support. Councilmember Day noted that the jurisdictions around us impose this fee and we are lagging behind. There were no comments from the audience. The motion passed 7-0. 20-G-80 HB 561 – Electric Industry – Community Choice Energy Motion by Councilmember Mitchell and seconded by Councilmember Brennan to support. Councilmember Mackie recused herself because she works in the industry. There were no comments form the Council or the audience. Motion passed 6-0-1 (Mackie abstained). ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Brennan and seconded by Councilmember Day to adjourn from the Special Session, and with a vote of 7-0 the Special Session was adjourned at 11:03 p.m. __________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date City Clerk Approved