Mayor and City Council

CITY OF NEW CARROLLTON MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2024 7:01 p.m. – 10:05 p.m. PRESENT: Chair Briana Urbina (appearing virtually), Councilmembers Lincoln Lashley, David Lai, and Duane Rosenberg (appearing virtually), Chief, David Rice, Director of Public Works, Andre Triplett, City Clerk, Ashli Pressey, City Administrator Maisha Williams, and Mayor Katrina Dodro. ABSENT: Councilmember Ryan Hussey Chair Briana Urbina opened the meeting at 7:01 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENTS No public comments. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Briana Urbina and council members David Lai, Duane Rosenberg, and Lincoln Lashley, made announcements PUBLIC HEARING AND DISCUSSION Watchfire Presentation (Demonstration board in front of municipal center) Vendor Discussion About Electronic Boards Presentation gave information behind Watchfire’s start of the company. Outlined various warranty guidelines, technical, and product repair guidelines. Gave physical example of the difference between their signs and the typical structure of other manufacturers display signs. Unaware of people tapping into their systems and states their systems are password protected and encrypted. Council Chair Urbina inquired about pricing and possible places the signs can go. Mayor Dodro mentioned Good Luck Road and 85th and Annapolis. States those are the places with the highest traffic she can think of. Council Chair Urbina agrees with the locations Mayor Dodro mentioned. Councilmember Rosenberg does not have any questions. Would like to see what pricing estimates are. Councilmember Lai wants to know pricing as well as inquired about if purchasing these signs will eliminate the cost of the mobile signs we currently have. Also inquired about projected electricity cost. Mayor Dodro informed Councilmember Lai that police own the mobile signs. Also informed these new signs support mobile and remote access and have the ability to promote complete flyers unlike our current signage. *Brief Recess at 7:38pm to go view the signage Watch Fire brought outside the municipal building. ** Meeting called back to order at 7:47pm** Maisha Williams/ Mr. Tom Himler Recommendations on ARPA Spending Plan City Administrator met with Mr. Himler for solutions for ARPA Spending in order to meet the 12/31/2024 deadline. Mr. Himler suggested a concept under the America’s Rescue Act that most municipalities are using in order to meet the 12/31/2024 deadline. States November is the best time to adopt this plan and this will ensure the deadline is met. Council Chair Urbina asked will the surplus be what is used in order to meet the deadline. Mr. Himler confirmed that is correct. No other councilmembers have questions and agree to the plan. Budget amendment will be presented at the next council meeting and the vote will take place on 11/20/2024. Powhatan Bridge Update Council Chair Urbina informed the public that the dates our City Engineers proposed have been met. The RFP is not ready to be published although the RFP itself has been delivered. City Attorney, Jason Deloach, has to finish redlining the RFP for final draft. City Administrator, Maisha Williams, informed council Mr. Himler and the City Attorney, Jason Deloach, are redlining the RFP together to prepare it to go back to CPJ and be complete for publishing. Council Chair Urbina informed the public as soon as council is made aware, the public will be made aware as well. First Quarter Budget Amendment FY2025 City Administrator, Maisha Williams, informed council this is the first budget amendment and they will be done quarterly. Report from Charles Johnson and associates came in last week however, City Administrator, Maisha Williams, informed council the report is still being discussed and when a solution has been reached, council will be made aware. Council Chair Urbina does not have any questions. Councilmember Rosenberg wanted to know if the original budget was that far off regarding workers compensation for the number to have a budget of over a quarter million this year. Councilmember Rosenberg also questioned the increase on insurance service (LGIT). Councilmember Lai wanted to know if the compensation study and the staffing study are two different analyses. City Administrator confirmed they are and that the compensation piece cannot be done until the staffing analysis is complete. Reminder- Upcoming Public Hearing on All Resident Voting Council Chair Urbina restated the announcements from the beginning of the meeting. Informed the public the public hearing is December 11, 2024 at 7pm. New Carrollton Language Access Act Discussion (Lai) Councilmember Lai introduced what language access is, different variations of it, and what it is mainly used for. Council Chair Urbina wants to know what the threshold for New Carrollton would be considering we are not a huge city. Councilmember Lashley thinks it is a good idea and would like to see what the cost would be. Council Chair Urbina, Councilmember Rosenberg, and Councilmember Lai agrees. Councilmember Lai states the request for language access has to be above a certain percentage in order to have that language service offered. Ordinance 25-04 Establishing Procedures To Notify Residents of Public Hearing All councilmembers in agreement with the legislation. This gives residents and council something to refer to for if there is another charter change. Will place on agenda for legislative meeting. Charter Revisions Discussion Continued a. Mayor and Council Powers 1. Council Chair Urbina put the items that everyone agreed upon within the mayor and council powers. 