Mayor and City Council

CITY OF NEW CARROLLTON MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2024 7:01 p.m. – 10:05 p.m. PRESENT: Chair Briana Urbina, 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, City Attorney Jason Deloach (appearing virtually), and Mayor Katrina Dodro. ABSENT: Chair Briana Urbina opened the meeting at 7:01 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENTS Constituent Christine Frazier commented regarding the random power outages within the neighborhood. Informs council there is no pattern to indicate why they are happening (i.e. weather). She states she informed Pepco however, no solution has come forth as of yet. Mayor Dodro recommended reaching out to County Councilmember Olsen regarding this issue. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Briana Urbina and council members David Lai, Duane Rosenberg, and Lincoln Lashley, made announcements PUBLIC HEARING AND DISCUSSION Reminder About Upcoming Public Hearing Council Chair Urbina reminded the public of the public hearing on December 11, 2024 at 7pm. Also informed the public of the banner on the City website. Reports of the Mayor and the Department Heads Mayor Announcement Mayor announced the closing of the office for the monthly staff training Also informed the public of a Christmas decoration event happening at the municipal center. The date is to be announced soon. Police Department Police Chief informed the public to be aware of the upcoming holidays and to remain vigilant and proactive in protecting their belongings and the possible gifts they may purchase. Also thanked the veterans and the Public Works Director for the Veteran’s Day celebration last week. Councilmember Lashley inquired about the possible uptick in traffic stops. Chief informed there isn’t a comparison chart and confirmed with City Administrator, Maisha Williams, this is a project they are working towards. Public Works Public Works Director, Andre Triplett, informed the sidewalk paving project is underway and should be completed by Thanksgiving. Leaf collecting has been going well. Having an issue with the parked cars. They are attempting to work around the cars if people do not move them however, a few cars have had to be towed. The fall planting project is underway and almost complete. Councilmember Lai inquired if Public Works is tracking the composting tonnage. Currently not tracking due to compost being combined with other items. Constituent sent a question about if the upcoming street work being done to Councilmember Lai. Mr. Triplett informed council the streets will be posted soon. Administration Report Currently have two RFPs posted on the website. Parking RFP was extended from November 16, 2024 to November 26, 2024. Have an offer out to a Purchasing Officer. Awarded $49, 859 from Chesapeake Bay Trust Community Garden Grant 2025-2026. Councilmember Rosenberg inquired about the welcome committee and if the city still sends out welcome packets to new members of the community. Councilmember Lashley inquired about the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program and what is pertains to. Police Chief, David Rice, and City Administrator, Maisha Williams, informed council the grants were to educate the citizens on proper gun safety and storage of them. Follow-up Discussion on Parking Program Effectiveness Council Chair Urbina circled back to this topic in order to get more information regarding how much money has come in in the last two fiscal years. Police Chief, David Rice, informed council that information may come from the finance department because month to month, the amount varies. Expects to be able to have a full conversation at some point in January. Review of Browns and Associates Report City Administrator, Maisha Williams, explained Brown & Associates first report was to audit the ARPA funds. The second report is the review of our internal controls. The city has responded and have not heard from them regarding the response the City sent over. Council Chair Urbina inquired about the time they used for the study. City Administrator, Miasha Williams, informed council they used FY 2021- FY 2024 for the study. Council Chair Urbina stated the point of the study was to ensure there was no misappropriation of funds, policies and procedures in place for the finance department, and other procedural assistance. Council Chair Urbina asked if having them before the council again would help with getting the goals they had in mind done. City Administrator, Maisha Williams, and Mayor Dodro stated they do not think it will not help. Councilmember Rosenberg states there were no surprises with the ARPA report. Councilmember Hussey made a suggestion towards exploring other options since the City did not receive the production promised. Mayor Dodro informed council a closed session may be required to discuss some of the matters that are in question. Councilmember Lashley asked if the policies and procedural manual would be office wide or just department related. City Administrator informed the procedural manual would just be finance related at this time. Council Chair Urbina polled the council on if they would like to have a closed session to address the questions that came about during this discussion Councilmember Hussey made a motion to have the closed session on Monday, November 25th Councilmember Lai proposed an amendment to the motion in order to have a closed meeting on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. Councilmember Hussey seconded the motion. Vote carries 4-1 FY2025 First Quarter Budget Amendments City Administrator informed council why there were separate line items for the ordinances of the budget. Brainstorming Legislative Bond Issues Council Chair Urbina noted due to the proposals of the President Elect, the city needs to be very intentional on their ask. Mayor Dodro informed council our delegation is more prone to fund something that is tangible. She stated this is why she put forth the Boys & Girls Club that is trying to come into our city. Mayor Dodro also brought forth the second face of Harland Street and the possibilities that can come out of the cleanup of the parking lot and what the building can be used for going forward. Purchasing a satellite police station where the previous meet and greet was held to assist with them reaching other parts of the city easier. Purchasing of playground equipment at Harland Street for toddlers and youth. Council Chair Urbina suggest lowering our ask to make it easier to receive funding. Council Chair