[0:36] >>[ NO AUDIO ]

[0:43] >>[ ROLL CALL ]

[1:16] >>Mayor, you have a quorum.

[1:17] >>Thank you, Mr. Grin and

[1:18] Diet. Okay, folks,

[1:19] let's do the Pledge of

[1:20] Allegiance all together. I

[1:21] pledge allegiance

[1:25] to the flag.>> And to the

[1:26] Republic

[1:27] for which it stands.

[1:29] >>Under God, indivisible,

[1:32] with liberty and justice

[1:34] for all.

[1:37] >>Thank you. Can I get a motion

[1:38] to approve the agenda,please?

[1:41] >>Second.

[1:42] >>It's been moved and seconded.

[1:43] All in favor?

[1:44] >>Aye.

[1:47] >>Any opposed? Any extensions?

[1:50] The ayes have it. Okay, public

[1:51] comment.

[1:54] >>We'll go to the attendees.

[1:56] If you have a public comment,

[1:57] please use the raised hand

[1:58] feature now. You will have two

[2:00] minutes to speak. Please state

[2:01] your name and the ward you live

[2:04] in right now. First, we'll go

[2:05] to Michael Borman. Michael, you

[2:07] should be able

[2:08] to unmute yourself. There it

[2:10] is.

[2:13] >>Good evening. My name is

[2:14] Michael Gorman. I live in Ward

[2:15] 5. First of all, I want

[2:17] to just begin

[2:18] by saying a thank you to the

[2:20] mayor and the council and the

[2:21] city staff. These are,

[2:23] I guess you could say, kind

[2:24] of crazy times. And I'm happy

[2:25] to give a shout out

[2:26] for government service. Now,

[2:28] what I'd like

[2:30] to say today is pretty simple.

[2:32] Please, please, let's run a

[2:35] balanced budget going forward.

[2:37] And when I say balanced budget,

[2:39] I mean balanced, not

[2:43] by dipping into the city

[2:44] savings accounts. I realize

[2:46] that's not the proper

[2:47] accounting terminology. The

[2:48] general fund or all those

[2:49] accounts that we set aside

[2:52] to have money just in case

[2:53] something terrible goes on.

[2:54] Dipping

[2:55] into that is not what I mean

[2:57] by running a balanced budget.

[2:59] And also not

[3:00] by raising taxes. We're already

[3:01] paying a lot of taxes. I don't

[3:03] think it should be necessary

[3:04] to raise taxes. Now, I do

[3:08] realize that a lot of planned

[3:10] expenditures can't be backed

[3:13] down from now, and that that

[3:14] probably means that some

[3:16] of the things we'd really like

[3:18] to do even more than the

[3:20] planned expenditures will have

[3:21] to not do them because you

[3:22] can't back down from these

[3:23] planned expenditures. So I

[3:25] don't know,

[3:26] maybe we won't be able

[3:27] to do as nice a spruce up of

[3:29] Driscoll park as we would like.

[3:31] But I think it's very important

[3:33] to run a proper balanced budget

[3:36] going forward. And I. Yeah. So

[3:39] that's all I have to say. And

[3:40] thanks again to all of you

[3:42] for all you do.

[3:48] >>Next, we'll go to Michael

[3:49] Bonds. Michael, you should be

[3:51] able

[3:52] to unmute yourself.

[3:53] >>Okay. Can you hear me?

[3:54] >>Yes, we can.

[3:56] >>Awesome. Good evening,

[3:57] mayor and council members. My

[3:59] name is Mike Bonds. I live in

[4:00] Ward 3 on Carnaby Street. So

[4:03] to just echo some of what the

[4:04] previous gentleman said,

[4:06] I understand that for the last

[4:07] year and then especially

[4:09] with budget season approaching,

[4:10] there's been a lot of scrutiny

[4:12] regarding our finances

[4:14] from the public. And

[4:15] of course,

[4:16] I also understand that

[4:17] with all the changes

[4:18] down the street with the

[4:19] federal government and then all

[4:21] the budget shortfalls we have

[4:22] above us

[4:24] at the state level and

[4:25] at the county level,

[4:27] it might be trickier this year

[4:28] of budgeting. But

[4:30] like you said,

[4:31] I do believe that Hyattsville

[4:32] should commit

[4:33] to passing a budget for FY26

[4:34] that doesn't draw so heavily,

[4:36] heavily on the carryover money

[4:39] from the general fund as we

[4:42] have in the previous years.

[4:44] But we also need

[4:45] to just commit to having those

[4:46] deep conversations that we need

[4:47] to about whether we need the

[4:50] things that are in this budget

[4:54] and future budgets, like,

[4:55] does it really meet our needs

[4:57] to have a huge upgrade

[4:58] to a new park,

[5:00] or might it just be better

[5:01] to do some small,

[5:02] meaningful improvements

[5:04] to what we have? And also,

[5:09] I would say we need to commit

[5:12] to maximizing transparency,

[5:14] break out as many line items in

[5:15] our budget as we possibly can

[5:17] so we know exactly where our

[5:19] money is going and possibly

[5:23] even be innovative by releasing

[5:25] some raw budget data, like a

[5:27] spreadsheet or a CSV file or

[5:29] something like that. So if we

[5:30] are interested as residents,

[5:32] we can do our own analyses

[5:34] of this data instead of having

[5:36] to look for a budget book. And

[5:37] the data is, like,

[5:38] unselectable. And if you look

[5:40] at, like, our neighbors,

[5:41] College Park, Greenbelt,

[5:42] Bowie, they seem

[5:44] to have no issues doing a lot

[5:45] of things that we've seen

[5:47] to be struggling with. And I

[5:48] don't think there's any reason

[5:50] we can't do what they do

[5:52] at least as well as they do,

[5:53] if not better. So thank you

[5:56] for your time.

[6:02] >>Next we'll go to Melissa

[6:04] Schweizger. Melissa, you should

[6:07] be able to unmute yourself.

[6:08] >>Good evening,

[6:09] mayor and council and staff.

[6:11] Thanks, as always,

[6:12] for being here. Really

[6:13] appreciate you 100%. Echo the

[6:14] previous two comments

[6:18] about fiscal realism. We can't

[6:19] keep spending

[6:20] beyond our budget. Wanted

[6:22] to speak very quickly

[6:23] on HCC244,241 and 247. Those

[6:25] are the things you're looking

[6:27] at about AI. I'm transferring

[6:30] 208 and the Landry property.

[6:33] I'm not going to comment

[6:34] on whether I agree

[6:35] with these or not,

[6:36] but I'm just concerned that

[6:37] none of these have any fiscal

[6:38] impact. And two

[6:39] of these are action items.

[6:40] You're being asked

[6:41] for basically

[6:42] to sign a blank check

[6:43] on the transfer of 208 and

[6:45] on the landing property. We

[6:46] know that the city staff did

[6:48] have an analysis done. They

[6:50] identified potential

[6:51] improvements to 208. They

[6:53] actually contracted

[6:55] with a consultant to to cost

[6:57] out some

[6:58] of those improvements. So

[7:00] there's no reason there can't

[7:01] be a cost there. They've

[7:02] identified some pilot AI tools.

[7:03] They've been doing research. I

[7:05] think you as a council really

[7:06] deserve

[7:08] to have a financial estimate,

[7:10] especially when you're being

[7:11] asked to approve.

[7:13] To approve these Items

[7:16] on the AI HCC 244. I'm glad

[7:19] to see that the city is looking

[7:23] at developing guidelines

[7:24] for AI. It's super important.

[7:26] But I'm very concerned that

[7:28] they're proposing to pilot

[7:29] before they actually develop

[7:31] the guidelines. And our cities

[7:33] aren't even using AI. Hello,

[7:34] Lamppost is AI. Stop sign

[7:35] cameras by Avio are using AI.

[7:39] So let's be honest,

[7:41] we're already using it. And

[7:43] it's not just a tech issue.

[7:44] There are major ethical issues.

[7:46] So I would like to see this

[7:47] committee called an AI

[7:49] committee and not just an it.

[7:51] It's not about a system or a

[7:53] tool or a technology. It's

[7:54] about how we as humans use it.

[7:56] And those ethical issues need

[7:59] to be front and center. Thanks

[8:00] so much.

[8:05] >>Next we'll go to Giovanni

[8:09] Luca Campelia. You should be

[8:12] able to unmute yourself. Yes.

[8:14] Can everyone hear me? Yes, we

[8:17] can. Perfect. Thank you very

[8:22] much, Mr. Mayor and Council

[8:25] members. I wanted just to give

[8:26] a quick public comment

[8:30] regarding my zoning variance

[8:31] request, which is

[8:32] on the consent agenda

[8:33] for today's meeting. This is

[8:34] just a small project that me,

[8:39] as a resident of Ward Number

[8:40] 2, together

[8:41] with my wife put forth

[8:43] to develop the third floor

[8:47] of our house,

[8:48] which is an old property on

[8:50] 4100 Hamilton street

[8:53] at the corner between Hamilton

[8:54] street and 4131st Avenue I

[9:00] understand that as part

[9:01] of the consent agenda,

[9:02] there is no discussion

[9:03] for this project. But

[9:05] in case I wanted

[9:06] to mention.

[9:07] >>That, I believe my architect,

[9:08] Mr. Tom.

[9:09] >>Hammond, is also available

[9:10] during this meeting. Again,

[9:11] thank you very much for the

[9:13] consideration and I look

[9:14] forward to hearing from you.

[9:17] Thanks. Next we'll go to

[9:21] Daniel Lang. Daniel, you should

[9:22] be able to unmute yourself.

[9:28] Good evening and thank you

[9:30] mayor,

[9:31] council and city employees

[9:32] for your dedicated commitment

[9:33] to our community. My comments

[9:35] are specifically around the AI

[9:37] presentation that is today I

[9:40] reviewed the presentation,

[9:42] excited that Hyattville is

[9:43] taking steps towards AI. Just

[9:45] have a few points of emphasis

[9:47] and questions or items that I

[9:48] wish are considered

[9:50] during the presentation

[9:52] in the future adoption events.

[9:54] In reviewing it, exciting that

[9:56] it still included the phrase

[9:58] dei. That's a plus. But then

[10:01] also noted that when we are

[10:04] working with AI and developing

[10:06] those tools, we're working with

[10:08] a tool that not only performs

[10:09] mechanical processes

[10:11] but cognitive ones as well.

[10:12] It's fundamentally different

[10:13] than other technological

[10:15] technological advances. And I

[10:16] see that there's a guardrail

[10:18] to prohibit use of PII in this.

[10:20] >>But I do think it needs to.

[10:22] >>Be even much stronger than

[10:24] that. Ensuring that the data is

[10:27] entered is properly stored and

[10:29] controlled on servers that the

[10:31] city controls, which may have a

[10:33] substantial impact to the

[10:35] budget and a substantial cost

[10:37] associated with it. And I do

[10:39] see that there are elements

[10:40] of self correcting mechanisms,

[10:42] but we also need to ensure

[10:43] of regulation

[10:45] of destructive capabilities

[10:47] of the tools to make sure that

[10:49] it is still ethical and fair.

[10:51] There was a mention

[10:53] of only using biased data sets,

[10:55] although I do think it is

[10:57] rather difficult slash

[10:58] impossible to come up with a

[11:00] data set that isn't biased. So

[11:03] curious what measures will be

[11:04] put in place to establish

[11:06] equitable and just decisions.

[11:08] Myself and another volunteer

[11:10] at the Hyattsville Library,

[11:12] Yumiko Joins, are hosting a

[11:14] computer skills program in

[11:16] March at the Hyattsville

[11:17] Library. One

[11:19] of the sessions we do plan.

[11:20] To host is around Responsible

[11:21] Uses of Generative AI. For

[11:23] anyone who might be interested

[11:26] in that. Thank you.

[11:31] >>Next we'll go to Daniel

[11:33] Broder. Daniel, you should be

[11:34] able to unmute yourself.

[11:36] You'll hear me. Yes, we do.

[11:38] Cool.

[11:40] >>Good evening, Hyatt's Phil.

[11:42] Dan Broder, Ward 2 I want

[11:44] to make a comment about the AI

[11:46] presentation and I am making

[11:49] this comment both as a resident

[11:52] of Hyattsville and as somebody

[11:55] who works professionally with

[11:57] AI and is getting his doctorate

[12:00] in AI. This may do not spend

[12:06] money on this. This is the

[12:08] wrong approach to adopting AI

[12:11] for the municipal government.

[12:13] There are no guardrails

[12:14] in place prior

[12:16] to the procurement of AI. It is

[12:19] running concurrent

[12:21] to the procurement. This is the

[12:22] wrong approach. People's safety

[12:24] when it comes to their privacy

[12:25] for particularly data that

[12:28] might be handled

[12:30] by the police department needs

[12:31] to be protected

[12:33] before any sort

[12:35] of pilot is put into place.

[12:37] This does not require spending

[12:38] money on this project.

[12:42] Furthermore, if the City of

[12:44] Hyattsville would need

[12:46] to stand up equipment to

[12:47] isolate data storage or

[12:48] processing that would run

[12:51] completely contrary to the

[12:53] city's environmental goals,

[12:54] data centers are projected

[12:59] to absorb 9% of total US power

[13:01] in 2030. Do not do this this

[13:07] way. If you need

[13:09] to automate a city service,

[13:11] there are plenty of free open

[13:14] source quote unquote AI ways

[13:17] to do so,

[13:18] but wide scale adoption of a

[13:20] buzzword towards privacy

[13:22] problems that may not need

[13:25] solving, particularly in an

[13:26] environment where the city is

[13:27] losing lots of money,

[13:30] is a really bad idea.

