Mayor & Common Council Meetings

CITY OF WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL MEETING OCTOBER 22, 2012 QUORUM: A meeting of the Mayor and Common Council was held in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1838 Emerald Hill Lane, Westminster, Maryland on the evening of October 22, 2012, at 7:00 P.M. Council President Halstad; Council Members Chiavacci, Frazier, and Wack; City Administrator and Acting City Clerk Wolf, Chief of Police Spaulding, Director of Public Works Glass, Interim Director of Planning, Zoning, and Development Horn, and City Attorney Levan were present. Mayor Utz, Director of Recreation and Parks Schroers and Councilman Whitson were excused from attending. CALL TO ORDER: President Halstad on behalf of Mayor Utz announced that Trick-or-Treating for the City will be held on October 31st from 6:00-8:00 PM. President Halstad on behalf of Mayor Utz declared November 1, 2012 as Extra Mile Day in Westminster. MINUTES: Upon motion of Mr. Frazier, seconded by Mr. Chiavacci and unanimously passed, the minutes of the Council meetings of September 24, 2012 and October 8, 2012 were approved. CONSENT CALENDAR: Mr. Chiavacci moved to approve the Consent Calendar, which consisted of September 2012 Departmental Operating Reports and Carroll County Drug Task Force MOU. Mr. Frazier seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES: Mr. Chiavacci congratulated Chief Spaulding and his department for a receiving the Community Partnership Award from Carroll County Foundation on Wednesday for the Shop with a Cop program. He explained that one group is picked every year, kudos to the Westminster Police Department for a job well done. Chief Spaulding thanked Mr. Chiavacci on behalf of the Police Department, sharing that he will be sure to pass his congratulations on. ORDINANCES & RESOLUTIONS: Mr. Horn explained that the draft Ordinance No. 834 of the Rental Licensing and Inspection Program was introduced to the Council to implement the program as it was proposed by Mr. Hoff, Chairman of the Task Force, on October 8. As it was discussed on October 8, it was determined that the draft code needed to be available for the public prior to the Public Hearing. Mr. Horn reminded Council, staff and citizens that the hearing will be held on Monday, November 5 at John Street Quarters at 7 p.m. to present the Code and the Program. He explained that during the Public Hearing will take comments on the code and the program as it was presented. The substance of the program begins on page three of the Ordinance, laying out the requirements of the program as it was proposed. Mr. Horn summarized the items in the Ordinance. He began with the requirement to have each rental unit in the City of Westminster to be licensed; the requirement of the landlord needed to appointment a resident agent who lives within 25 miles of the City, if the landlord lives a certain distance from the City; timing of the application, which would be January 1, 2013 and any new units will need to be licensed before occupying the unit. Mr. Horn explained that the draft code also talks about the requirement for periodic inspections and re-inspections to confirm that the violations that were previously noted were corrected and it lays out the fees that will be charged for missed appointments for inspections. He shared that the draft ordinance contains the issuance of administrative warrants if access to the property is not allowed so can go check to see if the violations have been corrected, as well as the process of appeals. Mr. Horn explained that on page nine- notice of violations of penalties section, lays out the process by which the City’s code official has to follow to notify owner of the violations and establish the process by which they are corrected, as well as any of the fees that are charged if the violations are not corrected. He shared that pages 14 and 15 listed the fees to be paid if the property owner is late on registration to be licensed or if the owner has failed to register to become licensed. Mr. Horn commented that the code is drafted and covers what was proposed by the task force and can be tweaked according to suggestions and concerns made during the public hearing. Mr. Chiavacci complimented the Task Force and the staff of City of Westminster for nice work on the draft, but wanted to be sure that this is a rough draft, a beginning point. He explained that for some of the items the Task Force will need to be flexible and want to hear what citizens have to say, including others on the Council during the Public Hearing. President Halstad commented that it is not uncommon for a Public Hearing to bring forward a lot of ideas and particularly with this, where you have a lot of people who are in the business and a lot of experts who can shed some insight. He commented a lot