Town Meeting Minutes

Town of Fairmount Heights 6100 Jost Street | Fairmount Heights, MD 20743 | Phone: 301-925-8585 | Fax: 301-925-8977 April 17th, 2024 Town Meeting Minutes Call to Order Opening Mayor Stewart calls the Fairmount Heights Mayor & Council Town Meeting to order at 7:30pm. U Opening Ceremonies Pledge of Allegiance Led by Mayor Stewart. N Roll Call Present: Mayor Akiaba Stewart, Vice Chairwoman Barnhardt, Councilmember Leftwich, Councilmember St. John, Councilmember Wood-Dodson, Councilmember Oscar and A Councilmember Downing. PP Reading and Approval of Minutes No meeting minutes to present for approval at this time. Meeting Rules R Stated by Mayor Stewart. Amendments to Agenda O N/A Police Department Report VE Officer Coghill presented the Chief’s report in his absence and it is currently on file. Code Enforcement Report Code Enforcement Officer James Pinkney presented his report, and it is currently on file. D Town Manager’s Report Town Manager Doris Sarumi presented her report and it is currently on file. Treasurer's Report Treasurer Susan Walker presented her report and it is currently on file. Special Orders N/A Unfinished Business Recess Resolution Legislation: Resolution R-03-24 Recess Resolution Motion to approve Resolution R-03-24 For the Council to Recess in the month of August Motion by N/A Yes: Stewart, Barnhardt, St John, Leftwich, Oscar, Wood-Dodson, Downing No: N/A Pass: N/A Final Resolution: Motion Carried New town logo Ms. Sarumi discussed the copyright infringement for incorporating the PG County logo into our U logo without permission. Ms. Sarumi stated she would work with students to potentially create a new logo and would bring it back before the council in May. N Discussion of the Security camera Program, Funder, Cost, Return/Refund status. Councilmember Downing discussed the news flash she had seen about the security breach with A the doorbell cameras received from the FHCDC and the Mayor confirmed a notice did go out to the residents to inform them to return the cameras, and it was posted on the town’s website and social media as well. PP Discussion of Ring Corporation Community Program. Councilmember Downing discussed the ring community program and wanted to develop a ring community program in Fairmount Heights. R Discussion regarding the Status of the Fox Infestation, cages purchases, and pricing. Councilmember Downing discussed with Park and Planning the issue they were having with the O wildlife and she has a meeting scheduled with them to further discuss it on the 22nd. They also told her to call the park number, and she would provide it to the clerk to post for all residents. She also mentioned that Public Works informed her the traps they had purchased and placed VE throughout the town had been stolen. Discussion of the possibility of being a resource for the citizens of cage rentals in lieu of the counties exhaustion of their cage supply. Councilmember Downing discussed if it would be beneficial to get a surplus of cages and allow D residents to rent the cages from the town, since the county does not have any cages, and is unwilling to assist with the fox issues if the cages are stackable. Discussion for the findings of Susan’s research for support from wildlife infestation with Prince Georges County for small municipalities. Councilmember Downing they tabled this discussion as Susan was cutting checks at the time. Discussion of the status for the said Robert's Rules of Order training. Mayor Stewart stated this training was scheduled for May 30th at 7pm. Notification of the Custodian of records for the Town of Fairmount Heights Municipality Councilmember Downing inquired who was the custodian of records for the town. Mayor Stewart informed her that it was Ms. Russell, and that information was updated with the office of the attorney general. Discussion of the status of the Prince Georges art and humanities council fiscal year 21 public art Grant to Fairmount Heights. Councilmember Downing they tabled this discussion as Susan was cutting checks at the time. Discussion of the status for the wrapping of all police cars for the Town of Fairmount Heights. Councilmember Downing stated they could table it until the next work session. U Discussion of the request and status for all supporting documents for the use of all ARPA funds, including and not limited to all signed Resolutions, Reports and Citizen, N Engagement/Participation notifications. Mayor Stewart stated there was a resolution that was passed and there were revisions made to it A that would need to be signed. Mayor Stewart said there were reallocations, and that as it was her first time writing resolutions she did not save digital copies of the revisions each time but will continue to research and find and forward what Councilmember Downing with the requested PP documents. Discussion of additional Code Enforcement personnel and use of ARPA funds. Councilmember Downing they tabled this discussion as Susan was cutting checks at the time. R Discussion for Training for Code Enforcement personnel. Councilmember Downing inquired from Mr. Pinkney if he had the PG Atlas training. O Reports VE Mayor Stewart’s Report: She stated the town’s economic development meeting hosted by Councilmember Leftwich. She also attended the 39th Annual Women’s History