[13:33] Finally, just want to shout

[13:34] out all the Hyattsville

[13:35] residents who made it out

[13:37] to the President's Day protest

[13:39] yesterday and expand Ranked

[13:41] choice voting in Hyattsville,

[13:42] please. Thank you.

[13:48] >>Next we'll go to Cheryl

[13:49] Aguiar. She'll be able to

[13:51] unmute yourself.

[13:55] >>Thank you. Good evening

[13:58] Council members and Mayor

[13:59] Crossling.Thank you

[14:01] for the opportunity

[14:02] to speak today. I'm Cheryl

[14:03] Aguilar and I'm here as the

[14:04] founding director of the Hope

[14:06] center. For Wellness, a mental

[14:07] health agency focused on

[14:09] holistic healing and as a

[14:10] community partner in the City

[14:12] of Hyatt Mental Health Program

[14:13] which was spearheaded here

[14:15] in these meetings and led by

[14:19] Councilwoman Schrub and

[14:20] supported

[14:21] by the entire council and the

[14:23] Mayor, so thank you so much.

[14:24] Now we have In Wellness with

[14:26] Thrive a program that is really

[14:27] thriving as a pilot program

[14:28] in our community.

[14:29] In recent months, In Wellness

[14:31] with Thrive has conducted

[14:34] countless intake sessions

[14:35] with children,

[14:36] youth and parents and I get to

[14:38] hear firsthand the many

[14:39] stressors affecting their

[14:41] mental health see. Seeing their

[14:43] immediate relief upon accessing

[14:45] free. Bilingual services both

[14:46] in person and virtually

[14:48] after weeks months

[14:50] of searching

[14:51] for support is a testament

[14:53] of the program's impact. This

[14:55] initiative not only provides

[14:56] critical mental Health services

[14:58] to the city's most vulnerable

[15:00] residents who are facing

[15:01] trauma, anxiety and depression,

[15:02] but it also offers hope,

[15:04] healing and a profound sense

[15:05] of being heard,

[15:07] seen and understood. In our

[15:09] Art space programs, young

[15:11] people have explored and

[15:12] processed critical issues of

[15:14] adolescent development such as

[15:16] identity and self esteem, and

[15:17] our sessions have supported a

[15:19] sense

[15:20] of connection and belonging.

[15:21] And in our individual therapy

[15:22] sessions,

[15:23] our therapists provide vital

[15:25] one on one and family support

[15:27] to community members navigating

[15:29] gun violence, family conflict

[15:31] and the isolation of feeling

[15:32] different challenges that have

[15:34] identified in in today's

[15:36] political climate access

[15:38] to mental care is urgent, that

[15:41] demand is growing and the need

[15:42] is undeniable. You have already

[15:44] led the way in this arena,

[15:47] so thank you for championing

[15:48] mental health already for the

[15:49] City of Hyattsville. As the

[15:51] devastating impact

[15:52] of federal cuts to Lifeline

[15:54] programs unfold, your continued

[15:56] support ensures that children

[15:58] and families in highest of

[16:00] income ensure our immigration

[16:03] status, retirement receive the

[16:04] care they need and deserve.

[16:05] Thank you for continuing to

[16:06] Support this initiative.

[16:16] >>Next, we have Bradley

[16:17] Phelps. Bradley, you should be

[16:18] able

[16:19] to unmute yourself.

[16:20] >>Hello, I'm Bradley Phelps

[16:21] from Ward 2. Thank you, Mayor

[16:22] and council members

[16:23] for your time

[16:24] in public service. My public

[16:25] comment is

[16:26] to reiterate concerns raised

[16:27] by previous public comments

[16:28] about artificial intelligence

[16:30] that is not outlined

[16:31] in the presentation

[16:32] to be given later tonight. As

[16:33] the presentation slides point

[16:34] out, there are risks

[16:36] to using AI. We also know and

[16:37] must consider carefully the

[16:39] known costs of AI. It requires

[16:41] a large amount of computational

[16:43] power and therefore a large

[16:45] amount

[16:46] of energy and electricity,

[16:47] often at data centers. Some

[16:48] estimates claim that ChatGPT

[16:50] may use one to two orders of

[16:51] magnitude more electricity than

[16:53] a conventional Google search.

[16:55] Additionally, these data

[16:57] centers frequently consume

[16:58] large.

[16:59] >>Amounts of water to cool

[17:00] their computers.

[17:02] >>As AI and applications

[17:03] for AI

[17:04] for local governments improve,

[17:06] they will hopefully become more

[17:07] efficient and tailored,

[17:09] demanding only what is required

[17:10] in terms of computational power

[17:12] and energy for a given task.

[17:14] But due to its recency

[17:17] on the public stage and lack

[17:19] of transparency

[17:20] within the field,

[17:21] the city should move forward

[17:23] under the assumption that AI

[17:25] uses a lot of power and a lot

[17:26] of water. In a state where we

[17:30] 1. Import nearly 20%

[17:31] of our electricity. 2. Are

[17:33] trying to build

[17:34] out more renewable energy. 3.

[17:35] Are trying to retire fossil

[17:38] fuel electricity generation

[17:39] sources. 4. Are also trying to

[17:42] electrify vehicles and

[17:44] buildings, including in

[17:45] Hyattsville. We must carefully

[17:48] interrogate any new demand

[17:49] source for electricity

[17:50] in the state, including

[17:51] at the municipal level.

[17:53] In short, I ask that the city

[17:55] and council strongly weigh the

[17:56] energy, water and other

[17:58] environmental costs of AI as it

[18:00] develops a city policy.

[18:02] Additionally, Hyattsville can

[18:03] also raise this concern

[18:05] to the Gov AI Coalition. And

[18:08] the Gov AI Coalition can push

[18:09] the AI industry to take energy

[18:11] and environmental consideration

[18:13] seriously. Thank you for your

[18:14] time and consideration.

[18:21] >>Next we have Gopi Dokai. You

[18:25] should be able to unmute

[18:26] yourself.

[18:27] >>Great.

[18:28] >>Thank you.

[18:29] >>Can you all hear me?

[18:30] >>Yes, we can.

[18:31] >>Okay. Awesome. Good evening.

[18:33] My name is Gopi Dokai. Thank

[18:35] you so much for your time,

[18:37] council members and mayor and

[18:39] hearing all of our concerns

[18:42] out. I'm a resident of Ward 3

[18:43] in Gateway West. I'm also a

[18:45] candidate for Ward 3 City

[18:46] Council

[18:47] in this election cycle. My

[18:49] comment is around the park that

[18:53] is being voted on later

[18:56] during this meeting. That's

[18:58] in Gateway west is community.

[19:01] Currently it's a private park

[19:03] and I just wanted

[19:05] to voice my support for this

[19:07] becoming a city and public park

[19:09] so that the entire Hyattsville

[19:11] community can enjoy this. I

[19:13] know when several

[19:16] of us were first looking at

[19:17] Hyattsville as a place

[19:18] to call Home.

[19:20] >>We were attracted to the fact

[19:21] that.

[19:23] >>The city had a really strong

[19:24] sustainability plan and a plan

[19:26] to make it a walkable community

[19:28] and a place where lots of

[19:30] different public spaces could

[19:31] be.

[19:32] >>Offered for community to

[19:34] gather.

[19:35] >>And by making this into a

[19:39] public park and having it taken

[19:41] over by the city,

[19:43] I believe that it can continue

[19:45] on with this vision. Thank you.

[19:53] >>Next we go to Tatiana Lubik

[19:58] Valanovic. You should be able

[19:59] to unmute yourself.

[20:02] >>Yes. Hi, good evening, I am

[20:05] Tatiana Tanya Krubyk Lulanovik

[20:08] from World5. I hope

[20:09] to meet you sometime

[20:10] in person. Right now,

[20:14] I believe that I'm one

[20:17] of many residents like we heard

[20:19] here that are very concerned

[20:22] about our city budget. So

[20:23] that's the bottom line. Our

[20:25] general reserve fund was

[20:27] depleted

[20:29] in just last two years from 26

[20:32] million to 16 million. That's

[20:37] 39% drop. And that has

[20:41] to stop. And the city council

[20:45] got email from me with more

[20:47] percentages that showed that

[20:50] even we had good revenue

[20:53] income. Still, the city just

[20:55] spent much more. And we all

[20:58] like services. But if we ask

[21:00] our residents what they pick,

[21:02] do they pick things. Fiscal

[21:03] responsibility,

[21:05] over trimming, servicing,

[21:07] getting services

[21:09] under control,

[21:11] they will pick up probably,

[21:14] you know, fiscal

[21:18] responsibility. I hope that

[21:21] anyone who disagree

[21:23] with that can tell me. But what

[21:26] we heard today is that we are

[21:27] for budget related to AI

[21:32] presentation that we had today.

[21:36] The city already started

[21:37] collecting very expensive

[21:40] report proposals. There are 20

[21:45] of them. The report will cost

[21:48] $50,000. There is no price tag

[21:53] for AI implementation,

[21:56] which is very boring,

[21:57] not even broad assessment. So I

[22:01] agree with many other

[22:03] presenters.

[22:04] >>Who mentioned other aspects

[22:06] of AI implementation.

[22:09] >>But the cost is just too

[22:13] high. That's it. Thank you for

[22:14] your attention.

[22:23] >>Next we have Irene Marsh.

[22:24] Irene, you should be able

[22:25] to unmute yourself. Yes.

[22:30] >>Did that work?

[22:31] >>Yeah, we hear you. Okay.

[22:32] >>Okay.

[22:34] >>I too am very concerned about

[22:35] our budget and the way we have

[22:38] been failing

[22:40] to meet deadlines related

[22:41] to audits.

[22:42] >>And so forth, and just paying

[22:44] money.

[22:45] >>For one consultation

[22:47] after another. All this money

[22:50] going out there and then the

[22:51] prospective expenses

[22:54] of doing AI, which we may not

[22:57] benefit from very.

[23:00] >>Much, and just that we are

[23:01] spending.

[23:02] >>Money we do not have. And if

[23:04] I did this with my money,

[23:06] I would be living

[23:07] on the street.

[23:08] >> So I hope there will be a

[23:09] >>Way to cut back on our

[23:11] expenses.

[23:13] >>And not run up more and more

[23:14] debts. Thank you.

[23:19] >>Okay, go back

[23:20] to the attendees. If you'd

[23:22] like to make a comment, please

[23:23] use the raised hand feature

[23:31] now. Last call, Mr. Marshall,

[23:34] you should be able to unmute

[23:35] yourself.

[23:37] >>Mayor and council members,

[23:39] my name Is Marshall.

[23:40] >>I'm in board four.

[23:42] >>While I too have budget

[23:43] concerns, mine are for

[23:45] different reasons. I am

[23:47] extremely concerned that in

[23:49] this.

[23:50] >>City'S steadfast and hard

[23:53] position on continuing

[23:54] to be a sanctuary city,

[23:56] that it will cost us great sums

[23:58] of funding and money. And my

[24:02] concern is if that happens,

[24:04] that means taxes are going to

[24:05] go up.

[24:06] >>My taxes have gone up every

[24:08] year.

[24:09] >>Since I've lived here and

[24:10] they continue

[24:11] to rise. I cannot continue to

[24:13] pay more and more tax and the

[24:16] last thing I want to do is have

[24:17] a tax increase related

[24:20] on the position of sanctuary

[24:21] cities.

[24:23] >>I cannot. I've never been a

[24:24] fan of this.

[24:25] >>City becoming a sanctuary

[24:26] city. Most of you have been on

[24:28] the council a while know that

[24:29] aside from.

[24:30] >>My personal position,

[24:32] for the, for the.

[24:33] >>Good of this entire city,

[24:34] you have got

[24:35] to protect the bottom line.

[24:37] And the way you do that is.

[24:38] >>By budgeting good,

[24:39] by budgeting in a very

[24:41] responsible manner and also by

[24:43] managing your money well.

[24:45] >>If you're going to operate

[24:48] in a form that is going

[24:50] to cost every taxpayer

[24:52] in the city more money,

[24:53] that.

[24:54] >>Does not work for anyone.

[24:56] >>It doesn't even work for all

[24:57] of you. The next thing I want

[25:00] to talk about has to do

[25:01] with city staff,

[25:03] particularly dpw

[25:05] but the city staff as a whole.

[25:07] We have had several snow events

[25:09] and what I've seen personally

[25:11] in this city is a response that

[25:15] is heads and shoulders

[25:16] above other places I've been

[25:18] in this area. Not only did we

[25:20] have snow last week on what was

[25:23] my trash day.

[25:24] >>But my trash was also

[25:26] collected and.

[25:27] >>My snow was plowed.

[25:28] >>Most places don't get that.

[25:30] So thank you to the city

[25:31] for their work. That's all.

[25:38] >>Last call in the attendees.

[25:40] If you'd like

[25:41] to make a comment, please use

[25:42] the raised hand feature.

[25:48] Seeing none. That concludes

[25:51] public comment. Thank you very

[25:52] much. Mr. Grunendife. Mr. Are

[25:54] you here?

[25:57] >>Hello everyone. I am here. I

[26:01] apologize for jumping

[26:03] on a little late. We had

[26:06] another meeting. I'm going to

[26:07] share my screen if that's okay.

[26:22] Let me see. Okay. Okay.

[26:28] >>Can you see that?

