Mayor and City Council

CITY OF NEW CARROLLTON MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2022 The Council Workshop Meeting was held at 7:00 p.m., on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, as a virtual meeting. Attending were Chairperson Cynthia DB Mills; Councilmembers, Sarah Potter- Robbins, Katrina R. Dodro, and Briana Urbina; Mayor Phelecia Nembhard; City Administrative Officer Latasha Gatling; Assistant City Administrative Officer Michael McMahon; Chief of Police David G. Rice; Director of Public Works Andre Triplett; Information Technology Administrator Andrew Facey; and Administrative Assistant Araceli Guzman. Councilmember Allyne Hooks was absent. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Mills welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order. 2. REPORT OF THE MAYOR AND ADMINISTRATION Mayor Nembhard referred to Chief of Police David Rice for his report. Chief Rice began by stating that he has no official report tonight other than adding that the Police Department has been extremely busy with all the weather changes that have taken place over the past several weeks. Director of Public Works Triplett was called on to give his report and began with a report on snow operations from the last three snow events. He stated that three plows went down during the events and one is now back in operation. The City is down to 60% of its salt supply and a new order is arriving next Monday. Storm cleanup from the first event was difficult with the number of trees that came down but cleanup should be completed this week. He then stated that the Clean Water Partnership’s crews will be cutting back vegetation overgrowth this week and then reseed the area in February. City Administrative Officer Gatling was asked to give the Administration report. She referred the Council to the agenda packet for her written report. She then stated staff plans to bring the results of the AV Room RFP to the Council next month and the new phone system implementation is on schedule. She also reported that the first ARPA pubic workshop was rescheduled to Wednesday, January 26th at 7pm due to the City Newsletter not being delivered to New Carrollton residents on-time by the U.S. Post Office. Mayor Nembhard then gave her report stating that she asked the CAO to send an email to all Councilmembers concerning the upcoming Maryland Municipal League Summer Conference. She then stated that the “If I Were a Mayor” contest is coming up and has been in contact with area schools. There is a free school lunch box give-away at RFK stadium every Sunday. The School Board Transformation Taskforce listening session is January 19th at 6pm. COVID test kits are available at the New Carrollton Public Library this week Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 to 1:30 pm. Test kits are also available to be ordered online. MINUTES OF COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING JANUARY 18, 2022 2 | PAGE The Mayor then encouraged residents to sign-up for the City eNewsletter as the U.S. Mail has been severally delayed and the regular City newsletter is just now arriving in residents homes. That is why we rescheduled the ARPA listening session. Food distribution is starting up through Capital Area Food Bank, Lindemann Foundation and the City of New Carrollton twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesday time to be determined. The next food distribution at Charles Carroll Middle School will take place January 29th. The Metro Board Chairman announced the retirement of General Manager and CEO Paul Wiedefeld. PGCMA nominations are open for secretary’s and two nominations were made for New Carrollton. The Mayor added that she has been selected to serve as secretary of the Maryland Black Mayors Association for a second year. Sump pump drain pipes at the curb need to be connected to the drain and if you have any issues to contact Public Works. Branch cleanup should also be directed to Public Works. We had a meeting with Senator Ben Cardin’s office last week on how to partner with the Senate office. The $2,500 Prince George’s County Association of Realtors Macline Scholarship for PGC High School Seniors is open. Information can be found at that PGCAR Website. January 9th was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. She wanted to recognize all our hard-working law enforcement personnel in the City. MLK Day of Service was a success with the Maryland Black Mayors Association. Our U.S. Congressman recently sent information on insuring equable broadband and clearwater. 3. COUNCIL QUESTIONS/COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS Councilmember Dodro began by stating people can sign up to receive four free COVID test kits at USPC.Com/covidtests. She then asked who is the acting City Clerk. CAO Gatling responded that she is the acting City Clerk. Councilmember Urbina reported that she may be unavailable for the next few weeks due to her pregnancy. Shen then commented there were a lot less cars on the road during the last snow event and attributed that to the increase in social media posting by the City. Councilmember Potter-Robbins requested that the City Administration please include page numbers to the City Council Agenda Packets. She then gave high praise to Public Works for the schedule they have been keeping the past few weeks. 