Mayor & Common Council Meetings

CITY OF WESTMINSTER, MARYLAND MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL MEETING MAY 13, 2013 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 May 13, 2013, at 7:00 P.M. Mayor Utz; Council President Halstad; Council Members Frazier, Wack and Whitson; City Administrator and Acting City Clerk Wolf, City Treasurer Palmer; Chief of Police Spaulding, Director of Recreation and Parks Gruber, Director of Community Planning and Development Horn, Director of Housing and Preservation Services Beyard; and City Attorney Levan were present. Councilman Chiavacci and Director of Public Works Glass were excused from attending. Mayor Utz read a proclamation declaring June 5, 2013 as Carroll County Torch Run for Special Olympics Day in the City of Westminster. He commended Special Olympics Athletes and also applauded the efforts of Police Departments from all of Carroll County for this event, thanking Chief Spaulding for his participation. Mayor Utz opened the public hearing on the adoption of a Residential Anti Displacement and Relocation Assistance Plan and asked Ms. Wolf to give an introduction on the Plan. Ms. Wolf explained that the current plan has been in place for three years and is required to be renewed at the end of that time. The plan is part of the anticipated application for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and would offer relocation assistance to residents as a result of displacement due to a CDBG funded project. Dr. Wack clarified that this plan would only be utilized if the displacement was due to a CDBG funded project; the City would not be obligated to assist in relocation efforts for any other reason. Mayor Utz added that no City funds will be used for this plan. With no comments or questions from the public, Mayor Utz closed the public hearing of the Residential Anti Displacement and Relocation Assistance Plan at 7:08 pm. Mayor Utz then opened the public hearing on the adoption of a CDBG Program Citizen Participation Plan, again asking Ms. Wolf to give information on the Plan. Ms. Wolf explained that, again, the current plan has been in place for three years and required to be renewed at the end of that time. This plan is also a required part of the anticipated application for CDBG funds and would encourage public participation in public hearings and give access to additional, relevant information. She added that no City funds will be used for this plan. With no comments or questions from the public, Mayor Utz closed the public hearing of a CDBG Program Citizen Participation Plan at 7:09 pm. Finally, Mayor Utz opened the public hearing for the submission of an application to the State of Maryland for Small Cities CDBG funds and asked Ms. Wolf to introduce information for this hearing. Ms. Wolf explained that the application was for the remaining five lots at the Union Street property that were not covered under the Episcopal Housing agreement. The City will partner with Habitat for Humanity to complete the homes using the $700,000 grant. She added that no City funds would be contributed to the project. Mr. Frazier asked for clarification that the funds would pay for the land and materials required only. Ms. Wolf affirmed that was correct. Dr. Wack asked if the City was applying on behalf of Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Wolf stated that by the City applying, it was meeting a requirement for the application. Mayor Utz added that Sandy Anderson would be heading the application process. With no comments or questions from the public, Mayor Utz closed the public hearing for the application to the State of Maryland for Small Cities CDBG funds at 7:11 pm. MINUTES: Upon motion of Dr. Wack, seconded by Mr. Frazier and unanimously passed, the minutes of the Council meeting of April 22, 2013 were approved. CONSENT CALENDAR: Dr. Wack moved to approve the Consent Calendar, which consisted of an update to Personnel Policies and the Grace Church UPSD. Mr. Frazier seconded the motion. Dr. Wack asked if full- time employees were discussed when defining the schedules outlined in the personnel policies, using full-time employee as the basis for an employee status. Ms. Wolf said they were not. Dr. Wack asked if that was standard procedure; Ms. Wolf confirmed the policies were the same as in the past. Dr. Wack added that the personnel policies were important documents in how the City is run. The City was behind previously and had not kept up with new mandates. The information provided is critical to prevent any possible problems, and he thanked Ms. Childs for her work in completing the report. Ms. Wolf agreed that Ms. Childs was very thorough in making necessary changes throughout all of the policies. Mayor Utz added that Ms. Childs was in constant contact with the Local Government Insurance Trust to protect the City and its employees. With no additional comments, the motion passed unanimously. REPORT FROM THE MAYOR: Mayor Utz reported on his recent attendance at the Maryland Municipal League board meeting where legislative ideas were discussed for next year’s budget. He then reported on receiving the first poppy from Miss Poppy Caitlin Emmert at the American Legion. Next, Mayor Utz complimented Knorr-Brake on the grand opening ceremonies that he and Councilmen Chiavacci and Wack attended. Governor O’Malley and many other dignitaries were also in attendance. Finally, Mayor Utz reported on a successful Flower & Jazz Festival, despite the rainy weather. Downtown business owners were very happy with the increased visitor traffic. He also attended the announcement of the newest sculpture to the Carroll County Public Library Park. REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES: Mr. Frazier complimented the Flower & Jazz Festival, saying it was a very wonderful event. He then asked about the possibility of sharing an employee with another municipality for the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. Because the City would need an employee three to four days a week to complete the current workload, sharing with the County would not be the best option. Dr. Wack asked if sharing an employee has ever been done in the past. Ms. Wolf stated she was not aware of it ever happening in Carroll