[26:33] >>Can you see that? Yes, that

[26:34] shared. Okay, great. Okay,

[26:36] listen, actually

[26:37] before I begin though,

[26:38] there was a lot

[26:39] of discussion on,

[26:40] on AI and I do want to just

[26:43] clarify just a few things and I

[26:46] know that's,

[26:47] that's a discussion that's

[26:48] going to come up later and

[26:49] Laura will add additional

[26:51] commentary to that, but she and

[26:52] I attended a conference

[26:53] at the International City

[26:54] Managers Association. When we

[26:56] attended that conference,

[26:58] we learned that a lot

[26:59] of municipalities around the

[27:00] country had been using

[27:02] generative AI for decision

[27:03] Making and. And

[27:06] to gain efficiencies and

[27:08] to get to do, you know,

[27:11] evaluate data, data sets. So we

[27:14] were very interested in that.

[27:15] Laura volunteered

[27:16] to take the lead on that and

[27:18] to come back and try to learn

[27:19] what other cities are doing.

[27:21] So I do want to be clear,

[27:22] we are not investing any money

[27:23] at this time. We are

[27:25] in the exploration phase. This

[27:26] is a part

[27:28] of us just being transparent

[27:29] with the community and

[27:30] with the council. And we just

[27:32] want to let you know that we

[27:33] are exploring, we are

[27:34] benchmarking, we are seeing

[27:35] what other cities are doing.

[27:36] We are not

[27:37] in a place where we're using,

[27:39] where we're putting any money

[27:40] and investing any money

[27:42] into this. We want

[27:43] to use how. We want to

[27:44] understand how we can use data,

[27:45] how we can make more informed

[27:48] decisions. We know that it is

[27:49] very important that we do our

[27:51] due diligence because we are

[27:52] absolutely sure that there are

[27:54] risks that may be associated

[27:55] with this, including security

[27:56] risk, environmental concerns.

[27:58] So again, we want

[27:59] to be transparent. We're

[28:01] looking into this. We wanted to

[28:02] let you know that we found that

[28:03] other cities

[28:04] across the country are using it

[28:05] for public safety, traffic

[28:06] management, service delivery,

[28:08] urban planning and development,

[28:09] environmental management,

[28:11] emergency response. So we saw a

[28:13] list of things.

[28:14] >>That other cities were doing.

[28:15] >>We just said it's time to

[28:17] explore this and see what it.

[28:23] Whether or not Laura will talk

[28:25] about that a little more.

[28:27] Anytime we invest money,

[28:28] we have to bring it back

[28:30] to this council. And we are

[28:31] very clear about doing it and

[28:35] very transparent. We come back

[28:36] to this community council and

[28:37] we let them know if we've

[28:38] identified something, we will

[28:39] tell them the risks associated

[28:40] with it, if there are any,

[28:41] and then we will ask

[28:42] for the funding for this. So

[28:43] please do not be concerned that

[28:45] we are moving out,

[28:47] spending money to do anything

[28:48] with AI other than explore and

[28:50] putting in a framework so that

[28:52] if we do decide,

[28:53] we will have that work

[28:55] in place. So I did want

[28:57] to just clarify that. So I'm

[28:58] going to start

[29:00] with the very first slide.

[29:02] See, is this thing moving? Are

[29:05] you seeing the next slide?

[29:09] Something's going wrong here.

[29:12] Can you see the agenda slide?

[29:13] >>Yes, yes.

[29:14] >>Oh, good.

[29:15] >>Okay,

[29:16] so let's move it.

[29:17] >>All right, so this is,

[29:18] this is how. These are the

[29:19] areas that we'll cover. All

[29:20] right, the next one, I do want

[29:21] to shout

[29:22] out our police department,

[29:24] but. And I thank you for those

[29:26] of you who gave compliments

[29:27] to the. The staff. Both DPW and

[29:29] the police have been working

[29:30] very hard. And

[29:31] in this particular one,

[29:33] I do want to just shout out,

[29:34] many of you saw Kelly

[29:36] Hernandez, she was

[29:37] on several news channels. You

[29:38] can see Fox, Fox 5, 7 News, and

[29:41] D.C. now we show. We frequently

[29:44] showcase our officers. And then

[29:45] they work and the work that

[29:47] they do on social media and

[29:48] on our websites and all

[29:50] of these news outlets. Pick

[29:51] this particular one up. You

[29:53] know, Kelly just,

[29:55] she works very hard, as all

[29:56] of our officers do, and we are

[29:58] really, really proud of her.

[30:00] And the work that she did,

[30:02] going into a burning car and

[30:03] rescuing a motorist whose.

[30:06] Whose legs were

[30:07] at least thought

[30:09] to be broken. Not sure how the

[30:11] outcome of that. Chief, are you

[30:12] on if there's anything to add

[30:13] about Kelly?

[30:16] >>No, ma'am, that's it. The

[30:18] driver's legs were broken,

[30:19] but other than that, that's it,

[30:20] ma'am. Thank you.

[30:21] >>Very good. All right. Thank

[30:22] you. So I did want

[30:23] to just acknowledge that.

[30:26] Okay. And next, once again,

[30:28] our police officers were in

[30:29] Rosa Parks Elementary School

[30:31] last week doing reading

[30:33] with the. With the students.

[30:34] They moved through. They were

[30:36] there about two hours. We had a

[30:37] really good time. And the kids,

[30:39] you could see in that picture

[30:40] to the far right,

[30:41] the kids were giving hugs

[30:43] to the police officers. And

[30:44] of course, they loved seeing

[30:46] Lindsey there as well. So just

[30:47] want to shout

[30:50] out our officers. Another

[30:51] program that Sandra and

[30:53] Shakira sponsored. And Jeff

[30:55] Ulysse, our interim director

[30:58] of economic development, and

[31:00] Sandra were the panelists,

[31:02] and they talked

[31:03] to this international group

[31:04] of visitors. These visitors

[31:05] come probably twice a year

[31:06] from different countries.

[31:08] We've had Asian countries,

[31:09] Africa all over. This time it

[31:10] was Middle east and North

[31:12] Africa. They wanted

[31:14] to hear examples

[31:15] of successful partnerships. So

[31:17] we appreciate Jeff and Sandra

[31:19] for leading that. Many

[31:21] of the staff attended. Mayor

[31:22] Carlton was there as well. And

[31:24] this particular session,

[31:25] they want to focus

[31:26] on human rights, poverty,

[31:27] financial support,

[31:28] volunteerism,

[31:30] and just what we're doing for

[31:32] youth and countering extremism,

[31:34] trafficking and violence,

[31:35] as you can see there. So very

[31:37] successful meet,

[31:38] meet and greet. Children and

[31:41] youth again doing some good

[31:43] things over there

[31:44] in the youth center. The drop

[31:46] in center meets three nights a

[31:49] week. In this last class, last

[31:51] week they had a cycling class

[31:53] from Kristen Fajardo and they

[31:55] learned all about safe cycling

[31:56] and other benefits

[31:58] to cycling. And he raffled two

[32:00] bikes. So two of our youth who

[32:02] attended were able to leave

[32:03] for the afternoon

[32:05] with new bikes. And last second

[32:09] to last slide. We've got a few

[32:10] events coming up. We've got the

[32:12] taste of black history. That's

[32:13] going to be this Thursday the

[32:14] 20th. And over in at Flavors

[32:18] in Ward 3. And we have a

[32:21] financial literacy session that

[32:23] is for Youth in grades 6

[32:25] through 12 who attend school

[32:26] here in the city of

[32:28] Hyattsville. So those. Look

[32:30] for those two events coming up.

[32:32] And then I'm going

[32:33] to talk. I'm going

[32:35] to hand this off to Ron

[32:36] before I go

[32:37] through the weekly offerings.

[32:38] This is just a quick audit

[32:40] update. We are in. We are

[32:42] thrilled that we finally got

[32:44] 23 in. So he's got it

[32:45] in hand. It's pretty thick.

[32:47] He's going through it and we

[32:49] should be able to.

[32:51] To get that thing out of here

[32:52] within the next two weeks.

[32:53] Ron, you want

[32:54] to take this one?

[32:55] >>Thank you, City

[32:57] Administrator. Yes, thank you

[32:59] so, so much. Good evening,

[33:01] council and citizens. Did I

[33:05] lose you?

[33:06] >>No.

[33:07] >>Okay, great, great. Yes,

[33:09] Just a quick update. Just kind

[33:10] of following behind City

[33:12] Administrator Douglas. Yes. So

[33:14] I have the final draft of FY23.

[33:16] >>We are a couple weeks

[33:19] behind plan schedule to

[33:20] complete and file.

[33:22] >>What I didn't take

[33:23] into consideration, what.

[33:24] >>I didn't know was the current

[33:26] outgoing CPA firm staff was

[33:28] out the first.

[33:30] >>Two weeks of January.

[33:32] >>So that pretty much put us

[33:33] behind a couple weeks.

[33:34] >>But again, I'm confident that

[33:37] we can complete FY23 and I get

[33:39] that submitted to the state,

[33:42] hopefully within the next.

[33:43] >>Two weeks or less.

[33:45] >>As I mentioned before,

[33:46] as we talked

[33:47] about previously,

[33:49] we do have a new firm. We

[33:50] issued a request

[33:52] for proposal come back in

[33:53] November. We selected

[33:55] Solinskoff and Axel Ride.

[33:57] >>There will be Axelrod.

[34:00] >>They will begin working

[34:01] on FY24. They're going

[34:03] to be contracted

[34:04] to complete FY24, 25 and 26. I

[34:08] anticipate, my hope and

[34:09] anticipation is that we

[34:11] complete 23, get 24 completed

[34:13] by spring and spring,

[34:18] early spring.

[34:19] >>And by the time we complete

[34:20] fiscal.

[34:21] >>Year 25, 25 is due October

[34:24] 31 by state law and hopefully

[34:27] by the end of the year, if not

[34:28] completed.

[34:29] >>At least close to completion

[34:30] for FY25.

[34:32] >>So we're getting there.

[34:35] Typically you can only get one

[34:36] audit done a year. But on.

[34:37] On top

[34:39] of the other requirements

[34:41] for the charter, for the.

[34:42] For the treasurer,

[34:43] in the process of also crafting

[34:44] the FY26 budget. So I want

[34:47] to thank everyone

[34:48] for their support. We continue.

[34:49] My staff and I will continue

[34:51] to put forth the effort

[34:52] to be transparent and,

[34:54] and again. And we take all of

[34:56] the comments very seriously and

[34:57] we continue to try

[34:59] to be more. Just try to be

[35:00] diligent and get all the

[35:02] financial information due to

[35:03] this legislative body as

[35:04] required. Thank you.

[35:06] >>Yeah. And our new auditing

[35:07] firm is ready to go, so Ron

[35:09] said that they're anxious

[35:10] to get started,

[35:12] so we're ready as well. Okay,

[35:14] thanks, Ron. So I'm gonna just

[35:15] go through weekly offerings.

[35:17] We've got the seated yoga

[35:18] class, that's for older adults

[35:20] and that's every Wednesday

[35:21] from 10 to 11. And then we also

[35:23] have the free Zumba class,

[35:24] that's Wednesdays four

[35:26] to five. We have winter

[35:27] creative mind sessions. You can

[35:29] see the dates here.

[35:30] But they're starting in

[35:31] January. They started in

[35:32] January and they'll go

[35:34] through March 11th. And then

[35:35] English sessions are on

[35:37] Tuesday. Spanish sessions are

[35:38] Thursdays, same time, 10 to

[35:42] 11, 11:30, rather. Got some

[35:43] committee meetings coming up.

[35:45] We've got code compliance on

[35:46] February 19th this week

[35:48] tomorrow. Education facilities

[35:50] task force is this Thursday.

[35:52] And education advisory

[35:54] committee meeting is next

[35:58] Monday the 24th. And then we've

[36:00] got the cert team, that's

[36:01] Wednesday, tomorrow evening

[36:03] right here in the building.

[36:04] Fields permit meeting. It's

[36:06] about that time now for people

[36:07] to start getting information

[36:08] on getting field permits. Camp

[36:09] coach in training. That that's

[36:11] open now for registration. So

[36:13] for anyone that wants

[36:16] to sign up. Actually, I think,

[36:18] Sandra, correct me,

[36:19] I think it doesn't open

[36:21] until the 20th. So that's when

[36:22] they can start signing up,

[36:23] Correct?

[36:25] >>Yes, that's actually it will

[36:27] open the application

[36:28] on the 20th for the coaches and

[36:30] then the 20th with also open

[36:32] spring and summer camps

[36:35] registration for the little

[36:36] ones.

[36:37] >>Perfect. All right,

[36:38] then we've got Narcan training

[36:39] this Thursday as well here at

[36:41] the city building. I mentioned

[36:43] Taste of Black History. And

[36:44] then finally Partner Care

[36:45] Partner support group

[36:47] on the 21st. And Narcan

[36:51] training. Narcan training in

[36:53] Spanish again, that's Friday.

[36:56] And Parent child dance party

[36:58] Saturday. This Saturday, Plant

[37:00] propaganda workshop is Sunday

[37:03] the 23rd. And lunch and Learn

[37:05] workshop rec desk, tutorial

[37:07] for older adults and

[37:09] for caregivers. And that's

[37:11] going to be on Monday the 24th.

[37:13] Okay, I'm going to stop share

[37:16] and take any questions you may

[37:17] have for me.

[37:19] >>Colleagues,

[37:20] comments or questions. Mr.

[37:25] Shagla, thank you.

[37:26] >>I don't need an answer

[37:28] on this now. I don't expect you

[37:29] to necessarily have one,

[37:31] but I just want

[37:32] to put a plug in. I've heard

[37:33] from several constituents

[37:34] asking about the status of the

[37:36] parade and if and when we may

[37:39] bring that parade back. Desire

[37:41] to have it come back. So don't

[37:44] want to put you on the spot,

[37:48] but maybe I'm curious to know

[37:50] too what the long term planning

[37:52] is related to the parade.