states Harland street may be an easier ask to get funded due to what the residents have been dealing with and easier for our delegates to see the effects of. Council Chair Urbina also states she would also request for funding with language access but that may be harder to fund due to there not having a fixed price on it. Councilmember Rosenberg supports phase two of the Harland property and even language access because you can see the diversity of the city. Councilmember Lashley supports phase two of the Harland Street property and the satellite police building. Thinks the language access may be too hard to put a price on. Councilmember Lai agrees with the suggestions thus far. Advertise 12/3/ 2024 at 6pm Discussion on Tax Abatement for Harland Area Residents Discussion came about due to a discussion from Constituent Reneda King at a previous council meeting. Council Chair Urbina would like to offer them an abatement for one year. City Administrator, Maisha Williams, informed the council that those residents were being charged county trash and taxes, along with New Carrollton trash and taxes. Currently working with the county to see how the refund process will go. Council Chair Urbina is proposing those citizens be offered one more year of not paying New Carrollton taxes. Mayor Dodro doesn’t agree with the extra year abatement. Councilmember Hussey thinks the appraisals should be reassessed and there should be an abatement. Councilmember Lashley agrees with the abatement. Councilmember Lai agrees the issue needs to be addressed and questions what would be the appropriate response on how to move forward to address this issue. Councilmember Rosenberg thinks there have been some missteps with how the annexation and Harland Street property has been handled. He does agree something needs to be done whether it is a rebate for a small amount or the full $26, 000. Council Chair Urbina motioned to move forward with creating an ordinance for the refund of the full $26, 000. Councilmember Lashley seconded the motion. All in favor. The motion carries 5-0. Discussion On Raising Property Taxes on Blighted Unoccupied Properties Currently do not have the authority to do so. Only Baltimore does. Mayor Dodro suggested bringing it forth at PGCMA to bring to legislature to give municipalities the authority to raise the taxes since Maryland General Assembly has not authorized smaller municipalities this ability yet. Councilmember Hussey suggested having the City offer to buy the property. Council Chair Urbina thinks the fastest way would be to hire an attorney to assist with buying the property. City Attorney, Jason Deloach, informed council acquiring property is not a quick process and blighted properties are a big issue among the county. Also stated he can look into the quickest way to go in to obtain the property. City Administrator, Maisha Williams, stated an aspiration would be to obtain the houses and look into a possible first time home owner program for employees and long term renters within the city. October Meeting Minutes Council Chair informed council these will be voted on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. City Clerk, Ashli Pressey, informed council one of the meeting minutes are still being edited. Amendment To The Agenda Mayor Dodro gave comments on the agenda item 4: Public Hearing All Resident Voting. Mayor Dodro is requesting the council hold or pull the effort from the agenda until further notice due to the efforts President Elect is putting forth towards immigrants and their families. Mayor states there is no guarantee we can guarantee citizens safety with the passing of this legislation. Council Chair Urbina disagrees with the Mayor’s stance that we cannot guarantee the safety of residents with the suggested legislation for All Resident Voting. Councilmember Rosenberg does not agree that the presidential election will have that big of an impact however, he does think the public meeting should take place. Councilmember Lashley states he does not think that what happened with the presidential election should affect what happens at our municipal level. He states if there is more negative feedback over positive, then he will rethink his stance and if it is in reverse, then we should move forward with the proposed legislation. Councilmember Lai states he feels we have stronger safeguards than other municipalities that have enacted this. He also feels he has had some of the same concerns as the Mayor and that some of those feelings have been remedied having been heavily involved during this process. Councilmember Hussey states the conversation needs to take place especially since the previous public hearing went wrong. He feels the concerns should be heard and addressed during the public hearing. Reinforces there will not be a vote during this hearing and that this is our responsibility to talk about it and hear the residents’ voices on the topic. Council Chair Urbina informs the public to read the public notice on how to submit their questions and to submit their request for accommodations by December 3, 2024. PUBLIC COMMENTS Constituent Mills gave comments regarding her experience as a prior federal employee and the previous Trump administration. She states the conversation should be how we can protect undocumented residents of our city over guaranteeing them protection. Also inquired about an abatement for her since she lives directly next to the Powhatan bridge and how we can engage our New Carrollton residents to vote over pushing for our undocumented residents to do so. Constituent Phelecia came to state her disappointment hearing how previous administration was intentionally held up on trying to get something done with Harland Street Property. Also informed council of discussions she has had with fellow immigrant citizens and how they are scared with the new administration coming in. Constituent David Lai came forward to give a public comment regarding the divide amongst the community with the All-Resident Voting Legislation. Advocated for how all residents should be able to have a voice in the community they reside in. Encouraged all citizens to join on December 11, 2024 for the public hearing to share their thoughts and feelings on the legislation. ADJOURN: A motion was made by Councilmember Lai and seconded by Councilmember Hussey to adjourn, and with a vote of 5-0, the meeting was adjourned at 9:46 p.m. to adjourn the workshop meeting. Next Council meeting is December 4, 2024. Respectfully submitted by Ashli Pressey, City Clerk