of that has hopefully been anticipated by the task force because they were representatives of the landlords. Mr. Chiavacci commented that this has been the most sweeping piece of legislation that the Council has looked at since he has been on Council in terms of its impact. He added that talking about 3,000 properties that will be affected, this is significant, need to take their time on creating this program. President Halstad commented that the idea of this program has floated through twice in the last 20 years and this is the furthest that it has gotten so far. Mr. Frazier motioned to introduce Rental Licensing and Inspection Ordinance No. 834. Mr. Chiavacci seconded and motion unanimously passed. Ms. Wolf explained that in November 2005 the City of Westminster purchased 18 A, B and C, on Union Street, from Interfaith Housing Alliance, for $130,000 from the proceeds of the sale of 45 and 47 Union Street. The property was purchased as a continuation of a workforce housing initiative. The property was comprised of three rental units that were then converted into two first-time homebuyer workforce housing units. From Spring 2006 to Fall 2006 the two units were rehabilitated and put on the market in early 2007 for $127,000 per home. In May 2007 one of the homes was sold. Shortly thereafter the housing market slowed and the remaining home remained vacant despite marketing efforts. Ms. Wolf explained that in July 2012 the remaining home was put back on the market with a listing price of $99,900, per housing market values. After two months of no activity the price was reduced to $89,900. In September the City of Westminster received a contract for sale on the property from a first-time homebuyer with an offer of $85,000. The potential buyer is hoping to finalize the purchase by the end of November. Mr. Frazier question with the reduction in price, if the City lost any money on this unit. Ms. Wolf replied no because all the rehab work was done by the City. Elissa asked that the Ordinance be approved as 18 A Union Street as it is in the contract of sale. She added that ordinarily an ordinance is affected after 10 days, but this ordinance has a 20 day period because it is the sale of surplus property. President Halstad questioned the proposed settlement date. Ms. Wolf replied the end of November. President Halstad inquired having time for introduction for two weeks, then final enactment. Mr. Chiavacci motioned to introduce Sale of 18 Union Street Ordinance No. 835. Mr. Frazier seconded and motion unanimously passed. NEW BUSINESS: Ms. Wolf explained that the City received 25 resumes for the position of the Finance Director; nine of resumes were pulled for interviews. On the panel for the interviews was Ms. Wolf, Ted Zaleski from the County’s of Management and Budget and Al Martin who is a retired Director for the City of Hagerstown. Ms. Wolf shared that two were selected and referred to the Mayor and Finance Committee and selected Tammy Palmer. She explained that Ms. Tammy Palmer is currently the assistant manager in the Town of Hampstead. President Halstad explained that he participated in the final interview with Councilman Wack. He felt that Ms. Palmer has a good municipal background, seems very eager in advancement in her career and has good ideas as well as a lot of enthusiasm. President Halstad agrees with the Mayor’s choice and the Finance Committee concurred. Ms. Wolf added that if the Council vote to appoint Ms. Palmer she will begin on November 5. Upon motion of Mr. Frazier, seconded by Mr. Chiavacci, the Council unanimously approved the Mayor’s appointment of the Finance Director to Ms. Tammy Palmer. . Mr. Glass explained that the Performance Food Group (PFG) is constructing a waterline from the City’s wastewater treatment plant to their site on Avondale road. Construction of this pipeline will enable conveyance and sale of reuse water for non potable uses and will in turn afford PFG the ability to expand their facility to accommodate additional business. All infrastructure associated with this project will become inventory owned by the City upon successful installation and inspection of the same in accordance with the attached PWA. This project and appropriate code changes (ordinance 831) were previously approved at the January 9, 2012 Council meeting. Carroll Foods will be using this water for cooling and in case of a fire purposes. This will eventually be the City’s infrastructure, turning it over at no cost. Mr. Chiavacci questioned if it is the water that would be discharged to the stream and will the City be charging Carroll Foods for the use of this water. Mr. Glass replied yes, this is the water that was being discharged to the stream and the City will be charging for the use of the water. Mr. Chiavacci commented that he feels that this is a great thing and