[37:54] Thank you.

[37:55] >>Okay, thank you. And yes,

[37:56] I cannot answer that

[37:57] at this time. We have had

[37:58] discussions

[37:59] on it because there is a lot

[38:01] of staff time involved

[38:02] in that. A Lot

[38:03] of planning and a lot

[38:04] of coordination. So we have had

[38:05] discussions about it. I don't

[38:07] know that we have actually come

[38:08] to a decision

[38:10] on whether we'll be able to

[38:12] bring it back this year or not,

[38:13] but I do. I will get you an

[38:15] answer on that after we have

[38:16] another meeting.

[38:19] >>All right, does anyone else

[38:21] have any questions or comments?

[38:25] Okay. Seeing none. I believe we

[38:26] have a presentation is

[38:28] on the.

[38:32] >>Absolutely. And that will be.

[38:36] I think Leslie's going

[38:37] to open that up,

[38:38] and I believe Hal's going

[38:39] to present.

[38:40] >>Good evening,

[38:41] mayor and council. We are going

[38:43] to give you an update

[38:45] on where we are currently

[38:46] with 3505 moving towards

[38:51] substantial completion.

[38:53] Deputy Director Hal Metzler is

[38:55] here to present this to you.

[38:57] Hal, are you there?

[39:02] >>Yes, I am here. All right,

[39:04] let me share my screen and

[39:05] we'll get started.

[39:06] >>Awesome.

[39:07] >>Thank you.

[39:25] >>All right. Good evening,

[39:26] mayor and council. I am here

[39:28] to give you an update on the

[39:31] Hyattsville Public Safety

[39:32] building project. The 3505

[39:34] Hamilton street adaptive reuse

[39:37] project,

[39:39] the new police station. It's

[39:40] had a number of names

[39:41] over the years,

[39:43] but we mostly just call it

[39:44] 3505. So we. Let me move to the

[39:50] next slide here and just kind

[39:51] of give everyone a little

[39:52] background of how we got

[39:53] to where we are currently. It

[39:56] started back in 2010 when the

[40:00] city acquired 3505 Hamilton

[40:02] street in 2011, there was a

[40:07] space utilization study that

[40:09] looked at all of the city's

[40:11] buildings and kind of, you

[40:13] know, gave the city a kind

[40:15] of a plan of how

[40:16] to move forward with some of

[40:18] the properties that the city

[40:22] owned. In May of 2015, the

[40:25] council passed a motion

[40:29] to authorize to proceed

[40:32] on moving 3505. Excuse me.

[40:34] On moving the Hyattsville

[40:35] Police Department to 3505

[40:36] Hamilton Street. From there,

[40:40] the city hired the city project

[40:42] manager, which was myself at

[40:44] the time still the project

[40:46] manager for this project. And

[40:48] from here on out,

[40:51] I know a lot more about what's

[40:52] going on. I wasn't able

[40:54] to find a whole lot

[40:56] of information on some

[40:57] of the previous background,

[40:58] but from here out, this is

[41:01] everything I have worked on.

[41:02] In the spring of 2016, we

[41:05] solicited an RFP

[41:10] for an engineering firm

[41:11] to design the building, and JMT

[41:13] was selected as that firm and

[41:17] approved by the council. In

[41:19] April of 2016. We did our first

[41:25] kind of initial concepts of the

[41:27] building and the project and

[41:29] how it could work

[41:30] in that space. Came up

[41:33] with some initial estimates

[41:35] for the project, and it was

[41:37] decided that we needed

[41:40] to just look at some

[41:41] of the other options for where

[41:44] the where the city services

[41:46] could be relocated. So we did

[41:49] do an evaluation of additional

[41:51] locations where the police

[41:53] department could be relocated

[41:55] and where the city

[41:57] administration offices could be

[41:59] located. We did evaluate

[42:01] options where they could both

[42:04] be co located and separate

[42:06] locations. And we did present

[42:08] that information to council.

[42:10] In February of 2017, it was

[42:13] decided to continue with the

[42:15] 3505 location and the council

[42:19] again voted in May of 2017

[42:24] to proceed with this reuse of

[42:25] 3505 Hamilton street

[42:28] over the next several years.

[42:30] From between May 2017 and the

[42:35] spring of 2022, our team was

[42:38] working on all

[42:40] of the engineering, the design,

[42:42] the permitting and the

[42:45] solicitation of the project,

[42:47] which was

[42:48] like many things affected

[42:51] by the pandemic,

[42:53] which did put some delays

[42:54] into the process, especially

[42:57] the permitting process. We

[42:59] finally got it out to bid

[43:02] in the fall of 2021. And

[43:06] in the spring of 2022, we

[43:10] selected Whiting Turner as the

[43:12] best option

[43:14] for the construction

[43:15] of the project. They provided

[43:17] the best value to the city and

[43:19] the council approved their

[43:23] contract in. It did take us a

[43:25] couple months to get a contract

[43:26] negotiated and was finally

[43:30] signed in July of 2022 and we

[43:32] held our groundbreaking in

[43:34] September of 2022. For those of

[43:38] you that were there or weren't

[43:39] there,

[43:40] just got a quick little video

[43:42] of our ceremony here

[43:45] to celebrate the beginning

[43:46] of the project. I know some of

[43:51] you could probably see yourself

[43:55] in the video and we definitely

[43:57] got a lot

[43:58] of video and pictures

[44:00] to share as we go

[44:03] through closing

[44:04] out this project here. The

[44:08] project began construction

[44:10] shortly after that

[44:11] groundbreaking and it has

[44:12] continued continuous

[44:15] through today. Last year in

[44:18] 2024, we did have to come back

[44:20] to council first in January

[44:24] to get authorization

[44:25] for a change order to combine

[44:28] the security and it portions

[44:30] of the project into the

[44:32] Whiting Turner contract. It was

[44:34] originally broken out

[44:36] into multiple vendors and due

[44:40] to some lessons learned,

[44:41] we decided it was best

[44:43] to combine that all under

[44:45] Whiting Turner to give the city

[44:48] the best product and best

[44:51] protection for that work.

[44:53] Again, we. Once that work was

[44:56] authorized, we did have

[44:57] to come back a second time

[44:59] for some general conditions.

[45:01] And that general conditions

[45:03] just covered all these. All the

[45:05] minor changes

[45:06] to the project that occur

[45:07] in this type

[45:09] of adaptive reuse. There's

[45:10] always, you know,

[45:12] unknowns that come up. There

[45:15] was some additional work that

[45:16] needed to be done to

[45:17] accommodate the security and

[45:18] it. And that was what was

[45:20] approved in July of 2024.

[45:24] They've been continuing

[45:25] to work and I just wanted to

[45:27] Give everyone a quick update on

[45:29] the progress and then we'll

[45:31] talk about the schedule for

[45:34] going forward. I got a number

[45:36] of photos here. I'm going

[45:38] to go through them kind

[45:40] of quick and just kind of show

[45:43] everyone where we've been and

[45:44] where we're. Where we're going

[45:46] with this. This is the first.

[45:47] Many of you might remember that

[45:49] we have this great mural that

[45:50] was commissioned by the bank

[45:54] back when the bank was first

[45:57] opened. We did take this out.

[45:59] We did have it restored. And

[46:02] Mr. Igali here, the gentleman

[46:04] on the left, is the original

[46:05] artist that painted this

[46:08] painting. I believe it was

[46:10] in the 60s. He is still

[46:13] with us. He did a great job

[46:16] of working with his team to

[46:18] clean up and restore this

[46:20] painting and repair some damage

[46:21] that was done just over time

[46:24] and where it was located in

[46:27] case people never saw it or you

[46:30] don't remember. This is kind

[46:31] of what the lobby looked like

[46:33] when we started the building.

[46:36] And now you can see we've kept

[46:37] a lot of these original details

[46:39] and appearance

[46:42] in this lobby and wanted

[46:44] to really kind

[46:45] of keep that feel going. Just

[46:48] another quick view of the lobby

[46:50] here and we're looking at the

[46:52] area that is now the new

[46:54] community room for.

[46:56] For this building. And we feel

[46:58] this is going

[47:00] to be a great space. Could be

[47:01] very similar to the Prangley

[47:02] Room. It's going to provide a

[47:04] great meeting room and a great

[47:05] option for the public

[47:09] to gather on that side

[47:14] of the city. We did want

[47:15] to show this. This room is one

[47:16] of my favorite rooms. It was

[47:18] one

[47:19] of the original bank president.

[47:20] President's office

[47:22] with all this great paneling.

[47:24] And if some of you saw it,

[47:25] I couldn't find a picture.

[47:26] But some of the paneling had

[47:27] just been damaged

[47:29] over the years. There were a

[47:30] lot of splits and cracks. And

[47:31] they did a great job of kind of

[47:34] restoring the original look and

[47:36] feel of this space. And this

[47:37] is. It's going

[47:40] to be a great room. When you

[47:41] get to come see it next,

[47:42] I want to kind of move up

[47:44] to the third floor. This is

[47:45] another great change that that

[47:47] occurred. You can kind of see

[47:48] on the picture on the.

[47:50] On the left and then

[47:52] on the right. The left was what

[47:53] it kind of looked like. And the

[47:54] right is the progress

[47:56] of the demo. We had. They had

[47:58] built out all these walls,

[48:02] these kind of knee walls

[48:04] to there. They are required

[48:05] by code

[48:06] to give some head protection

[48:08] to the ceiling. And the bank

[48:10] had built them out this way,

[48:11] which, as you can see, kind

[48:13] of made it very dark. He had

[48:14] these

[48:15] like long little hallways

[48:16] to get down to the windows.

[48:18] And we were able

[48:20] to open those up and you know,

[48:24] use some, some built

[48:26] in furniture to, to provide

[48:27] that head protection. And we

[48:29] did that everywhere up here on

[48:32] this third floor and you know,

[48:33] open the space up,

[48:34] we got a lot more natural

[48:36] light, which was one of the,

[48:37] the very important things.

[48:40] Buildings. The, the current

[48:41] department, if you know

[48:42] about it, half the offices are

[48:44] closets and storage rooms that

[48:45] were converted. Many

[48:47] of them don't have windows.

[48:49] And you know, for,

[48:51] for people's mental health,

[48:53] it's, you know, having access

[48:55] to sunlight was really

[48:56] important. And so we were,

[48:58] we're glad we were able

[48:59] to kind of open up a lot of

[49:00] these windows and get a lot

[49:02] more natural light

[49:03] into these spaces. Likewise

[49:06] these pictures here, it looks

[49:08] like the light is on, but these

[49:11] are actually solar tubes. So

[49:13] that is natural sunlight that

[49:14] is brought in

[49:16] through a skylight in a series

[49:18] of reflective tubing

[49:20] to bring that natural light

[49:21] into the space. So rooms that

[49:24] didn't have an exterior window

[49:25] did get some solar tubes

[49:26] to kind

[49:27] of help bring that natural

[49:29] light into the space. These

[49:32] next couple slides are just

[49:34] kind of showing some of the

[49:36] great improvements that have

[49:38] been made so that the police

[49:41] staff can do their job better.

[49:43] This is the evidence processing

[49:46] area. If you saw it

[49:47] in the current station. It's

[49:48] again basically a converted

[49:51] closet with a countertop on

[49:52] some cabinets and an old postal

[49:55] mailbox that they use

[49:57] to secure their evidence. Here

[49:59] now there's room for officers

[50:01] to process evidence as that

[50:03] comes in and then put it into

[50:05] these secure lockers so that

[50:06] there's a better chain

[50:07] of evidence

[50:11] for the evidence that comes in.

[50:12] And when the officers need

[50:14] to go to court, they've got a

[50:16] much better process to document

[50:20] where the evidence was.

[50:24] Likewise, we have this great

[50:25] new space. This space is just

[50:29] for evidence processing.

[50:31] Again, they're currently

[50:33] in a very small,

[50:34] cramped room that is not

[50:36] really, wasn't ever really

[50:38] built as a lab. It was just a

[50:40] corner of an office that kind

[50:42] of got converted to a space.

[50:44] And now we've got an actual lab

[50:47] that is built

[50:49] to those particular standards.

[50:55] Next, I just wanted to kind

[50:58] of go over our communication

[50:59] space a little. This is another

[51:00] great resource for the city.

[51:02] You know, we, we planned this

[51:04] new communications room that's

[51:07] in this suite where there's

[51:08] offices, there's a break room,

[51:10] there's lockers,

[51:11] there's a locker room, there

[51:13] will be a bathroom so our

[51:14] communications staff can have

[51:16] everything they need and be

[51:19] in their space. So if something

[51:20] does happen, there's an

[51:22] emergency, we need

[51:26] to get folks Back

[51:27] to their stations in a hurry.

[51:29] They're not elsewhere

[51:31] in the building. They're able

[51:32] to kind of do what they need

[51:34] to do and stay in their space

[51:36] for those emergency situations.

[51:40] This is just

[51:42] to show you as we build out the

[51:45] space this far wall here is

[51:48] going to be our video wall

[51:51] which will. Right now we have a

[51:52] couple TVs mounted

[51:54] on the wall. They do an okay

[51:57] job, but you know, we're going

[51:58] to have a video wall built here

[51:59] so that they can monitor all

[52:00] the citywide cameras and all

[52:01] the building cameras. As all

[52:04] these facilities get completed,

[52:06] all the cameras from all of the

[52:09] city's buildings will feed

[52:10] into this, into this building

[52:13] and our dispatch staff will be

[52:14] able to monitor all the cameras

[52:16] that are, that are

[52:19] in the city. And then just an

[52:21] example of the workstations.

