Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, October 18, 2022 7:30 p.m. – 11:16 p.m. This was a hybrid meeting: Online via Zoom; In-person in the Council Chambers of City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy, Esters, Whitney, Adams, and Mackie. Mayor Wojahn virtually joined the Election and Redistricting discussions. Councilmember Rigg arrived at 9:29 p.m. at the beginning of the Redistricting discussion. ABSENT: See comments above. ALSO PRESENT: Kenneth Young, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Gary Fields, Finance Director; Bob Ryan, Public Services Director; Michael Williams, Economic Development Manager; Jim Miller, Parking Enforcement Manager; Valerie Graham, Student Liaison and Adrian Andriessens, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. City Manager’s Report: Mr. Young commented on College Park Day on October 15 and said this week is Homecoming week at UMD. Councilmember Kabir asked about the M-NCPPC budget and said there was a community meeting last night with M-NCPPC on a north College Park Community Center. Amendments to and Approval of the Agenda: • Add 22-G-143, PUA for GrillMarx, to the Agenda as a Special Session item, Adams/Esters, passed 7-0. • Approve the agenda as amended, Mackie/Adams, passed 7-0. 1. Follow up discussion on election matters – Board of Election Supervisors: Chief John Payne, Supervisors Tina Batten, Ben Hovland, Lynea Cooper Pitts, Yousuf Jaleel, and Cameron Thurston: (Mayor Wojahn attended this discussion virtually.) Mr. Payne reviewed the BOES report, attachments, and decision points. Council suggested amendments to the Survey questions. Various scenarios for the 2023 election were discussed, including number and location of polls, early voting, vote by mail, providing transportation, activities near the polling place to encourage participation, the City’s role in candidate forums, day of election, and inability for candidates to access on-campus housing. Return in January with survey results. Council asked for: statistics from nearby jurisdictions about impact vote by mail College Park City Council Worksession Minutes October 18, 2022 Page 2 had on their voter participation rates; breakdown of the mail portion of the 2019 election; number of voters at each poll in 2019; candidate forum policy; number of voters for early voting, ADD To Agenda: Property Use Agreement for GrillMarx - See Special Session minutes for item 22-G-143 2. Discussion of parking enforcement and permit parking zones, Jim Miller and Bob Ryan: There is no fee for parking permits anymore. Permit parking can be requested by resident petition or imposed by Council. Sometimes its best to permit an entire area rather than street by street. How many permits does each household have? Sometimes there are more permits than parking spaces on the street. Should we reconsider tiered permit fees so that you pay more as the number of permits increase? Should we change the 2/3 petition threshold for a permit parking petition to a simple majority? Can a resident request a mailed application in addition to emailed? 3. Follow up discussion on Redistricting: Mr. Gardiner reviewed the maps that are under consideration. Discussion and consideration of these maps: • 3A – Rigg, Adams but with some hesitation, Esters perhaps, Whitney too many civic associations, Mitchell • October maps in general, and October 3 map has less discrepancy – Kennedy, Wojahn • October Plan 1 – Esters, Whitney, Kabir, Wojahn, Mitchell Straw Poll: • *October Plan 1 –Kennedy Rigg Mackie Adams Kabir Whitney Esters Mitchell Mayor = 9 • October Plan 3 – Kennedy Mackie Mayor = 3 • *Map 3A – Rigg Adams Esters Mitchell = 4 *Move forward with October Plan 1 and Map 3A for introduction next week. [10:31 Kabir/Adams, extend meeting, 7-0] 4. Discussion of the dollar limit of expenditures (contracts) that require a full bid process, and that the City Manager is authorized to award instead of the Mayor and Council – Kenneth Young and Suellen Ferguson: Two questions being asked tonight: • When to put an item out to bid, so that it has the benefits of the competitive bid process • What dollar amount can the City Manager approve vs. what requires Council approval City Manager: contracts that are routine/operational/maintenance. Council: contracts for specific projects/one-time/non-routine. College Park City Council Worksession Minutes October 18, 2022 Page 3 For any contract that didn’t go to Council: City Manager will report to M&C about any contracts that are awarded, if it went to bid, if it didn’t, why not. During the quarterly financial report, list any contract over $30K. When is a competitive bid required: currently if it is over $30K it must be competitively bid, or you can ride the bid of another jurisdiction that has been competitively bid, or you can override your own law with a supermajority. Raising the threshold for competitive bids doesn’t preclude you from going out to bid if you think its best. If there is an amendment to a contract that the Council approved, then the amendment would come back to Council as well. [11:00 p.m. - motion to suspend the rules – Mitchell/Esters, 8-0.] 5. Approval of amendments to “City Recreational Facilities Rules and Regulations” and “Rules and Regulations for Parks and Recreation Areas” to conform to Ordinance 22-O- 07, which was effective on October 4 – Bob Ryan and Suellen Ferguson: • Does this apply to the Trolley Trail? We can designate the Trolley Trail a recreation area and have it apply. • Smoking – remove “cigarettes” add “other smoking materials.” • Discussion of other trails in the City not regulated by another agency. “No obstruction of the travel portion of the trail.” To Consent Next Week ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Mackie and seconded by Councilmember Whitney to adjourn into a Closed Session. Mayor Wojahn read the Closing Statement: Pursuant to the statutory authority of the Maryland Annotated Code, General Provisions Art. § 3-305(b), the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park are providing notice that they will meet in a Closed Session after the meeting on Tuesday, October 18 to discuss the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation, or performance evaluation of appointees, employees, or officials over whom this public body has jurisdiction; any other personnel matter that affects one or more specific individuals. The Mayor and Council will also consult the City Attorney to obtain legal advice. The Mayor and Council will discuss applications for advisory board vacancies and receive legal advice about the enforcement of a City law. The motion passed 8-0 and the meeting was adjourned at 11:16 p.m. ______________________________ Janeen S. Miller City Clerk