Month Luncheon She attended Mr. Richardson’s Boy Scouts event. D She attended Mr. Colbert’s funeral. She is in the process of rolling out the town’s lawn care assistance program. She created 2 resolutions, and the Council Rules and Procedures. She also discussed the town’s communication survey, and had Ms. Russell read over some of the data that has been collected from residents thus far She also plans to attend the Forest Heights 75th Anniversary. Vice Chairwoman Barnhardt: She announced the Community Yard Sale she is hosting on April 24th and the Mother’s Day Walk on May 11th. She said there would be no public works meeting this month. Councilmember St. John: She is working with Ms. Russell and Mayor Stewart to plan the PGCMA meeting they will be hosting in May. She is working on designing a multipurpose town banner/backdrop with the town logo or seal for events for representation of Fairmount Heights he stated she wanted to shift the priorities for the communication committee. She is working on a strategic plan for communications. She discussed continuing to work in collaboration with Ms. Russell and her updates to the town website, and that she will focus on the town’s social media account. She discussed details about the first and second phase of the communication survey. She also mentioned working on planning the town’s 90th anniversary. U She will be attempting to reach out to Fairmount Heights high school to partner with them for a youth council. N Councilmember Leftwich: She discussed the Economic Development meeting she hosted on March 27th and the key A takeaways. She attended the Capitol Heights Easter Celebration. She discussed volunteering on the 4th Sunday partnership with Capitol Heights for their food PP giveaway. She is working with Vice Chairman Barnhardt on the Fairmount Heights Park Future Development Project. She attended the Care Fair at University of MD College Park R Councilmember Oscar: He stated he is happy to be back from his leave. O He stated he wanted to look into various programs for the youth for the summer. He stated his main focus is to keep them engaged, and find programs in PG County. VE Councilmember Wood-Dodson: She is trying to formulate a village for the seniors in Fairmount Heights to inform them of fraud phone calls and qr codes so as not to be victimized. She asked Ms. Russel for 40 communication survey flyers she could disseminate personally to the seniors in the community. D She also has a program that would be helpful for seniors in the month of June and will discuss it in the work session. Mayor Stewart inquired on the status of the Community Assistance program, and she said she would like to take it back out to the community first to see if the Seniors still want it. Councilmember Downing: She stated her first committee meeting will be on the first Friday of May. She attended the air quality meeting at Cedar Heights. She gave his first proclamation at Mr. Colbert’s funeral. She will be picking up the digital display boards project for the town. Public Comment Kim Gladden stated her question was already answered in the chat. Mr. Barnhardt stated there were several people who came in in October that were interested in being a part of the ethics board but declined due to the unresponsiveness and unprofessionalism of the council. Mayor Stewart stated that this is citizens participation and it is not for him to question the council and that he can be added to the agenda for the next meeting to discuss the ethics board. Councilmember St John stated before we send this out to the community that they need to make sure they are prepared this time as they were forced to throw it together before and it was not successful. U Ms. Clark inquired from Councilmember Wood-Dodson and Councilmember Downing the status of the community assistance program since there had been no update since they took over it in February. N Ms. Syphax expressed that there should be an inspection of rental properties in town. She also suggested implementing committees of citizens to help and give community input. She also A requested that any type of endorsement or grant or anything that the town is involved in be made public. Ms. Ukk inquired if there is nothing in the charter that states that being removed as a PP councilmember would disqualify her from being on the ethics board, and expressed her interest in applying. Former Mayor Waiters stated she came because she saw 2 residents walk out and she sees the dissension everyone is talking about. She addressed Councilmember Wood-Dodson and stated they have had several meetings about the community assistance program and she has been sitting R on this for quite some time. She expressed concern that during citizens participation the council took things right back into discussion when it is the citizens time. She also mentioned the bicycle O rodeo and discussed UCAP and wanted to reiterate that everytime she found out anything she brought it to the table. She also stated she would forward her the revised and original documents from the ARPA Spending Plan that have been requested. VE Announcements N/A Adjournment D Motion to adjourn presented by Councilmember St John and seconded by Vice-Chairman Barnhardt at 9:47pm. Respectfully Submitted, Janiqua Russell Town Clerk/Council Clerk