[52:23] These are purpose built

[52:30] workstations which are a lot

[52:31] better than the currently kind

[52:32] of cobbled together desks and

[52:34] workstations that the staff

[52:38] have. It will provide a much

[52:40] more comfortable working

[52:42] environment

[52:44] for the dispatchers who are on.

[52:46] The chief will correct me,

[52:48] but I believe they're on 12

[52:49] hour shifts. So we need

[52:50] to make sure that they can,

[52:52] you know, work comfortably and

[52:56] work productively

[52:57] in these spaces. And that's

[53:00] what, you know,

[53:01] these consoles will allow.

[53:05] It's been a long time

[53:06] since we've seen this,

[53:07] but this is what the,

[53:08] the building used

[53:10] to look like. For those of you

[53:11] that might not be familiar or

[53:13] remember kind of, kind

[53:15] of what it looked like. It, you

[53:18] know, they, they, you know,

[53:21] they had the old 80s style

[53:23] sign. You know, the, there was

[53:26] just, you know, some lack

[53:27] of maintenance that happens

[53:29] with an older building,

[53:31] including this giant ramp

[53:32] in the front that was not up

[53:35] to current ADA codes. And you

[53:38] can see here we've got a much

[53:41] more kind of inviting plaza

[53:44] to welcome folks in. There'll

[53:47] be a memorial wall

[53:49] on the left, the flags. The

[53:50] ramp is kind of built

[53:52] into the, into the plaza. So

[53:55] it's not, you know, just kind

[53:56] of, you know, sticking out

[53:58] into the sidewalk. It's, it's

[54:00] kind of part of the,

[54:01] the whole landscape. And this

[54:03] is a really nice, going to be a

[54:07] really nice welcoming feature

[54:09] for, for the building. What's

[54:13] coming up next is that in

[54:18] March 2025, Whiting Turner is

[54:19] planning to work

[54:21] with the county to get our

[54:23] temporary use and occupancy

[54:25] permit which will get us to the

[54:27] substantial completion portion

[54:28] of the project. Substantial

[54:30] completion. And the temporary

[54:32] use and occupancy means that we

[54:34] can start scheduling things

[54:35] like installation

[54:37] of furniture and installation

[54:38] of the communications

[54:39] Equipment while Whiting Turner

[54:41] kind of wraps up some

[54:43] of the smaller items, some

[54:45] of the outside items,

[54:46] the parking lot, things

[54:50] like that, we're anticipating

[54:52] by May 2025, we'll be working

[54:54] on the punch list items. And

[54:56] that's just all those final

[54:59] little, you know, repairs, you

[55:02] know, any, anything that got

[55:04] nicked or damaged. The walls

[55:05] get scuffed. That's what the

[55:07] punch list is for. We have our

[55:10] inspection and commissioning

[55:12] teams that will be checking

[55:14] everything out. They'll make

[55:15] sure all the outlets work,

[55:17] they'll make sure the H Vac

[55:18] system is up and running

[55:19] properly. And anything that

[55:20] needs

[55:21] to be done will be completed

[55:22] during this punch list phase.

[55:24] The nice thing is that once we

[55:25] get to the punch list phase, we

[55:27] can start scheduling the

[55:29] occupancy by the Hyattsville

[55:30] Police Department and start

[55:34] moving staff over. Once we get

[55:35] down to this point

[55:36] of the project. And then

[55:40] August 2025, we anticipate the

[55:43] final completion and acceptance

[55:46] of the project. This date could

[55:49] be moved up,

[55:50] but we anticipate that the

[55:51] August 2025 is kind of the

[55:53] latest that this will occur.

[55:55] And once we get

[55:57] to final completion, Whiting

[55:59] Turner will be be done

[56:01] with their, with their work

[56:04] on the project. They'll turn,

[56:06] I'll turn all the keys and

[56:08] everything back over and the

[56:10] building will be fully ours to,

[56:11] to occupy and use. So

[56:13] with that, are there any, any

[56:16] questions I can answer?

[56:18] >>Thank you. Mr. Metzl, can you

[56:20] stop sharing your screen,

[56:22] please? Thank you. Council

[56:24] members. Questions? Comments?

[56:30] Seeing none. Great

[56:32] presentation, Mr. Metzler.

[56:34] >>Thank you everybody.

[56:38] >>Okay, we have another

[56:39] presentation, Artificial

[56:40] intelligence.

[56:42] >>Oh my goodness. I guess

[56:43] everybody's holding all the

[56:45] questions for me.

[56:46] >>Absolutely.

[56:47] >>That's great.

[56:48] >>Hands are going up now.

[56:49] >>Awesome. Let me share my

[56:52] screen and we'll get started.

[56:54] Hopefully you can see my

[56:56] screen. So. Good evening,

[56:57] mayor and council

[56:58] of residents. First off,

[56:59] I just want to thank everybody

[57:00] for the interest

[57:01] in this presentation. That is

[57:03] definitely good to see. So

[57:05] tonight we're here,

[57:06] we're going

[57:07] to take a high level look

[57:08] at AI, how it's developing in

[57:09] local government work and what

[57:10] it could mean for

[57:12] Hyattsville. As Tracy

[57:13] mentioned, just

[57:15] to give you some backstory

[57:16] on how we got here,

[57:17] this started for me and Tracy

[57:18] back at last summer's

[57:20] Municipal League conference

[57:21] where AI was just starting

[57:23] to get serious attention. Fast

[57:25] forward from there to last

[57:26] September at the

[57:28] International City Managers

[57:29] Conference Tracy and I

[57:30] attended. AI was just

[57:32] everywhere, so nearly vendor

[57:34] every conversation it was

[57:36] coming up so. And

[57:38] beyond all that hype, there was

[57:40] a common theme that also kept

[57:41] Coming up. So curiosity mixed

[57:44] with a level of apprehension.

[57:46] And I want to say that I get

[57:49] it. AI can absolutely feel

[57:50] intimidating and there are

[57:51] definitely real risks

[57:52] in using it. So the reality is

[57:54] though, that the technology is

[57:55] here and it's not going away.

[57:57] So that is why we think it's

[57:58] important

[58:00] to proactively address this use

[58:01] in our city. So with that,

[58:03] let's get to it. This is the

[58:05] agenda that we'll cover

[58:06] in the presentation. We're

[58:07] going to first look

[58:09] at some basics to ensure that

[58:10] we're speaking the same

[58:11] language about AI,

[58:12] common terminology and

[58:13] functions, and then we'll

[58:14] review some high level benefits

[58:16] and risks of AI, as well as

[58:18] existing guidance and best

[58:19] practices. Finally, we'll

[58:21] finish up

[58:22] with some recommendations for

[58:23] Heizo. So first up,

[58:24] the future is now. AI is

[58:27] rapidly evolving, it's rapidly

[58:28] expanding. I've seen at least

[58:30] 10 commercials

[58:31] during the last Super bowl

[58:33] about AI. And what you'll see

[58:34] on the next few slides are some

[58:36] common tools that are

[58:38] incorporating AI. So Google

[58:39] search and translate. I don't

[58:40] even think I turned this on,

[58:42] but now I get the AI overview

[58:43] whenever I Google something.

[58:45] Social media algorithms have

[58:47] been a thing

[58:48] for quite some time now. The

[58:50] Domino's Pizza Chatbot, my kids

[58:51] love that. So that place orders

[58:53] with domino pizza now plenty

[58:56] of smart home devices, Alexa,

[58:57] all of that stuff. Your live

[59:00] traffic navigation that is

[59:01] avoiding you out

[59:03] of high traffic area,

[59:04] the face ID on your phone and

[59:06] Siri. So just a few examples

[59:07] there. So what exactly is AI?

[59:10] So just kind

[59:13] of laying it out. So we have a

[59:15] common definition here. So it's

[59:17] technology that mimics human

[59:18] learning and can complete

[59:21] tasks, automate processes,

[59:22] recognize and predict patterns,

[59:23] solve problems and generate

[59:24] content. So there's several key

[59:25] areas

[59:27] of AI listed here. I'm going

[59:28] to briefly try and go over them

[59:29] and I'll try and share a real

[59:30] world example making it

[59:32] relatively simple and hopefully

[59:33] easy to understand each

[59:34] of these areas. So first off,

[59:35] machine learning,

[59:37] that is teaching machines

[59:38] to learn

[59:39] from data and improving

[59:40] over time. So an example

[59:42] of this is your Netflix

[59:43] recommendation system. So

[59:44] Netflix looks

[59:46] at your watch history, your

[59:47] viewing patterns and then it

[59:49] suggests shows and movies that

[59:50] you might like based on your

[59:52] previous likes and watches,

[59:55] natural language processing.

[59:57] So that's helping machines

[59:58] understand and respond

[1:00:00] to human language. So a good

[1:00:01] example

[1:00:02] of this one are voice

[1:00:03] assistants like Siri or

[1:00:05] Alexa. My kids love asking

[1:00:06] Alexa first thing

[1:00:07] in the morning,

[1:00:09] what's the weather today? And

[1:00:10] when you're asking Alexa that

[1:00:11] processes your speech, it's

[1:00:13] understanding what your intent

[1:00:14] is with the question, it's

[1:00:16] retrieving that weather data

[1:00:18] and it's responding

[1:00:19] with an answer

[1:00:20] in a natural language. Then

[1:00:22] there's computer vision,

[1:00:23] which is enabling machines to

[1:00:25] interpret and analyze visual

[1:00:26] images or videos. An example

[1:00:28] of that that we've had

[1:00:31] for some time now is Google

[1:00:32] Photos face recognition,

[1:00:34] or if you use Amazon photos,

[1:00:35] or if you use iPhone photos,

[1:00:36] that face recognition. So that

[1:00:38] is where photos can

[1:00:39] automatically detect and

[1:00:41] categorize people

[1:00:42] in your pictures, allowing you

[1:00:44] to search for your mom or your

[1:00:45] kid's name and find all the

[1:00:46] images featuring them, even if

[1:00:48] they're taken years apart. And

[1:00:49] finally robotics,

[1:00:51] which is using AI

[1:00:52] to control machines

[1:00:53] to perform tasks. So an example

[1:00:55] of that are those robot vacuums

[1:00:56] that clean your homes. They map

[1:00:58] the environment, they detect

[1:00:59] obstacles, and they learn good

[1:01:01] cleaning paths

[1:01:02] over time. I mean,

[1:01:04] another good example of that

[1:01:05] one I think everybody's

[1:01:06] familiar with are the self

[1:01:08] driving cars that we hear

[1:01:11] about. So when we talk

[1:01:13] about AI, there are typically

[1:01:14] two types that we're speaking

[1:01:15] of. There's predictive AI and

[1:01:17] generative AI. So predictive AI

[1:01:19] uses previous examples or

[1:01:20] system data

[1:01:21] to predict those outcomes. So

[1:01:23] that example I gave earlier

[1:01:25] about your Netflix queue is one

[1:01:27] example. Others are your email

[1:01:28] filters. So sorting those

[1:01:30] messages

[1:01:31] into your priority inbox, your

[1:01:33] spam, your promotional folders,

[1:01:34] those are all based on looking

[1:01:35] at previous patterns.

[1:01:38] Generative AI or gen AI is

[1:01:40] probably the one that you've

[1:01:41] heard people talk

[1:01:43] about most lately. Genai uses

[1:01:44] large language models,

[1:01:46] LLMs and machine learning to

[1:01:47] analyze data and produce new

[1:01:48] content. So that new content

[1:01:50] can include text,

[1:01:52] images and even audio. So the

[1:01:53] most well known example that

[1:01:56] you've probably heard of is

[1:01:57] ChatGPT,

[1:01:58] but there are definitely others

[1:02:00] out there. So why do we care

[1:02:01] about AI? Let's talk

[1:02:03] about it. So let's take a few

[1:02:05] minutes just to review the

[1:02:06] benefits as well as the risks

[1:02:07] and then look

[1:02:09] at some use cases

[1:02:10] for local government

[1:02:13] for benefits. It is definitely

[1:02:14] pretty clear that AI

[1:02:16] at least has the potential

[1:02:17] to be transformative. So AI

[1:02:19] tools can help us enhance

[1:02:21] efficiencies, improve services,

[1:02:22] make those database decisions,

[1:02:23] and these tools can encourage

[1:02:25] modernization and innovation.

[1:02:27] And what we've seen are that

[1:02:29] even relatively simple AI

[1:02:32] tools, things like the AI.

[1:02:34] Oops, sorry, jumped ahead. So

[1:02:37] even things

[1:02:39] like the AI note taker,

[1:02:41] that can really increase

[1:02:43] efficiencies, save time and

[1:02:44] potentially reduce costs. So I

[1:02:46] am someone who spent a good

[1:02:48] portion of my career here in

[1:02:50] high school writing council

[1:02:52] meeting minutes and I can't

[1:02:54] imagine what a time saver,

[1:02:55] potentially something

[1:02:57] like that could be on that. So

[1:02:58] staff can focus

[1:02:59] on other priorities. What we're

[1:03:00] also seeing is that many of the

[1:03:01] tools that local governments

[1:03:02] are already using are starting

[1:03:04] to introduce AI tools

[1:03:05] into their existing platforms.

[1:03:07] So just a small example

[1:03:08] of this one,

[1:03:10] although we see more and more

[1:03:11] of them every day,

[1:03:12] I received an email from Zoom

[1:03:14] just the other day introducing

[1:03:15] their built

[1:03:17] in AI companion tool. So we can

[1:03:18] see that the benefits

[1:03:20] of AI tools can be significant.