2. Broke up the powers and duties into their respective places for an easier read instead of having them broken up. 3. Councilmember Rosenberg doesn’t have any questions 4. Councilmember Lai questions where the specification of council being notified of contracts should be placed. Not sure if this a mayoral duty. 5. Procurement information is in the code, not the charter. May make a separate legislation for the code to be more specific regarding contracts. 6. Councilmember Lashley thinks switching item numbers 11 & 12 would be a good idea. 1. The Mayor has an affirmative duty to inform the Council, in writing of any planned absence or unavailability to perform the duties of his or her office for more than 3 business days. If the Mayor is unable to inform the Council due to illness, infirmity or lack of access the Council will convene to install the Mayor Pro Tem as Mayor within 3 business days of  learning of the Mayor’s inability to perform the duties of his or her office. The Mayor can contest any assertion of inability to perform the duties of his or her role. 2. At the first meeting of each new Council, there shall be elected by the Council a member to be designated as Mayor Pro Tem. In case of the temporary absence of the Mayor 1) for a period of more than three (3) business days when the Mayor is unable to perform duties that cannot await his/her return or cannot be performed by telephone or other type of communication, or 2) due to the hospitalization or disability of the Mayor that would render him or her unable to perform the duties of the office, the Mayor Pro Tem shall act as Mayor during such absence but shall not have the authority to veto ordinances or appoint or remove appointees or employees, yet shall retain voting privileges and legislative powers and duties as conferred and found in the City Charter. If the hospitalization or disability of the Mayor extends beyond thirty (30) calendar days, then, in that event, the Mayor Pro-Tem shall have the authority to veto ordinances and appoint or remove employees throughout the term of the hospitalization or disability. When the Mayor Pro-Tem is acting as Mayor beyond the above referenced thirty-day period, the Acting Mayor shall not retain voting privileges. 7. Council Chair Urbina explained why certain sections were moved and asked what titles council wanted to keep. 1. Councilmember Lashley agreed with removing alternate treasurer and asked what they would replace it with, if anything. 2. All councilmembers are in agreement with what titles to keep. 8. Want to dive into City Manager discussion at the Monday meeting in December. b. Extending Time to Hold a Special Election 1. Had a discussion in April based upon the previous special election. 2. Meeting minutes only specify general elections and terms council and mayor will hold. 3. The terms in our current charter only specify 30 days, which council feels is too short. 4. Open to going to the runner up from the election instead of a special election. 5. Councilmember Rosenberg feels special elections are expensive and would like to avoid them if necessary. 6. Councilmember Lai prefers the democratic approach to the elections. Agrees 30 days is a really quick turnaround. 7. Councilmember Lashley agrees the turnaround time is too short. Suggest 60 days as opposed to 30. Would like to know if there is a way the city could save money with special elections if possible. 8. City Clerk, Ashli Pressey, informed council the discussion in April was in regards to the mayoral terms and the cost of extending them to four years. 9. Mayor suggested if someone passes within a year of their term, a special election should be held at that time. Start the election process within 60 days or have the election within 90 days. If a person passes with six to less than six months of their term ending, the council will remain a council of 4 until the next election. Reminder to Vote November 5, 2024 Polls Open 7am-8pm a. Carrollton Elementary b. Charles Carroll Middle School- Gym and Cafeteria c. United Baptist Church d. Lamont Elementary School *Mayor Dodro informed citizens there have been no threats of public security thus far. Police or security may be at voting places for added security due to what has happened in other places and are not there to intimidate. PUBLIC COMMENTS Constituent Alarcon would like to see council use some of the ARPA funds for language access that is needed in the city. States this is needed more than the push for All Resident Voting. Constituent Kyrie-Ann McClure shared we should consider shifting away from zoom and go to google meet completely as opposed to only using it for the Public Hearing on December 11, 2024. Thinks language access is something that is needed more than the All Resident Voting. States this leaves citizens at a disadvantage. Also had questions about the Maryland State Law and the current ordinance to establish procedures to notify the public. Council Chair Urbina informed Constituent McClure the Maryland Law gives directions for after the charter change has passed. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Lai and seconded by Councilmember Lashley to adjourn, and with a vote of 5-0, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. to adjourn the workshop meeting. Next Council meeting is November 18, 2024. Respectfully submitted by Ashli Pressey, City Clerk