Mayor and City Council

1|M I N U T E S O F T H E C O U N C I L W O R K S H O P M E E T I N G – J A N U AR Y 4 , 2 0 2 3 CITY OF NEW CARROLLTON MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2023 The Council Workshop Meeting was held at 7:00 p.m., on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, as a virtual meeting. Attending were Chairperson Cynthia DB Mills; Councilmembers Lincoln Lashley, Katrina Dodro, and Briana Urbina; Mayor Phelecia Nembhard; Finance Director Lorna Grant- Charles; Information Technology Administrator Andrew Facey. (Councilmember Allyne Hooks was absent) 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Mills called the Workshop meeting to order at 7:00 pm. 2. REPORT OF COUNCIL CHAIRMAN Chairperson Mills responded to a question by Councilmember Dodro via email in reference to Lawsuits filed against the City; the answer about lawsuits was answered; Council Chair Mills spoke about an RFP for an Auditors contract for FY22, FY24 and FY25, which was approved last year; she mentioned that the New Carrollton received a Solar Power grant award in the amount of $55,000.00.; she mentioned that there will be a meeting next month about voting. 3. REPORT OF THE MAYOR AND ADMINISTRATION Chairperson Mills recognized Mayor Nembhard. Mayor Nembhard spoke about the following points: Plans to move forward from 2022 to 2023; work to be done to Sidewalks and Streets; City trucks for leaf collection in Public Works are working; working on trash regulations; complaints about animals being attracted due to trash; complaints about trees; four out of five police cars came-in; police officer recruitment is ongoing; FOP - LEAPS research started, in compliance with said contract; Finance Audit report; Human Resources Department is actively advertising positions; Actions of the Council are causing negative effects on Department Supervisors; announce that Andre Triplett decided to retire; she thanked the staff and the Council for the opportunity to help the residents through the ARPA funds; the city offer a holiday celebration; Code Enforcement stats; Police stats. Mayor Nembhard mentioned an incident of harassment from an individual through facebook comments (said individual is the campaign manager of an elected official); she mentioned negative campaigns against her are not acceptable. 4. COUNCIL QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO REPORT GIVEN BY THE MAYOR AND ADMINISTRATION Chairperson Mills recognized Councilmember Lashley. Councilmember Lashley greeted everyone and requested an update on the status on the project of the AV room; IT Facey commented that the work is ongoing but did not have an effective date; he requested clarification on the comprehensive report FY23; Finance Director Grant-Charles commented on the new budget preparation. Councilmember Urbina greeted everyone and commented on employee retention and recruitment; she suggested that the City consider hiring a firm to do retention and recruitment to 2|M I N U T E S O F T H E C O U N C I L W O R K S H O P M E E T I N G – J A N U AR Y 4 , 2 0 2 3 cover City Administrative Officer roles; HR Cynthia Johnson responded no to the question. Councilmember Dodro requested an executive session with the City’s attorney; in reference to the summary provided by Chairperson Mills, which was not accurate; she personally want to ask questions to the attorney; there are various legal matters addressed to the Council and the City government via email, issues being apprehended which puts the city as a defendant; those questions are not answered; she brought the topic about returned checks on the list of bills on this agenda; Ms. Grant-Charles responded to the question about the returned checks. A discussion followed. Councilmember Dodro questioned topic #9 DPW Sidewalk and repairs topic; Chairperson Mills stated that such topic will not be discussed due to Mr. Triplett not being present; Councilmember Dodro requested topic#7 on the agenda for Purchase of Land from PGCPS to be postponed for another day; she is requesting a walk through with PGCPS to explain the further. 5. COUNCIL ANNOUNCEMENTS. ONLY INFORMATION THAT WILL BENEFIT THE RESIDENTS OF NEW CARROLLTON Chairperson Mills recognized Councilmember Lashley. Councilmember Lashley did not have comments. Councilmember Urbina expressed a sincere apology to Mayor Nembhard in reference to the comments being said on facebook; she expressed that she is not part of the group. Councilmember Dodro expressed that anyone wanting to reach out to her please do so; she provided and update on the Santa with a Badge event; she sends prayers to the Rice family; she mentioned MML and its legislative session; Maryland is a State where recreational use of marijuana is no longer consider a criminal offence. Chairperson mentioned a comment form the Prince George’s County Executive mentioned projects about the New Carrollton metro. 6. PUBLIC HEARING ANNOUNCEMENT: SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT ON THE CITY’S 2023 GENERAL ELECTION PROCESS – VOTE-BY-MAIL OR VOTE IN PERSON Chairperson Mills announced that on the next meeting there will be a public hearing seeking public input on the City’s 2023 general election process whether vote by mail or vote in person. 7. REVIEW DATA REGARDING PURCHASE OF LAND TO PGCPS Chairperson Mills tabled the topic until next meeting. 8. MEETING MINUTES Chairperson Mills requested that they review the following meeting minutes: a.) Council Workshop meeting minutes (December 7, 2022) b.) Council Legislative Meeting Minutes (December 21, 2022) 3|M I N U T E S O F T H E C O U N C I L W O R K S H O P M E E T I N G – J A N U AR Y 4 , 2 0 2 3 9. THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS SIDEWALK REPAIR WITH VMP CONSTRUCTION CO, INC Chairperson Mills tabled the topic until the next meeting. 10. REVIEW OF PAID BILLS Chairperson Mills stated that they already discussed the bills; she requested that they review the following list of bills: Batch #1 & Batch #2 (December 2, 2022); Batch #3 (December 9, 2022); Batch #4 (December 19, 2022); Batch #5 (December 22, 2022); Batch #6 (December 30, 2022). 11. PUBLIC COMMENT – (RESIDENTS’ CONCERNS, AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND PHONE CALLS) WHEN ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS FOR THE RECORD Chairperson Mills invited the public to provide comments. Resident Stephen John – Made a comment about the AV room and addressed the fact that most municipalities are open for in-person meetings; he would like to vote for in person voting coming up in May; to have the option for early voting and absentee ballot. Resident Pat Jackman – 5813 Lamont Drive; brought the topic about the swastika, and another incident which happened at the library; Chairperson Mills responded to Ms. Jackman. Resident Ce-Ce – Frenchman’s Creek Condominiums; she expressed her feelings towards the City and she prays for everyone to come into terms. Councilmember/Resident Urbina – 8001 Legation Rd; explained the difference about hate versus violence. Councilmember/Resident Dodro – Gavin St; mentioned the topic about mental ability to grow in reference to middle/high school children fighting being kids; would like to have conversations about the ARPA funds to be used to hire social workers to be available to help people with mental health. Pat Jackman – had a question about the kitchen compost program, which was initiated by Mike McMahon; Mayor Nembhard answered. Chairperson Mills stated that there are opportunities to apply for committees. 12. RQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS NOT ALREADY SUBMITTED. The topic was not discussed. 13. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Mills call the adjournment. There being no further business, Chairperson Mills moved the motion to adjourn the Council Workshop Meeting for Wednesday, January 2, 2023. There was no response to adjourn the meeting. Chairperson Mills closed the meeting at 8:20 pm. The meeting ended at 8:20 pm. 4|M I N U T E S O F T H E C O U N C I L W O R K S H O P M E E T I N G – J A N U AR Y 4 , 2 0 2 3 Respectfully submitted, Araceli Guzman-Benitez City Clerk Adopted by the City Council on . Note: The official recording of the City of New Carrollton’s Council Workshop Meeting of Wednesday, January 4, 2023, has been posted to the City of New Carrollton’s website.