[1:03:21] But while we consider them,

[1:03:23] we also of course have to look

[1:03:25] at the flip side and talk

[1:03:27] through some

[1:03:28] of the risks as well. So I

[1:03:29] definitely want to be clear

[1:03:30] here that AI use has risks and

[1:03:31] potential ethical implications.

[1:03:33] So I've listed out a few

[1:03:35] of them here. We'll just kind

[1:03:37] of briefly go over them. The

[1:03:39] bias and discrimination so AI

[1:03:41] models can perpetuate existing

[1:03:42] biases in data. So when the

[1:03:45] data that's being used

[1:03:47] with the AI models is biased,

[1:03:49] those biases can also get baked

[1:03:50] into the results or decisions

[1:03:52] generated by AI, further

[1:03:54] perpetuating those biases and

[1:03:56] discrimination and causing

[1:03:57] further harm. So that is

[1:03:59] definitely a significant risk

[1:04:02] that there Privacy concerns. A

[1:04:03] few people mentioned this

[1:04:05] earlier. It's definitely a good

[1:04:06] point. The use of ChatGPT is a

[1:04:08] good example

[1:04:09] of how privacy concerns can

[1:04:10] come into play with Gen AI.

[1:04:12] When you use Chat, GPT or

[1:04:13] similar model,

[1:04:15] every text you put

[1:04:17] into that model is sent to an

[1:04:19] AI system which then processes

[1:04:20] that information

[1:04:22] to generate the response. So if

[1:04:23] you're sharing personal

[1:04:25] identifying information when

[1:04:27] you're using these tools, there

[1:04:28] is a risk that that information

[1:04:30] could be stored, analyzed,

[1:04:31] or even accessed by humans

[1:04:33] on the other side of the model

[1:04:35] for training or improvement

[1:04:36] purposes. So that is a serious

[1:04:37] risk. And we've seen other

[1:04:39] local governments kind

[1:04:42] of straight out ban the use of

[1:04:44] personal identifying

[1:04:46] information with those types

[1:04:47] of models. Hallucinations. So

[1:04:50] those are incorrect or

[1:04:51] misleading results generated

[1:04:53] by AI. AI doesn't actually

[1:04:55] think like a human does. It

[1:04:57] just predicts words or patterns

[1:04:59] based

[1:05:00] on the data it's seen before.

[1:05:02] And sometimes when it doesn't

[1:05:04] have that right information,

[1:05:05] it can fill in those gaps with

[1:05:07] either made up or incorrect

[1:05:09] answers, but present them

[1:05:11] to the users as facts. And so

[1:05:13] that's called an AI

[1:05:15] hallucination. So one example

[1:05:17] we see lots of cities who are

[1:05:19] using website chatbots now is

[1:05:21] if you ask the website chatbot

[1:05:22] who is the mayor of Hyattville

[1:05:24] and the AI for whatever reason

[1:05:25] didn't have up

[1:05:26] to date information on that, it

[1:05:28] might just make up a name

[1:05:29] admitting that it didn't know.

[1:05:31] So the answer seems real,

[1:05:32] but it's completely false. So

[1:05:34] that is something that can be

[1:05:35] dangerous when you're using AI

[1:05:37] for public services and

[1:05:39] transparency challenges. So

[1:05:41] black box problem, what that

[1:05:43] is, that is difficulty in

[1:05:45] extreme explaining AI

[1:05:47] decisions. So that occurs when

[1:05:49] you have an AI decision making

[1:05:50] process that is so complex

[1:05:52] on the inside that it makes it

[1:05:54] difficult for an individual

[1:05:55] to explain how the model got

[1:05:56] to the decision. So we can see

[1:05:57] the data input and we can see

[1:05:59] the output,

[1:06:00] the decision that comes out

[1:06:01] of the model,

[1:06:02] but we can't see what happens

[1:06:04] in between and we can't explain

[1:06:05] it. So this lack

[1:06:08] of transparency can lead

[1:06:09] to a lack of public trust and

[1:06:10] of course, frustration. The

[1:06:12] last two potential

[1:06:13] for overreliance on AI, risk

[1:06:15] of reducing oversight. So AI

[1:06:17] of course relies on data. It

[1:06:19] can be prone

[1:06:21] to hallucinations. If we reduce

[1:06:23] human oversight and we lose

[1:06:25] that human fact checking,

[1:06:26] we're setting ourselves up for

[1:06:28] more risk there and potentially

[1:06:29] harmful decisions. Of course, I

[1:06:31] think everybody here has

[1:06:32] probably heard concerns

[1:06:34] about job displacement because

[1:06:36] of AI. These are all valid and

[1:06:37] significant risks and things

[1:06:39] that we can't overlook as we

[1:06:40] consider the use of AI. Okay,

[1:06:45] so how are cities using AI? So

[1:06:47] I want

[1:06:49] to provide a few examples here

[1:06:50] of the different ways that

[1:06:52] cities are using AI. These are

[1:06:54] just a way for us to kind

[1:06:56] of get a feel for the landscape

[1:06:58] here. I'm not advocating

[1:07:00] for any of these tools,

[1:07:01] but just a way for us to

[1:07:02] consider how some cities are

[1:07:03] using them. So

[1:07:04] under the umbrella

[1:07:05] of public safety,

[1:07:06] some cities are using AI

[1:07:07] to analyze crime reports,

[1:07:08] identify those patterns and

[1:07:09] look at those patterns

[1:07:10] to focus crime prevention

[1:07:12] in their city. Other cities are

[1:07:14] using AI for emergency response

[1:07:16] optimization, using things

[1:07:18] like drones to assist

[1:07:20] in search and rescue missions

[1:07:22] in order to speed up and

[1:07:23] prioritize emergency response.

[1:07:26] In the public works arena,

[1:07:28] we're seeing AI tools being

[1:07:29] used

[1:07:30] to plan trash pickup routes, to

[1:07:32] provide the shortest and most

[1:07:34] time time efficient routes. So

[1:07:35] saving you gas,

[1:07:37] saving you staff time. And then

[1:07:38] there are also tools like smart

[1:07:40] street lighting that dims

[1:07:41] lighting when no one is around

[1:07:43] to save energy and brightens up

[1:07:44] when pedestrians or cars pass

[1:07:47] by. So then to monitor

[1:07:54] for problems

[1:07:56] before they become an

[1:07:57] emergency.

[1:07:59] For resident services,

[1:08:00] we're seeing many communities,

[1:08:02] as I mentioned earlier,

[1:08:03] starting to use AI chatbots

[1:08:05] to provide quick answers

[1:08:06] to common questions

[1:08:07] in multiple languages. We're

[1:08:09] also seeing those AI

[1:08:10] translation and transcription

[1:08:11] tools which can improve meeting

[1:08:13] accessibility as well. And

[1:08:16] finally listed on here,

[1:08:17] some cities are using AI tools

[1:08:18] to process and improve permits

[1:08:20] as well. So these are just some

[1:08:22] of the use cases. I'm sure that

[1:08:23] I've just scratched the surface

[1:08:24] here. And there's probably a

[1:08:26] lot more moving forward

[1:08:30] with AI. So let's take a quick

[1:08:31] look at what guidance exists,

[1:08:33] what resources are available

[1:08:34] for Hyatt School and what best

[1:08:36] practices that we should

[1:08:37] consider as we look towards

[1:08:38] developing some guidelines

[1:08:39] for our city. So starting

[1:08:42] at the Federal level, in

[1:08:43] October 2023, President Biden

[1:08:45] issued an Executive Order of

[1:08:47] Safe, Secure and Trustworthy

[1:08:49] Development and Use of AI.

[1:08:50] That order directed agencies to

[1:08:52] create policies addressing AI

[1:08:54] risks and opportunities.

[1:08:56] However, in the flurry of

[1:08:58] executive orders that we've

[1:08:59] seen over the last month,

[1:09:00] President Trump revoked that

[1:09:01] executive order from 2023 and

[1:09:03] rescinded all policies

[1:09:04] developed under it. So really

[1:09:06] rolling back some would have

[1:09:07] been some established

[1:09:09] guidelines and safeguards that

[1:09:10] were in place. This 2025

[1:09:12] executive order directs federal

[1:09:13] agencies

[1:09:14] to develop an artificial

[1:09:15] Intelligence action plan

[1:09:17] within 180 days. That 2025

[1:09:19] order seems

[1:09:21] to be a little bit more focused

[1:09:23] on speed, speed and removing

[1:09:25] barriers and less focused on

[1:09:27] establishing oversight

[1:09:30] mechanism. So that's what's

[1:09:31] happening right now

[1:09:32] at the federal level.

[1:09:33] On the state level, I have

[1:09:34] to apologize for doing

[1:09:35] Maryland wrong here. I

[1:09:37] incorrectly stated that there

[1:09:38] is no state guidance and that's

[1:09:39] just not true. So I will

[1:09:41] quickly summarize what's going

[1:09:43] on at the state level and when

[1:09:44] we post this presentation

[1:09:45] on the website, I can

[1:09:46] definitely update that info.

[1:09:48] So in 2024, January

[1:09:49] of last year, Governor Moore

[1:09:51] signed an executive order

[1:09:52] providing guiding principles

[1:09:53] for AI use. Those principles

[1:09:54] include fairness, equity,

[1:09:56] innovation,

[1:09:58] security and transparency.

[1:10:00] That order also established an

[1:10:01] AI sub cabinet

[1:10:03] to develop an AI roadmap

[1:10:04] for the state. This roadmap was

[1:10:06] published just last month in

[1:10:09] January and has been submitted

[1:10:10] to the General Assembly. Some

[1:10:12] key parts of Maryland's

[1:10:13] strategy include ensuring that

[1:10:15] state has good data,

[1:10:16] foundations,

[1:10:18] supporting state agencies in

[1:10:19] their experimentation and

[1:10:21] possible adoption

[1:10:22] of AI technologies, and

[1:10:24] significantly training the

[1:10:26] state workforce to understand

[1:10:27] AI risks and opportunities

[1:10:30] beyond the federal and the

[1:10:31] state guidance. Looking

[1:10:33] at what guidance is out there

[1:10:34] for local government, there are

[1:10:35] many professional organizations

[1:10:36] such as ICMA and NLC that are

[1:10:38] stepping up

[1:10:40] to also provide access

[1:10:41] to trainings and best practices

[1:10:43] for local governments. There

[1:10:45] are also some cities that have

[1:10:46] been at this for a while. So

[1:10:48] we've been able

[1:10:49] to benchmark and look

[1:10:50] at other cities like New

[1:10:52] York, Boston, San Jose,

[1:10:53] for example,

[1:10:54] who have really good AI

[1:10:55] policies in place right now.

[1:10:59] Taking us back

[1:11:01] for just a minute to that city

[1:11:02] managers conference I mentioned

[1:11:03] that Traci and I attended last

[1:11:04] year. One

[1:11:06] of the keynote speakers

[1:11:07] at the conference was

[1:11:08] from the Gov AI Coalition.

[1:11:10] The Gov AI Coalition was

[1:11:12] started by the City of San

[1:11:13] Jose in 2023 with the goal

[1:11:15] of creating a network

[1:11:16] of local government officials

[1:11:18] for the purpose

[1:11:19] of sharing knowledge, best

[1:11:20] practices,

[1:11:21] policies and use cases

[1:11:23] for AI and local government.

[1:11:24] We just joined this coalition

[1:11:26] just the other week and our

[1:11:27] membership gives us access

[1:11:29] to all of those resources as

[1:11:30] well as a seat on the many

[1:11:32] committees and work groups that

[1:11:33] they have exploring the

[1:11:34] responsibilities

[1:11:35] of AI and public sector. It's

[1:11:37] pretty exciting. I think this

[1:11:38] is going

[1:11:39] to be a great resource

[1:11:40] for the city and as a bonus,

[1:11:42] it is also a free resource

[1:11:44] for us. So that is fantastic.

[1:11:45] In the time that I've been

[1:11:49] researching AI, a number of

[1:11:51] best practices have come up

[1:11:53] again and again. Just looking

[1:11:55] as we benchmark and we look at

[1:11:56] what other communities we've

[1:11:57] seen similar best practices

[1:11:59] that keep coming up. So I just

[1:12:00] want to take a few minutes as

[1:12:01] we consider what this could

[1:12:03] look like in Heightsville

[1:12:04] to take a look

[1:12:06] at what best practices we see

[1:12:07] on each one. So adopting a

[1:12:09] citywide AI policy or

[1:12:10] guidelines, so making sure that

[1:12:12] the city establishes clear

[1:12:13] guidelines encourage that

[1:12:15] innovation and efficiency while

[1:12:17] still mitigating those

[1:12:19] significant risks. I think it's

[1:12:20] really important that we've

[1:12:22] seen that the policy has to be

[1:12:23] flexible because things are

[1:12:25] changing so quickly so it can

[1:12:27] be regularly updated

[1:12:28] to keep pace

[1:12:29] with the advancements

[1:12:30] in this area. Protecting

[1:12:32] personal data so I mentioned

[1:12:33] that earlier, some cities are

[1:12:34] prohibiting the use of personal

[1:12:36] identifying information. Any

[1:12:37] generative AI prompt human

[1:12:39] in the loop. So this goes back

[1:12:43] to making sure that you have

[1:12:45] all content that is generated

[1:12:48] by AI reviewed by a human. So a

[1:12:50] human doing that fact check and

[1:12:51] review

[1:12:52] of the content generated. So

[1:12:54] that is really treating the

[1:12:55] content that AI is generating

[1:12:56] as a draft and making sure that

[1:12:58] as the person who's generating

[1:13:01] that content, you as the person

[1:13:03] are always responsible

[1:13:04] for that final product.