County, but it is widely used in other jurisdictions. Dr. Wack asked if any other municipalities currently have a GIS employee. Ms. Wolf replied no. Mayor Utz recommended revisiting the personnel information to see if this was a possibility. Dr. Wack complimented the Recreation & Parks, Public Works and Police departments for their hard work for the Flower & Jazz Festival despite the inclement weather. On behalf of the Finance Committee, he thanked Ms. Palmer for her preliminary budget numbers which provided information on the reserve funds. Currently, the Operating Reserve has $1.2M and the goal is $3M for a 90 day reserve. The Capital Reserve has $250,000 and the goal is 25% of the entire Capital Fund requirement, which is between $2-3M. And finally, the Future Retirement Costs Reserve has $1.2M currently and will have $1.5M after the new budget goes into effect. Dr. Wack stated that the City is behind in current retirement funds available to employees, and he would like to revaluate the target for future retirements. Mr. Halstad also gave his compliments on a wonderful Flower & Jazz Festival event, stating that Sideways Café and Wine Me Up were just two of the businesses he visited that were crowded. He also commented on Knorr-Brake being a fantastic piece of economic development. BIDS: Ms. Wolf read a memo from Mr. Glass stating that the Municipal Waste Collection and Recycling Services contract with Ecology Services concludes at the end of the fiscal year. She explained that the City received four bids for both three year and five year contracts, which ranged from $1,251,864 to $2,006,219.20. The low bidder was from the current contactor Ecology Services and upon review, it was discovered that the new bid was lower than the current rates by a small margin per year for the first two years of the three year bid. Also required in the bid were suggestions for potential alternatives for reducing trash and increasing recycling. Ecology Services reported success in accomplishing this goal via targeted marketing, and offered this solution at no additional cost. In addition, if recycled materials would become a future revenue source, Ecology Services offered to return such revenue back to the City. Ms. Wolf recommended the Mayor and Common Council award the bid to Ecology Services under a three year contract period with an option to extend to five years dependent upon the City’s choosing at that time. Dr. Wack commented that he was satisfied with the overall cost and inclusion of recycling. He believes the cost could be reduced further if the option of the City taking over this task was researched, including offering incentives to residents to increase recycling. He concluded by affirming that the cost for services provided by Ecology Services was at a good price. Mr. Frazier asked if Ecology Services provided recycling bins to residents. Ms. Wolf replied yes. Mr. Frazier then asked if the City could request larger bins with lids to encourage residents to recycle more than what could currently fit in the bins provided now. Mr. Whitson agreed. Ms. Wolf stated that she would research the option. Upon motion of Dr. Wack and seconded by Mr. Whitson, the bid from Ecology Services in the amount of $1,251,864 was accepted. Ms. Wolf then read a memo from Mr. Miller regarding the Storage Area Network Replacement bid. She explained that the City will be acquiring additional equipment via capital leasing to enable the replacement and enhancement of the City’s Information Technology datacenter and disaster recovery storage area networks and backup devices, which are approaching end of life status. Funding for the procurement through De Lage Landen Public Finance LLC via an existing state contract is within the Technology Services departmental budget. The capital purchase will be for $298,636 leased with a 2.94% annual interest rate over five years. The initial payment will be $118,500 and annual lease payments beginning in FY2014 will be $38,334.73, after which the City will obtain full ownership of the equipment for $1. Ms. Wolf added that the current equipment has a shelf life of five years, after which there is no tech support and the technology is outdated. Mr. Whitson asked how long it would take to pay for the equipment to own it. Ms. Wolf clarified five years, which is the basis for leasing rather than buying outright; by the time the City pays for the equipment it will need to be replaced. Dr. Wack complimented Mr. Miller for obtaining a great interest rate. He suggested that since the expense would be every five years, funds should be set aside in the Operating Budget rather than Capital Budget to factor in the cost permanently. Mr. Frazier asked what would happen with the equipment after the five year period. Ms. Wolf stated that because there is no operating value, it would be returned for upgraded equipment. Dr. Wack added that the company supplying the hardware would recycle the materials due to obsolescence. Upon motion of Mr. Frazier and seconded by Dr. Wack, the bid from De Lage Landen Public Finance LLC for the capital purchase of $298,636 leased over five years was accepted. ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS: President Halstad requested approval of Ordinance No. 843 – FY2014 Budget. Ms. Palmer explained that the Budget presentation at the workshop on April 15th and the Ordinance was introduced on April 22nd were unchanged from the current Budget up for adoption. Mayor Utz asked if there were any citizen comments received after the presentations. Ms. Palmer replied there were none. Dr. Wack thanked the Finance staff for compiling the Budget for review. Dr. Wack then motioned to approve the ordinance and Mr. Frazier seconded. The motion passed with a vote of two to one with Mr. Whitson opposed. President Halstad requested a motion to approve Resolution No. 13-03 – Adoption of a Residential Anti Displacement and Relocation Assistance Plan. Mr. Frazier motioned to approve the resolution, Dr. Wack seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. President Halstad requested a motion to approve Resolution No. 13-04 – Adoption of a Community Development Block Grant Program Citizen Participation Plan. Mr. Frazier motioned to approve the