Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, October 6, 2020 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this was a Virtual Meeting. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Mitchell and Mackie. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Scott Somers, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Rebecca Bailey, Animal Control Officer; Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works; Aaron Jensen, GIS Specialist; Kiaisha Barber, Director of Youth, Family and Senior Services; Adam Rosenbaum, Student Liaison; Julia Nikhinson, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Virtual Worksession at 7:30 p.m. City Manager’s Report: Mr. Somers reported on the District 2 Special Election on November 8 at the College Park Community Center, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. If your home was flooded during the recent rain event, please submit information to the County. He provided an update on COVID 19 assistance grant programs. Reminded everyone that College Park Day was cancelled. Recapped recent ribbon cuttings for the Trolley Trail and Hollywood Gateway Park. Announced the Saturday October cleanup events at DPW. Announced and introduced the incoming Human Resources Director Teresa Way Pezzuti. Questions for Mr. Somers: guidance on Hallowe’en; ballot drop box locations for the Presidential election; should we post a sign at Gateway Park or send out postcards to residents within ½ mile? Amendments to /Approval of Agenda: A motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Rigg to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried 7-0. 1 Discussion of amendments to Chapter 102, Dogs and Other Animals (20-O-11) – Kathy Rodeffer and Suzie Bellamy, Animal Welfare Committee Co-chairs: Mr. Ryan introduced the Co-Chairs of the AWC and said the committee has worked for two years on these proposals. Discussion: Cats that are ear-tipped have at least one rabies vaccine and have been spayed/neutered; which cats are eligible for the Petco adoption program; there has been a decrease in the number of feral cats coming to the City’s shelter; suggestion to create a brochure to further explain FAQs; fees for animals found at-large and animal waste. College Park Worksession Minutes October 6, 2020 Page 2 The City’s new ACO Rebecca Bailey said there are some grant funds left in the trap-neuter- release program. Report non-ear-tipped cats to Officer Bailey. She added that we adopt the County Code. Bring back as an ordinance for introduction (Mitchell). 2 Review of bulk trash study project pursuant to Ordinance 20-O-02 which became effective on May 1, 2020 – Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works: Mr. Marsili reviewed the data collection and the steps staff takes to ensure the data is accurate. He demonstrated the data collection dashboard and reviewed the lessons they have learned so far during the pilot program. Councilmember Day said this was exactly what he was hoping to see and thanked staff for their efforts. He said this is a big step toward becoming a smart City. Councilmember Mitchell said staff heard Council’s concerns and took the action needed. She asked if Council can get this data monthly. Council asked if they can have access to view the data in real time. What is the data showing us so far about abuse of the current system? Mr. Marsili said our goal was to collect and present the data. They will come back to Council in the spring for a decision about moving forward. Councilmember Rigg is glad to see the data, but we still need to solve the problem, which is costing the taxpayers a lot of money. Just examining the problem more closely doesn’t do anything to fix it. 3 Review and comment on recommendations from final GreenPlay Senior and Community Recreation Needs Assessment report – Tom Diehl, GreenPlay and Kiaisha Barber, Director, YFSS: Ms. Barber provided a recap. We are near the end of the deliverables from GreenPlay. Accepting the final report is the next step, but that will not necessarily mean the Council agrees to move forward with all of the recommendations. Mr. Diehl said on the table on Page 68 they will add whether the goals are short term, medium term or ongoing goals. He asked Council for any other revisions. Mayor Wojahn said he and Councilmember Kabir previously sent in questions; will those clarifications be made in the final report? Mr. Diehl said yes. Councilmember Kabir hopes staff will review and monitor the objectives and progress made in the future; he doesn’t want this to gather dust. Re: Objective 3.5 on page 65 re multigenerational community center – there might be an opportunity for this at the Stone Industrial site. He wants to see an addition of the M-NCPPC initiative. Councilmember Kennedy asked about preferred communication methods – she thinks more communication overall would be helpful, and particularly for parents with young kids. The report still needs to be operationalized. College Park Worksession Minutes October 6, 2020 Page 3 Approval of final report next week (Kennedy). 4 Discussion of changes to the City Seal - Scott Somers, City Manager: The design of the new City Hall will include a large City Seal in the Council Chambers. When the current Seal is enlarged to that size, the lines start to lose their shape. The architect, Design Collective, asked the City if we are interested in cleaning up the lines. In addition, it was pointed out that the UMD Chapel has never actually had a cross on it and is non-denominational, but the Chapel on the City Seal does have a cross on it. We’re not quite sure why the Chapel on the City Seal ended up with a cross on it. Can we direct our design team to clean up the lines on the City Seal? Is Council interested at this time in making a change regarding the cross? To Consent next week. 5 Requests for/Status of Future Agenda Items - Schedule Youth Advisory Committee at an upcoming W/S (from Master List). 6 Mayor and Councilmember Comments  Kabir – Community Police meeting next Monday.  Kennedy – NCPCA meeting Thursday night.  Dennis – BDCA will hold a Candidate Forum for D. 2 Candidates on October 15 during their regular meeting. Details will be forthcoming. The list of candidates is on the City website and in the Municipal Scene.  Councilmember Rigg – Meetings will be scheduled with Prince George’s County Department of the Environment on October 21 at 7:00 p.m. and with WSSC in early November.  Councilmember Mitchell – Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Virtual town hall with 21st Delegation re state ballot questions on October 14, 7 – 9 p.m. Tentative meeting on October 28 with Comptroller Peter Franchot. Interest in starting a book club for women.  Councilmember Mackie - Reminder about absentee voting and about the upcoming clean-up days.  Mayor Wojahn – Council Member Dernoga and Mayor Wojahn are hosting a town hall tomorrow night to discuss a proposal for the Stone Industrial site – this is a proposal by Finnmark to make it a residential development. There is also a proposal by ProFish to open a fish processing plant at the site. He is attending the MML Virtual Fall Conference this week. Adjourn: Mitchell/Rigg 7-0. 9:30 p.m. ________________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date City Clerk Approved