[1:13:06] Promoting public transparency

[1:13:09] so making sure that city

[1:13:10] policies or guidelines are

[1:13:12] published

[1:13:14] on the city websites,

[1:13:15] disclosing how AI tools are

[1:13:16] being used by the city,

[1:13:17] requiring disclosure

[1:13:19] of AI use. So some cities are

[1:13:20] requiring that so that you

[1:13:21] provide citations if you've had

[1:13:23] AI assist you

[1:13:25] in creating work. And then this

[1:13:28] last one,

[1:13:29] which I thought was really

[1:13:30] interesting, was reviewing

[1:13:31] contract and vendor use

[1:13:33] of AI, because I don't think

[1:13:34] that's something that we've

[1:13:35] really been thinking much

[1:13:36] about here. So, you know,

[1:13:39] it's not just the city's use

[1:13:41] of AI, but all of the contracts

[1:13:42] and vendors that we work with

[1:13:44] could potentially be using AI.

[1:13:46] And so I think it's important

[1:13:48] for us

[1:13:49] to take a look and what we see

[1:13:51] in the cities that have adopted

[1:13:52] these factors. Best practices,

[1:13:54] take a look at what their

[1:13:56] vendors policies are regarding

[1:13:58] AI and potentially including

[1:14:00] language in your contracts

[1:14:01] with vendors to address AI. We

[1:14:04] got a few more to go

[1:14:06] through here. Training

[1:14:07] employees is obviously really

[1:14:09] important. It's incredibly

[1:14:10] important,

[1:14:11] especially now that this is new

[1:14:12] for everybody. So making sure

[1:14:14] that everybody has basic AI

[1:14:15] literacy, understands data

[1:14:17] security, understands the bis,

[1:14:20] the benefits and the risks

[1:14:22] of AI starting small. So we've

[1:14:25] seen this in several

[1:14:27] jurisdictions where as they're

[1:14:29] kind of dipping their toe

[1:14:31] in this area, they're piloting

[1:14:32] low risk AI applications first

[1:14:33] before scaling up, focusing

[1:14:35] on data quality. So bad data

[1:14:36] in, bad data out. So ensuring

[1:14:38] that data used

[1:14:40] with AI is accurate,

[1:14:41] unbiased and comprehensive,

[1:14:42] promoting equity and inclusion.

[1:14:44] So

[1:14:46] in cities we see a best

[1:14:47] practice

[1:14:48] of incorporating equity review

[1:14:49] into the process and evaluation

[1:14:50] of AI systems. So

[1:14:53] to address any potential issues

[1:14:55] of bias and addressing and

[1:14:57] promoting our core values

[1:14:58] of diversity,

[1:14:59] equity and inclusion. Engaging

[1:15:01] stakeholders, so leaning in

[1:15:02] on experts

[1:15:03] from other jurisdictions. This

[1:15:05] is where I think Gov AI

[1:15:06] coalition is going

[1:15:07] to be really valuable for us

[1:15:08] and making sure that we involve

[1:15:10] residents as well as employees

[1:15:11] and council members in both

[1:15:12] plans and implementation. So

[1:15:13] this is one of those steps,

[1:15:15] just actually talking

[1:15:16] with you guys about AI and then

[1:15:19] establishing feedback loops,

[1:15:20] so scheduling regular

[1:15:21] evaluations, adjustments

[1:15:22] to AI guidelines and

[1:15:23] adjustments

[1:15:25] to systems as well. So those

[1:15:27] are all great best practices

[1:15:28] that we've seen

[1:15:30] in other jurisdictions. Okay,

[1:15:32] so we've talked

[1:15:33] about benefits, we've talked

[1:15:34] about risks, we talked

[1:15:35] about guidance and resources.

[1:15:37] So now let's take a moment to

[1:15:38] just continue consider what a

[1:15:39] framework

[1:15:40] for implementing AI and Hyatt

[1:15:42] spoke could look like. So first

[1:15:45] off, starting with kind of

[1:15:46] like our mission and goals, I

[1:15:47] think it's pretty clear that we

[1:15:48] want to encourage AI tools that

[1:15:50] can deliver better, more

[1:15:51] efficient and equitable

[1:15:53] services to our residents. We

[1:15:54] know that in order

[1:15:57] to use AI we have to develop a

[1:15:59] strategy that aligns with the

[1:16:00] city's values and our goals and

[1:16:03] considers the needs and

[1:16:04] expectations of all

[1:16:06] of our stakeholders. And we

[1:16:07] know that in order

[1:16:09] to do this, we have

[1:16:11] to create a framework for the

[1:16:12] responsible use and ethical use

[1:16:14] of AI in order to mitigate all

[1:16:15] of those risks. So overall,

[1:16:17] the guiding principles mission

[1:16:19] for the use of AI in

[1:16:21] Hyattsville is that it really

[1:16:24] has to be centered

[1:16:25] on ethical, responsible,

[1:16:27] thoughtful and deliberate

[1:16:30] strategy. With that said,

[1:16:34] so proposed framework begins

[1:16:36] with the establishment

[1:16:38] of an internal IT committee.

[1:16:39] So this committee is actually

[1:16:42] something that we've been

[1:16:43] talking about

[1:16:44] for a while internally really

[1:16:45] in the context of our

[1:16:47] procurement policy and not AI

[1:16:48] specifically looking at that

[1:16:50] to review AI purchases.

[1:16:52] But we'd also like to be able

[1:16:53] to use this on our departmental

[1:16:55] committee because it is so

[1:16:56] important to hear from all

[1:16:57] of our departments,

[1:16:59] departments to meet regularly

[1:17:00] to develop guidelines for

[1:17:01] Hyattsville. We'd also

[1:17:02] like those committee members

[1:17:04] to participate in the gov AI

[1:17:05] committees and working groups,

[1:17:06] conduct needs assessments and

[1:17:08] really talking

[1:17:09] with our departments,

[1:17:10] the people that are working

[1:17:11] in our departments, to

[1:17:12] determine what departments and

[1:17:14] services that we have that

[1:17:15] could potentially benefit

[1:17:17] from AI tools, evaluate and

[1:17:19] recommend AI tools and monitor

[1:17:22] those pilot programs. So our

[1:17:24] hope is that we plan to have

[1:17:25] this commitment committee kick

[1:17:27] off

[1:17:28] within the next month or so.

[1:17:29] At the same time, we've got

[1:17:30] to build capacity in our staff

[1:17:31] by training them on AI. Last

[1:17:33] week, a few of us attended a

[1:17:34] virtual ICMA training

[1:17:36] on AI and we'll be looking

[1:17:37] for additional opportunities

[1:17:38] to train staff on that basic AI

[1:17:40] literacy as well as more

[1:17:42] technical training for those

[1:17:44] staff members who are more

[1:17:45] directly involved with AI. And

[1:17:46] that will just have

[1:17:48] to be an ongoing effort

[1:17:50] for us. Throughout this

[1:17:51] presentation I mentioned the

[1:17:52] importance

[1:17:53] of data a few times across.

[1:17:55] Quality of data is incredibly

[1:17:56] important when using AI tools.

[1:17:59] So the city recently issued an

[1:18:00] RFP for data assessment

[1:18:02] analysis. I want

[1:18:04] to be clear that the issuance

[1:18:06] of this AI, of this RFP

[1:18:08] actually wasn't directly

[1:18:09] related to AI. Where it came

[1:18:13] from was a 2024 council budget

[1:18:15] initiative submitted on behalf

[1:18:16] of the Race and Equity Task

[1:18:17] Force

[1:18:18] for a program data analyst

[1:18:19] with the goal of increasing

[1:18:21] data based decision making

[1:18:23] in the city. I listed it here

[1:18:24] on this roadmap

[1:18:26] for next steps. Just because

[1:18:27] the importance of data,

[1:18:28] with the respect

[1:18:30] for AI tools and the importance

[1:18:32] of us to really like refine our

[1:18:33] database decision making is,

[1:18:36] while not directly tied

[1:18:39] to AI, it is so important

[1:18:40] to that path

[1:18:41] for AI and having AI readiness.

[1:18:43] So if we're going

[1:18:45] to do anything with AI,

[1:18:46] it definitely ties

[1:18:47] to data and we need

[1:18:48] to have a good handle

[1:18:49] on our data. So that RFP was

[1:18:51] issued in January

[1:18:53] of this year. We just received

[1:18:55] all the submissions. There was

[1:18:56] a bid opening today and we

[1:18:57] anticipate an award for that

[1:19:03] in March. Another best practice

[1:19:05] that we've mentioned is that we

[1:19:06] want to use in Hyattsville is

[1:19:08] public transparency. So

[1:19:09] ensuring that the public has

[1:19:11] transparency into the city's AI

[1:19:13] guidance and the use

[1:19:14] of AI tools. So

[1:19:15] on this front, we plan

[1:19:16] to update our website

[1:19:18] with information

[1:19:19] on the city's use of AI, share

[1:19:21] the guidelines when they are

[1:19:22] drafted by the IT committee and

[1:19:23] provide a public listing of

[1:19:24] what AI tools the city is

[1:19:27] using. So I put a photo up

[1:19:29] on here. It's a great example I

[1:19:31] found of a website. It's

[1:19:33] Lebanon, New Hampshire. You

[1:19:35] can't see it too well

[1:19:37] on here. I do encourage you

[1:19:38] to check out their website

[1:19:40] because I think they're doing a

[1:19:41] good job. They very clearly

[1:19:43] identify the AI tool,

[1:19:44] what departments are using the

[1:19:46] tool, the purpose, the

[1:19:47] implementation data and their

[1:19:48] impact analysis of the tool.

[1:19:50] And when they have tools that

[1:19:52] they retire,

[1:19:54] are no longer using on there,

[1:19:56] they very clearly label that

[1:19:58] and kind of archive that. So

[1:20:00] there is a history on there as

[1:20:02] well. I just think it's a great

[1:20:03] model for us. In the spirit

[1:20:05] of starting small,

[1:20:07] which was one of those best

[1:20:08] practices that we had, we're

[1:20:10] also suggesting that we begin

[1:20:12] to pilot low risk AI tools this

[1:20:14] spring and summer. Tools that

[1:20:18] have limited scope, no impact

[1:20:22] on privacy, they're not using

[1:20:23] personal identifying

[1:20:25] information, they're easy

[1:20:27] for the public to understand

[1:20:29] what the use cases and what the

[1:20:30] benefits are. And these tools

[1:20:31] would not be involved

[1:20:32] in decision making. So that is

[1:20:33] what I mean when I'm talking

[1:20:34] low risk. So some tools that

[1:20:37] we're currently considering are

[1:20:38] AI powered language translation

[1:20:41] and transcription and AI

[1:20:43] meeting note takers. So I heard

[1:20:45] earlier there were a couple

[1:20:47] of questions regarding costs

[1:20:49] for these programs,

[1:20:51] and I'll just kind of lay

[1:20:52] out what I know about cost for

[1:20:54] these two particular ones right

[1:20:56] now. So the cost for AI

[1:20:57] language translation is

[1:20:58] approximately $12,000 for 100

[1:21:00] hours. So what would that

[1:21:03] cover? That would cover about

[1:21:05] the 60ish hours that we spend

[1:21:06] in council meetings every year.

[1:21:08] If you can believe it's 60

[1:21:10] hours as well as community

[1:21:12] meetings and events. The nice

[1:21:14] thing about this particular

[1:21:15] tool is unused hours roll over

[1:21:17] to the following year if we

[1:21:18] decide to continue

[1:21:20] with the service. And then this

[1:21:22] service in particular is

[1:21:23] actually potentially a

[1:21:24] replacement for our existing

[1:21:25] closed captioning services,

[1:21:27] which are approximately the

[1:21:29] same cost but do not provide

[1:21:32] the translation features or the

[1:21:34] captioning for community

[1:21:35] meetings and events. As far as

[1:21:38] costs go

[1:21:39] for AI meeting note takers,

[1:21:40] those can vary. I mean,

[1:21:42] to be honest,

[1:21:44] I haven't done much digging

[1:21:45] into this right now. I've seen

[1:21:46] ranges from $8 to $22 a month

[1:21:48] per user, just depending

[1:21:49] on the features. So that is

[1:21:50] something I think our AI

[1:21:51] committee

[1:21:52] to tackle and look into.

[1:21:54] There's definitely some work

[1:21:55] to be done here in terms of

[1:21:56] refining what these initial

[1:21:58] lower risk AI programs look

[1:21:59] like as well as costs

[1:22:01] associated with them.

[1:22:02] But we hope

[1:22:04] to have some tools,

[1:22:05] an initial pilot in place

[1:22:06] by spring or summer this year.

[1:22:08] And of course you Know, a big

[1:22:09] part of a pilot is monitoring

[1:22:11] and evaluating what the results

[1:22:13] are and using that

[1:22:15] to inform us as we work

[1:22:17] on guidelines. So the last

[1:22:18] piece here as we kind of go

[1:22:20] through this framework is

[1:22:21] drafting and bringing back

[1:22:23] forward to council and the

[1:22:24] public guidelines for the use

[1:22:25] of AI in Heightsville. So right

[1:22:28] now I anticipate that this

[1:22:29] would come back to council

[1:22:30] in the fall or winter. Give the

[1:22:32] IT committee a little bit

[1:22:33] of time

[1:22:34] to get up and running, get some

[1:22:35] training and we have time

[1:22:36] to dig

[1:22:38] into the landscape as a team.