resolution, Mr. Whtison seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. President Halstad requested a motion to approve Resolution No. 13-05 – Submission of an Application to the State of Maryland for Small Cities Community Development Block Grant funds. Mr. Frazier motioned to approve the resolution, Mr. Whtison seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Mr. Beyard updated the Mayor and Council on Code Enforcement action on a property on West Main Street, which included a court order which was working well. He added that neighbors were satisfied with the outcome of the situation. Dr. Wack asked for the parameters of the order. Mr. Beyard explained that the order included necessary internal inspections of the property on a routine basis over one year, the property will be owner-occupied and certain people cannot be on the premises or they will be subject to arrest by the police department. Finally, the order included the allowed number of occupants and how long they may occupy the residence. Dr. Wack asked what the consequences would be of violating the court order. Ms. Levan stated that there are no consequences outlined in the order itself, but if violated then it would be a breach of contempt and the City would file with the court for jail time and a fine for the property owner. She did not believe there would be any issues as a result of non- compliance. Mr. Beyard added that the City had placed liens on the property to cover the City’s cost for enforcement of the issues. Mr. Frazier asked what the timeframe would be between each internal inspection. Mr. Beyard clarified that inspections would be done very intensively at the start of the year and decrease frequency over time. Ms. Gruber reported that the Flower & Jazz Festival and 5K Fun Run were well-attended. Registered runners were 125, up from 120 in 2012. She received positive feedback from vendors on the new, improved registration process and improved sales during the Festival. Ms. Gruber then reported on the current training for staff on the ActiveNet recreation management system software for gym membership, event and facility registrations. Next, she reported that the two Parent Night Out events held during Restaurant Week in April and during Cinco de Mayo in May were very successful. Finally, Ms. Gruber explained that the community pool is nearly ready to open; staff is ready and the Health Department inspection and orientation dates are set. Ms. Palmer commented that the training at the Recreation & Parks Department also included direct links with the Eden software currently used by Finance for all accounting records. She believes it will create more efficiency and automatic billing for scheduled payments due. Ms. Palmer plans to train other City employees on the new Tyler technology to assist in streamlining several current processes. Already in place are automatic fees and automated processes such as the water/sewer bill shut-offs which were previously handled manually. She congratulated Bruce Rupp on being the March Employee of the Month and complimented the entire Finance staff for adjusting well to change in management and leadership. Dr. Wack agreed that the adaptation is testament to great leadership and how well Ms. Palmer has taken control of the department. He was very satisfied with Ms. Palmer’s new reports each month. Chief Spaulding reported on receiving first place in the 2012 Maryland Law Enforcement Challenge. As a result, the City received a $5,000 grant for traffic safety programs. Finally, he reported that the Click It or Ticket Program would begin today, May 13th, with increased nighttime enforcement. Mr. Horn reported that the City is currently working with the State Highway Administration on a strategy for an improvement plan for Route 97 North and South of Airport Drive. They are looking into adding lanes and a possible traffic signal at the Arthur Peck Drive intersection with Route 97, the location for Knorr-Brake. He stated that they were pursuing amendments to existing Public Works Agreements are already in place. Ms. Wolf reported on the Knorr-Brake grand opening ceremonies. She reminded everyone that the project was $28M and would add 60 new jobs to the workforce. They also have plans for an expansion to 400,000 square feet and already sold their old building to one of their product providers, who would be adding 40 additional jobs. Finally, Ms. Wolf reported that the City received the 2013 National Main Street Accreditation for a comprehensive and sustainable revitalization effort, strong public/private partnerships, and historic building preservation. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Martin K.P. Hill of Woodhaven Building Development, Inc. applauded Mr. Horn and Ms. Wolf for the Route 97 project in finding a resolution quickly and practically. He asked for an update on the water capacity report to Maryland Department of the Environment and status of the Gesell Well. Ms. Wolf stated that she would look into his questions and personally speak with him about it tomorrow when she had all of the information available. Rebecca Orenstein of 64 Pennsylvania Avenue read a thank you letter to the citizens of Westminster. She then began to introduce herself as a Mayoral candidate and Mayor Utz respectfully asked her to cease any and all campaign speeches. Mr. Halstad agreed, and asked for the purpose in her request to speak at the meeting. Ms. Orenstein stated that she believes incorrect Financial Statements were given to the candidates, which, in her opinion, created controversy over expenditure reporting during the correct period of time. She then stated that she was glad for the coming improvements to Route 97 for the safety and well- being of the drivers. Finally, Ms. Orenstein thanked the Westminster Police Department for timely responses during the night and the increase in patrol of her neighborhood. Lyndi McNulty of 195 West Main Street commented on how well the Flower & Jazz Festival had been run, including the new registration and set up process. She was very impressed with the Recreation & Parks staff for their hard work. ADJOURN: President Halstad adjourned the meeting at 8:00 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Samantha H. Parthree