Mayor & City Council

MINUTES Regular Meeting of the College Park City Council Tuesday, November 17, 2020 7:30 p.m. – 11:20 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this was a virtual meeting PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Mackie and Mitchell. District 2 Councilmember-elect Esters also attended. 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; Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works; Katie Hart, Community Development Planner; Adam Rosenbaum, Student Liaison; Julia Nikhinson, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the virtual Regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Councilmember Kabir said Saturday is the last day of the Hollywood Farmers Market. The College Park Food Bank will provide turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday and is seeking donations. Councilmember Dennis said there will not be a PGPD Coffee Club next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday; the next meeting will be the 2nd Wednesday of December. He also announced the Lakeland Community Heritage Project virtual event, The Lakeland Spirit Through Digital Footprints, on Thursday night. The Berwyn District Civic Association will hold their monthly meeting on Thursday night. Councilmember Mitchell gave Thanksgiving greetings to all, especially to those who can’t connect with their loved ones. Councilmember-elect Esters said she is looking forward to working with everyone. Mayor Wojahn said the Tree and Landscape Board will host the Urban Tree Canopy Forum tomorrow night. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Somers announced closures next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday; gave an update on the COVID assistance grants; and provided reminders about leaf collection. Councilmember Mitchell mentioned the bill hearing on Thursday. AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Mitchell to approve the agenda as presented. The motion passed 7-0. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes November 17, 2020 Page 2 PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS: None. PRESENTATION: Jack Robson, Chief, Board of Election Supervisors, formally certified the results of the District 2 Special Election. The winner is Llatetra Brown Esters. There were more mail-in ballots than Election Day ballots cast. CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Councilmember Kennedy and seconded by Councilmember Rigg to adopt the Consent Agenda, which consisted of the following: 20-R-23 Approval of a Resolution of Support for a PY47 CDBG Application for Cherokee Street sidewalk construction 20-G-177 Approval of the recipient of the Jack Perry Award – Bonnie McClellan 20-G-180 Approval of Minutes from the October 27, 2020 Regular Meeting. The motion passed 7-0. ACTION ITEMS 20-G-178 Approval of the proposed Objectives and Key Results for the 2021 – 2025 strategic plan Mr. Somers said the Council previously approved its Vision and Mission and tonight will address the Objectives and Key Results. He reminded everyone that the Objectives are aspirational and that it is acceptable if we don’t meet them. Mr. Gardiner said the Key Results list is a little longer than we would like so Council may wish to keep that in mind during the review. The City Staff process will begin tomorrow. Mayor Wojahn shared the revised Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for discussion. Jeff Parks and Jessica Brown from Performance Breakthroughs, Inc. were on the call. Specific revisions to OKR#9 were discussed: 1 – keep 2 – delete - we have not yet confirmed if we can obtain that data 3 – keep 4 – keep 5 – delete 6 – keep (60% target) 7 – keep (60% target) 8 – delete 9 – keep, with edits A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Mitchell to approve the OKRs as amended. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes November 17, 2020 Page 3 Councilmember Rigg added that we will meet some of these and we won’t meet some of these and that’s OK. Comments from the audience: Mary King, resident: Education isn’t what City government is about. Stick with things you can do something about. The motion passed 7-0. WORKSESSION DISCUSSION ITEM: A. Update on the City Operations Sustainability Plan – Bill Gardiner, Robert Marsili and Janet McCaslin: Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Marsili reviewed the PowerPoint presentation. The City Operations Sustainability Plan was approved in 2014. Most of the goals are already reflected in OKR#3 of the next Strategic Plan and the remaining will be included. If developed, a city-wide sustainability plan would have incentives for commercial and residential stakeholders to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We can return at a future Worksession with costs and staff resources that would be needed to develop such a plan. Return at a future Worksession with how to proceed with the next steps. GENERAL COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None. RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION: A motion was made by Councilmember Dennis and seconded by Councilmember Rigg to adjourn to a closed session for the following purposes: to consult with Counsel to obtain legal advice; to consider a matter that concerns the proposal for a business or industrial organization to locate in Prince George's County; and to discuss a personnel matter. Mayor Wojahn said the Council may return to public session after the closed session ends. The motion passed 7-0 and the meeting recessed at 10:24 p.m. RECONVENE: Council returned to open session at 11:08 p.m. (Councilmember Mitchell re-joined at 11:14 p.m.). Mayor Wojahn reconvened the meeting. [A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Day to suspend the rules and extend the meeting past 11:00 p.m. Motion passed 6-0.] 20-G-179 Approval of a lease agreement A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Day to approve, in substantially the form as the current lease with Ledo’s Original Restaurant, a lease with Chesapeake Hospitality VIII, LLC and the sublease with Rutabaga Juicery & Eats, with the following terms. College Park City Council Meeting Minutes November 17, 2020 Page 4 Ms. Ferguson stated the following for the record:  Council is reviewing and approving a lease with Chesapeake Hospitality for the space at 4509 Knox Road  They will have a sublease for Rutabaga’s, a juice bar, for 2,000 sq. feet.  The 5,800 square foot space rents for $25 per square foot.  There is a 10-year term with two five year options.  Rent will increase by 3% per year.  The tenant will invest at least $400K for tenant improvements and will pay real estate taxes and utilities.  They will enter into a PUA with City for the liquor license. There were no comments from the audience. Councilmember Kabir has mixed feelings about voting on this tonight. While he is happy we have found a partner, there was nothing in the Council packet for this item so residents have not been made aware. He will abstain from voting. Mayor Wojahn said this has been a long process and staff has been negotiating this agreement to make sure we have a viable tenant in a City-owned property. It is prudent for us to move forward this evening. The details will be publicly available for anyone to see and understand them. This is a good deal for the City and will make sure that we have a viable and thriving tenant in this important commercial property. Councilmember Mitchell understands Councilmember Kabir’s point, but there are times when our constituents need to trust us to vote on certain issues. They will be able to see the details but we cannot prolong this; we need to move forward tonight. Roll Call Yes: Kennedy, Dennis, Rigg, Day, Mitchell, Mackie No: None Abstain: Kabir (no notice to residents) Motion passed 6-0-1 Mr. Somers stated that the lease term summary will be posted on the City website tomorrow. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Rigg and seconded by Councilmember Kennedy to adjourn the meeting. With a vote of 7-0, the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m. _____________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date City Clerk Approved College Park City Council Meeting Minutes November 17, 2020 Page 5 CLOSED SESSION November 17, 2020 At 10:24 p.m., during the regular Council meeting, a motion was made by Councilmember Dennis and seconded by Councilmember Rigg to adjourn into a closed session. Mayor Wojahn read the closing 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 will meet in a Closed Session to consult with Counsel to obtain legal advice and to Consider a matter that concerns the proposal for a business or industrial organization to locate in Prince George's County, and to discuss a personnel matter. Mayor Wojahn said the Council may return to public session after the closed session ends. The motion passed 7-0. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the meeting was held virtually. Mayor Wojahn was the Open Meetings trainee. Mayor Wojahn and Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Dennis, Day, Rigg, Mitchell and Mackie were in attendance. Councilmember-elect Esters also attended. In addition, City Manager Scott Somers, Assistant City Manager Bill Gardiner, City Attorney Suellen Ferguson and City Clerk Janeen Miller were present. The City Manager and City Attorney updated the Mayor and Council and answered questions about the status of a lease agreement. Specific terms for a new lease were discussed. The City Attorney provided legal advice. No action was taken. The City Manager discussed his resignation and provided an update on the status of the recruitment effort for the new City Manager. No action was taken. A motion to adjourn from the Closed Session and reconvene in open session was made by Councilmember Day and seconded by Councilmember Dennis. With a vote of 7-0, the Council adjourned the Closed Session at 11:03 p.m.