4. PROCLAMATION BLACK HISTORY MONTH – FEBRUARY 2022 Chairperson Mills asked if anyone would like to discuss the proclamation for Black History Month. She recognized Councilmember Dodro who stated that she has comments about the proclamation issue that was discussed previously. Chairperson Mills stated it will on an upcoming agenda for discussion. MINUTES OF COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING JANUARY 18, 2022 3 | PAGE Councilmember Urbina was recognized and stated that she is happy we are doing it to acknowledge our history. 5. DISCUSS HYATTSVILLE PARKING Chairperson Mills asked the Councilmembers if everyone received the packet that she sent on Hyattsville parking? She then stated this will be brought back on a future agenda. A discussion followed. 6. ENDORSEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND Chairperson Mills referred to Assistant City Administrative Officer Michael McMahon. Mr. McMahon began by stating that he has two items to discuss. First, is that the City’s Sustainable Maryland Community Certification expires at the end of 2022 and staff has begun the process for re-certification. Secondly, he stated that the Mayor received a request from Sustainable Maryland to be included in a letter of support for HB100/SB14. This bill creates a Sustainable Maryland Program Fund in the amount of $750,000 beginning in 2024. He added that this bill has the support of MML. He then stated that the Mayor intends to have her name included on the letter and asked if any other Councilmember would like their name added. All the Councilmembers present requested to have their names added to the letter. 7. FY 2023 BUDGET – COUNCIL INPUT Chairperson Mills opened by stating that the Council previously discussed the FY 2023 Budget and requested if anything additional needs to be included. CAO Gatling was recognized by the Chair. The CAO stated that she included the Budget Schedule the Council previously approved with an April 18th meeting for public input. Councilmember Urbina was recognized and stated that she would like to add money to the budget for COVID test kits. CAO Gatling was recognized and reported that she requested 10,000 test kits from the State. Councilmember Dodro requested money to be set aside for creating two community groups. The first being a CERT community group and a second being a youth community advisory group. Councilmember Potter-Robbins requested additional moneys be added to the Public Works budget in order to retain employees. A discussion followed about staffing and compensation in Public Works. 8. MEETING MINUTES a.) Council Workshop Meeting Minutes (December 13, 2021) b.) Council Legislative Meeting Minutes (December 15, 2021) No discussion MINUTES OF COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING JANUARY 18, 2022 4 | PAGE 9. REVIEW OF PAID BILLS Batch #1 (December 17, 2021); Batch #2 (December 23, 2021); Batch #3 (December 31, 2021) No discussion 10. PUBLIC COMMENT - RESIDENTS’ CONCERNS, AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND TELEPHONE CALLS Chairperson Mills recognized Roy Peterson at 8406 Ravenswood Road. Mr. Peterson began by asking three questions. First, he asked about road access to a vacant lot at the end of Legation Road behind Metro Points Hotel? He then asked why the Agenda Packets are not on the City Website for download? Finally, he asked when the Green Team will be able to meet? Mayor Nembhard was recognized and stated the road access onto Legation for that empty lot was to assist with a COVID testing site at Metro Points to allow vehicles to exit the site more safely. She then stated that we recently discussed calling a Green Team meeting soon due to the Sustainable Maryland certification. CAO Gatling commented that the agenda packet it is on the website in another folder and in the future will add the packets to the homepage. 11. REQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Councilmember Urbina was recognized by Chairperson Mills. She stated that she would like to expand the electorate in New Carrollton. She has written a bill to expand the electorate to include Non-U.S. Citizens and sixteen-year-old voters. She continued by stating that she recently attended Parkdale High School and received letters for the Mayor in support of sixteen-year-old voters. 12. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Councilmember Urbina moved to adjourn the Council Workshop Meeting of Tuesday, January 18, 2022. Seconded by Councilmember Dodro. The motion was approved (4-0-0). The meeting ended at 7:46 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Michael McMahon Assistant City Administrative Officer Adopted by the City Council on ___________________________. Note: The official recording of the City of New Carrollton’s Council Workshop Meeting of Tuesday, January 18, 2022, has been posted to the City of New Carrollton’s website.