Mayor and City Council

CITY OF NEW CARROLLTON MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP AND SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE MEETING WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 7:00 p.m. – 9:43 p.m. PRESENT: Chair Briana Urbina, Councilmembers Lincoln Lashley, Duane Rosenberg, Ryan Hussey, David Lai, Chief of Police, David Rice, Director of Public Works, Andre Triplett, City Clerk, Ashli Pressey, City Administrator, Maisha Williams, and Mayor Katrina Dodro. ABSENT: Chair Briana Urbina opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. PRESENTATION(S) Fountain Club Swim Team came to give a presentation about what their club is about, how they assist children, and the goals of their swim club. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Briana Urbina, Mayor Katrina Dodro, and council members David Lai, Lincoln Lashley, Ryan Hussey, and Duane Rosenberg made announcements. PUBLIC HEARING AND DISCUSSION Powhatan Bridge: Director of Public works, Andre Triplett, and City Administrator, Maisha Williams, gave updates on Powhatan Bridge progress and updated due dates. Bid package will not hold up the project. Discussion of Resolution 25-07: Waiving Fines and Fees for Car Cover Citations Council Chair Urbina stated there was a request for information of impact of waiving fines and fees. information is pending. Council Chair Urbina states legislation can pass without the requested information on hand. Mayor Dodro disagrees with the legislation being passed due to precedence being set for other citizens. Council Chair Urbina states warning tickets and fines that were issued after August 7, 2024 should not have been issued although Ordinance 25-02 would not become legal until September 11, 2024. Reading of Mayor Veto Ordinance 25-02 Mayor Dodro vetoed Ordinance 25-02 due to belief of conflicting with Maryland State law. Council Chair Urbina recommended the revote to September’s Legislative meeting. Councilmember Rosenberg suggest there be a special legislative meeting after the current workshop meeting. Council Chair Urbina made motion to move into a special legislative meeting. All in favor. Council Chair Urbina moved to vote on Resolution 25-07 Waving All Monies and Fees. All in Favor and vote passed 5-0. Discussion of All Resident Voting Council read the updated language in the suggested legislation. Voting during this meeting is to publish the legislation for a public hearing. Proposed public hearing date for this legislation is October 12, 2024. All in favor of moving forward with publishing proposed legislation. Discussion of Playground Equipment and Install Pricing City Administrator, Maisha Williams, reviewed pricing breakdown, line items funds are coming from, and what was previously approved by council. Discussion of why the equipment and install has to be approved during this meeting. Mayor and Council discussed remaining ARPA funds. Discussions of Council Powers Revisions to Charter Discussion about council raising the amount that needs to be approved by the council opposed to the current amount of $30,000. Council suggested an inflation comparison to the $30,000 to assist with what the amount of approval should be. Discussion about council having a bigger say in the hiring and firing of certain employees. Council Chair Urbina not interested in the council taking on more managerial powers than they currently have. Discussion of better ways to track contracts the city has. City Administrator, Maisha Williams discussed benefits of OpenGov and what it can be used for. Council would like to redefine council roles. Council Standard of Operation and “Housekeeping” Rules Discussion of Roberts Rules of Order. Questions on if Council Chair should or should not make motions. Council Chair is to remain a neutral party. Decided the Council Chair will call for a motion and not make them. Questions about who is to establish order within the council meetings. Council Chair Urbina states although she is the presiding officer, there has been some difficulty with trying to establish and maintain order and there is a lack of respect for the position held. City Clerk, Ashli Pressey, stated all rules and standards of operation apply to everyone regardless of the position held. Discussion on how request from council should take place. Council does not disagree with the Standard of Operation and Housekeeping Rules documents presented. PUBLIC COMMENTS Constituent Phelecia stated MPIA request should be adhered to. Also stated as previous council chair, the chair was not allowed to accrue attorney fees and inquired when that rule changed. Also stated roles and rules for council and mayor may not be known or properly followed. Constituent Phelecia also inquired about rental license fees and the difference between our city and the county. Gave thanks to Department of Public Works and council for progress has been made. Constituent Jose Garcia stated he is getting fined that permission was given to extend his driveway from the county and to put gravel down. Also is receiving fines for having a company vehicle parked on the gravel portion. Constituent Jose was informed to provide email or contact code and variance. Constituent June Garret would like for the bickering to stop and informed Director of Public Works, Andre Triplett, of a streetlight that has been out for months. She has reached out to Pepco to no avail and wanted to see if there was anything that he could do to assist. Constituent Cynthia Mills came to thank Department of Public Works, Andre Triplett, for the tree cutting and cleaning on 86th avenue. Constituent Barbera Clement-Njoku wants to know the plan for the property on Harland Street and that she thinks there should be extra lighting added to the property as well. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT(S) Council Chair Urbina announced City Lobbyist Trey Proctor will come in and present what all he has been working on. Also announced a discussion on property abatements will be had in the meetings in October. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Lai and seconded by Councilmember Hussey to adjourn the regular meeting, and with a vote of 4-0, the meeting was adjourned at 9:42 p.m. to move into a special legislative meeting. AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Chair Urbina moved to make the items on the agenda of the legislative meeting to a consent agenda. Motion seconded by David Lai. There were no objections. All in favor and the vote carried. CONSENT AGENDA: A motion was made by Chair Urbina and seconded by Councilmember Hussey to adopt the Consent Agenda, which consisted of the following: Ordinance 25-02: an Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of New Carrollton Authorizing Amending Code 110-22 to remove all restriction of vehicle covers within the City Resolution 25-07: Grant a Waiver of All Fines and Fees acquired after August 7, 2024 Playground Expense: Council approved $197,054 for the purchase of playground equipment for 5 of New Carrollton's Parks. We now need the Council to approve $149,965 for the installation work and finishing materials for the 5 parks out of ARPA 03-3810- 58399 and General 01-3810-58399. Since the City received a $200,000 grant for Oak Park all of the expenses for that project will come from the general fund. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Rosenberg and seconded by Councilmember Hussey to adjourn the special legislative meeting, and with a vote of 4-0, the meeting was adjourned at 9:44 p.m. Next meeting is September 16, 2024. Respectfully submitted by Ashli Pressey, City Clerk