hopefully the City will have other companies who will be interested in this as well. Mr. Glass explained that this will start the framework; the line has been made larger than what was needed for purpose of hopefully expanding to other companies as have done for the Performance Food Group. Upon motion of Dr. Wack, seconded by Mr. Chiavacci, the Council unanimously approved the Public Works Agreement A-1077 for Performance Food Group. Dr. Wack motioned, pursuant to Section 10-508-A-1 of the State Government Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, to conduct an executive session at the conclusion of the current meeting. Mr. Chiavacci seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Mr. Cumberland congratulated Chief Spaulding and the Police Department for the Community Partnership award. He shared that this was a great function when the Police Department had this at the Fire Department until they grew out of their facility. Mr. Cumberland reported that a new ambulance has been ordered to replace another ambulance. He shared that last week, being Fire Prevention week was a busy week, visiting various places sharing fire prevention. Mr. Cumberland reported that last weekend, was the last weekend for the museum at the Fire Department until April 2013. He shared that the department may switch to Saturdays rather than Sundays when it is reopened. Mr. Glass reported that the City has begun their annual road paving project on Monday, October 22 on Meadow Branch Road. He also shared that BGE will be doing an overlay on the roads where they had to dig up. He explained that this will be BGE’s expense, not the expense of the City. Mr. Glass reported that the pedestrian lighting on Pennsylvania Avenue is completed. He reported that the installation of the exterior windows in City Hall has been completed. Chief Spaulding reported that there were two cases of vandalism to motor vehicles in the City on Sunday night, October 21. One of case of vandalism was in alley at East Main Street and Green Street and the second was on Union Street where three different vehicles were scratched along the driver’s side. He added that the Police Department does not believe the two crimes were related. There will be an award of $250 leading to the arrest and conviction of those who are related to those cases. Mr. Horn reported that the City has received a proposal from Wallace Montgomery, a traffic engineer, who is contracted through Carroll County for Colonial Avenue. He explained that the way the contract is written, Mr. Montgomery can help municipalities work on projects such as Colonial Avenue. He shared that he has notified Carroll County that the City supports the study as it has been proposed. Mr. Horn explained that Carroll County will be providing speed directional classification of vehicle data through the placement tube machine counts. He added that staff will be assisting in a license plate study which will show the origin and destination of traffic that is using South Colonial, Bennett to West Main, out to Green Street, then out to Maggie’s restaurant. He shared that he hopes to hear back from the County shortly. Ms. Wolf reported that Mayor Utz participated in the ribbon cutting grand opening celebration at the library on Sunday, October 21. She commented that she feels the library will be heavily used on Sundays, seeing the amount of people who were there utilizing the computers by the time she had left the event. She shared that the library staff was pleased that this was a joint effort between the Board of Commissioners and the City of Westminster to get the library open on Sundays. Ms. Wolf reported that in addition to having Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night, on October 27 there will be Trick-or-Treating at the Wakefield Valley Trail and on Tuesday, October 30 will be the Halloween parade. CITIZEN COMMENTS: George Claire of 146 Pennsylvania Avenue complimented the Pennsylvania Avenue lighting project, explaining that he is happy with the difference that it has made. Ms. Lori Graham of 118 Pennsylvania Avenue also complimented the lights on Pennsylvania Avenue, suggesting that the City put the same color of lights in all lighting. She explained that some are yellow and some are very bright. Mr. Glass shared that the lights are two different technologies. He explained that some have the sodium vapor, which give a yellow appearance and some of them are the LED lights, but eventually all of the lights will be the same. Ms. Graham reported that the holiday parade was on November 24th and that she has been receiving applications for the parade. Ms. Graham also shared that she is saddened of the news of Ms. Jennifer Mellor’s resignation from the City. ADJOURN: President Halstad adjourned the meeting at 7:41PM. Respectfully Submitted, Shannon Visocsky