[1:22:42] Okay, so that was a lot

[1:22:43] of me talking

[1:22:45] at you. I just want to close

[1:22:46] with an acknowledgment that AI

[1:22:47] is going to continue

[1:22:49] to integrate in our daily lives

[1:22:51] whether we're ready

[1:22:53] for it or not. It's here. I

[1:22:55] think we'd like to see

[1:22:57] Heightsville take a proactive

[1:22:58] approach here so we can both

[1:23:00] benefit from the technology and

[1:23:01] actively mitigate risks as well

[1:23:03] as ensuring that our public is

[1:23:04] informed on this. So I

[1:23:07] definitely appreciate

[1:23:08] everybody's time tonight. I'm

[1:23:09] happy

[1:23:10] to answer any questions. Thank

[1:23:11] you.

[1:23:12] >>Thank you Ms. Reams,

[1:23:14] colleagues, questions,

[1:23:15] comments. Mr. Shagri.

[1:23:23] >>Thanks. You know we had a lot

[1:23:27] of comments

[1:23:29] on this and you know,

[1:23:32] several concerns raised related

[1:23:34] to cost and energy usage. I

[1:23:35] thought you know all of those

[1:23:40] comments that we heard are,

[1:23:42] were insightful. I,

[1:23:44] you know I haven't paid for any

[1:23:46] artificial intelligence

[1:23:48] application use. I find that a

[1:23:51] lot of the like Googling and

[1:23:53] various things that I do are

[1:23:54] now just kind

[1:23:55] of it's becoming integrated

[1:23:57] into it and I, you know from a

[1:23:59] city function where these

[1:24:00] applications come will probably

[1:24:02] be like you said,

[1:24:03] like note taking. I have been

[1:24:08] in Zoom meetings that have an

[1:24:11] AI note taker. They seem to

[1:24:12] work pretty good and I would be

[1:24:15] interested in kind

[1:24:16] of using that, that Gov

[1:24:18] platform to sort of advocate

[1:24:20] for smarter, less energy

[1:24:23] intensive AI technologies and

[1:24:25] applications. It seems like

[1:24:27] with the Deepseek app that's

[1:24:35] out right now that was built

[1:24:36] for 5 million and uses very

[1:24:38] little energy, that some of

[1:24:40] these systems are probably

[1:24:42] grossly over engineered and use

[1:24:44] up more resources than is

[1:24:46] necessary. And that is a

[1:24:47] problem right now. That's a

[1:24:49] problem in Maryland

[1:24:50] with people's energy bills.

[1:24:52] That's a problem

[1:24:56] with you know, really spiking

[1:24:57] demand right now related

[1:25:01] to a lot of artificial

[1:25:03] intelligence and data center

[1:25:05] applications and how we sort

[1:25:06] of advocate for more

[1:25:07] responsible technology. There

[1:25:08] is something I'm interested in

[1:25:10] but you know, on a, on a simple

[1:25:11] and also cost I think you know,

[1:25:17] we don't want to get

[1:25:18] over committed in terms

[1:25:20] of what the expense for, for

[1:25:23] some things might be. I know

[1:25:24] there isn't any proposals

[1:25:25] on the table now,

[1:25:26] just a general thing

[1:25:27] to be mindful of. In general,

[1:25:30] if it's something that is kind

[1:25:31] of drudgery and kind of

[1:25:32] monotonous work that we don't

[1:25:34] want to have a human creative

[1:25:36] component to. I'm thinking

[1:25:38] of minutes,

[1:25:40] possibly translation. You know,

[1:25:43] I'm thinking about like

[1:25:46] searching. I frequently do

[1:25:47] this. I go

[1:25:48] to our interface and I search

[1:25:49] through old minutes. And that

[1:25:52] process is kind of clunky. You

[1:25:53] know, you miss some stuff if

[1:25:54] your search isn't just right

[1:25:56] things to improve these

[1:25:58] services and free up people's

[1:26:02] time to do more engaging and

[1:26:05] interesting things. I'm

[1:26:06] generally supportive of that.

[1:26:07] So that's it

[1:26:08] for me.

[1:26:09] >>Thank you. Ms. Dry.

[1:26:13] >>Yes, I just wanted

[1:26:15] to add that currently the

[1:26:17] Police and Public Safety

[1:26:18] Committee is looking at AI

[1:26:23] policy as it concerns policing

[1:26:24] technology because it's

[1:26:28] something that, you know, I

[1:26:30] think we really want public

[1:26:38] feedback on. You know,

[1:26:39] right now it, it's something

[1:26:40] that, you know,

[1:26:41] we're not using

[1:26:42] like say the generative AI for,

[1:26:43] but there is a lot out there.

[1:26:44] So I think we're trying

[1:26:45] to look.

[1:26:46] >>At a sort of like holistic

[1:26:47] policy.

[1:26:48] >>And obviously as we're

[1:26:49] looking at the stop sign

[1:26:51] cameras and things like that,

[1:26:52] there's a lot

[1:26:55] of AI already built

[1:26:56] into those technologies. So,

[1:27:00] you know, if I would.

[1:27:02] >>Even though there's going to

[1:27:03] be an.

[1:27:05] >>Internal committee, I would

[1:27:06] really like

[1:27:07] to see that committee sort of

[1:27:09] like either branch out

[1:27:10] into some of the committees,

[1:27:13] the committees that we already

[1:27:15] have, like the Police and

[1:27:16] Public Safety Committee or

[1:27:17] maybe the Race and Equity

[1:27:19] Task Force or code compliance,

[1:27:20] to take some of these issues

[1:27:24] to our engaged residents

[1:27:27] to really get a handle

[1:27:30] on what the, you know,

[1:27:31] where the residents are.

[1:27:32] >>So.

[1:27:36] >>That, yeah, that we get a

[1:27:37] really comprehensive policy.

[1:27:40] >>I think that's a great idea.

[1:27:43] >>Thank you. Mr. Mr. Edmond,

[1:27:47] thank you. A couple questions

[1:27:49] and forgive me if I missed it,

[1:27:51] I was trying to track along

[1:27:53] with what, Ms. Reams, you.

[1:27:55] >>Were sharing along with what

[1:27:56] I've seen.

[1:27:58] >>Our residents saying and

[1:27:59] trying

[1:28:00] to jive all that together

[1:28:03] for the committee. Did you say

[1:28:04] who will be on.

[1:28:06] >>It as far as not necessarily

[1:28:08] names but position wise. Wise.

[1:28:09] Like is it always going

[1:28:12] to have a seat for the IT

[1:28:13] manager and.

[1:28:15] >>Is it going to be that kind

[1:28:17] of setup or is that still being

[1:28:18] worked out?

[1:28:19] >>Yeah, I mean, I,

[1:28:20] of course it would have a seat

[1:28:21] for the IT manager. I mean, our

[1:28:22] hope is that we would have

[1:28:24] representation from all

[1:28:25] of the departments. You know,

[1:28:27] I think we're still kind

[1:28:28] of figuring out, I think, you

[1:28:29] know, there's a lot of just

[1:28:30] like there's interest

[1:28:32] in the public. I feel

[1:28:33] like there is interest

[1:28:34] in staff in this too,

[1:28:36] at all levels of staff. So I

[1:28:37] think we still got

[1:28:38] to figure that

[1:28:39] out who are the right people

[1:28:40] to get on it. Certainly it,

[1:28:41] that's a no brainer. But also

[1:28:42] making sure that we have all

[1:28:44] the departments represented.

[1:28:46] >>Okay.

[1:28:48] >>And then the expenditure

[1:28:50] around the data collection or I

[1:28:52] guess I don't want

[1:28:53] to misrepresent it,

[1:28:54] but the data rfp.

[1:28:56] >>That'S out when that comes

[1:28:59] time to make that decision and

[1:29:00] award it and pay. Was that

[1:29:02] money already in the budget

[1:29:04] this year?

[1:29:05] >>Yeah, that's a great

[1:29:06] question. So that initiative,

[1:29:08] as I mentioned,

[1:29:10] it was a council initiative.

[1:29:11] It was added I think sort of

[1:29:12] at the tail end

[1:29:13] of the budget last year. And so

[1:29:15] the allocated funds to that,

[1:29:16] it's $50,000. That was the

[1:29:19] budget for that. We have

[1:29:21] received a number

[1:29:23] of proposals. I, you know, the

[1:29:25] evaluation team hasn't even had

[1:29:26] a chance

[1:29:27] to open them up and look

[1:29:29] at them yet.

[1:29:30] But I think there's something

[1:29:31] like 18 or 19 proposals that

[1:29:32] we've received. And you know,

[1:29:33] the costs could range anywhere

[1:29:35] in between that budget. So we

[1:29:37] will do our typical thing that

[1:29:39] we do with all the RFPs. We

[1:29:40] will evaluate them and then

[1:29:41] come back

[1:29:42] with a recommendation

[1:29:43] for award.

[1:29:45] But is a budgeted cost at this

[1:29:46] moment.

[1:29:47] >>Okay.

[1:29:48] >>And if I could add one point

[1:29:49] of clarification,

[1:29:51] they did do the bid opening

[1:29:52] this morning, but they're

[1:29:54] in the evaluation process.

[1:29:56] They'll be beginning that the,

[1:29:58] the data analyst was a proposal

[1:30:00] and I believe Laura said this

[1:30:01] in her presentation,

[1:30:02] but I'll just clarify. Race and

[1:30:05] Equity committee came forward

[1:30:06] and essentially said that they

[1:30:08] needed some assistance because

[1:30:10] part of what that that plan,

[1:30:12] our Race and equity plan is,

[1:30:14] is to look at the data

[1:30:16] from several areas, housing,

[1:30:18] community policing,

[1:30:19] et cetera. And so they needed a

[1:30:21] data analyst and they requested

[1:30:23] that of this body and you all

[1:30:24] approved it. So that's where

[1:30:25] that came from.

[1:30:28] >>And I just. Yes, thank you

[1:30:30] for that refresh.

[1:30:32] >>I remember Mr. Hava and I

[1:30:33] talking

[1:30:34] about that towards the tail end

[1:30:36] of that meeting. I'm glad it's

[1:30:38] coming back. And I remember,

[1:30:40] I guess thinking about our

[1:30:42] resident and community concerns

[1:30:43] around the budget. We always

[1:30:45] said, well, how do we make

[1:30:46] decisions if we don't have a

[1:30:47] good handle

[1:30:48] on data?

[1:30:50] >>So I guess to reiterate

[1:30:51] to those.

[1:30:52] >>Listening, this is a first

[1:30:53] step, a.

[1:30:55] >>Key step and to get into more

[1:30:56] data informed decision making

[1:30:57] by your officials and

[1:31:03] policymakers. Thank you, Mr.

[1:31:04] Redmond. Colleagues, are there

[1:31:06] any other questions? There we

[1:31:07] go. Mr. Salem, thank you.

[1:31:09] >>The first thing I want

[1:31:11] to say is thank you to Deputy

[1:31:15] City Administrator almost a

[1:31:16] Deputy Cliff, Deputy City

[1:31:18] Administrator Laura Reams. I

[1:31:23] know that this is not your

[1:31:24] field, but I also know that

[1:31:26] when you set your mind

[1:31:28] to something and you wrap your,

[1:31:30] your hands and your brain

[1:31:31] around it, that we have

[1:31:33] outstanding results. Always

[1:31:34] thinking

[1:31:35] of non citizens voting,

[1:31:37] thinking of, you know,

[1:31:38] a number of the initiatives

[1:31:39] that you voted on and I'm glad

[1:31:41] that this is one that's

[1:31:42] in your portfolio. First thing

[1:31:44] is that I will remind the

[1:31:47] community Hyattsville was

[1:31:49] officially incorporated in

[1:31:52] 1886. That means our city is

[1:31:54] older than the the car. Ford

[1:31:58] didn't start mass producing

[1:32:00] vehicles until 1913. And I'm

[1:32:03] sure that if we dug

[1:32:04] into records, we had

[1:32:05] to come up

[1:32:06] with a vehicle use policy.

[1:32:08] Computers were not broadly

[1:32:09] accepted until 1953. So I'm

[1:32:11] sure if we dug

[1:32:12] in the records, Hyattisville

[1:32:13] had to come up with a computer

[1:32:14] usage policy and the Internet

[1:32:16] wasn't broadly accepted until

[1:32:18] 1991. And I'm sure that if we

[1:32:19] dug in our records, we have

[1:32:21] to come up with an Internet

[1:32:22] usage policy. And here we are

[1:32:23] roughly 40 years later. And I

[1:32:26] think that it's,

[1:32:27] I think that it's a no brainer.

[1:32:31] We need an AI usage policy. So

[1:32:34] this committee is necessary.

[1:32:36] Even if we didn't need a usage

[1:32:38] policy

[1:32:40] within the city and staff,

[1:32:42] which I don't think anyone

[1:32:44] could doubt that any reasonable

[1:32:46] person could, we would still

[1:32:48] need an AI procurement policy.

[1:32:50] Because even if we decided

[1:32:52] to stick our heads in the sand

[1:32:53] like it sounds

[1:32:54] like some people want to do,

[1:32:55] the rest

[1:32:57] of the world isn't doing that.

[1:32:58] And every tool that we use,

[1:33:02] as Director RAM has mentioned,

[1:33:04] every tool that we use,

[1:33:06] they're all rolling out their

[1:33:07] AI features and we would still

[1:33:08] need a policy on which

[1:33:09] of those tools we would use and

[1:33:11] under what circumstances we'd

[1:33:13] be permitted to use them and

[1:33:18] how we would use them. So I

[1:33:19] think, you know, the idea that

[1:33:20] we would wouldn't move forward

[1:33:21] in this arena is just, I don't

[1:33:23] know, it's beyond me.

[1:33:25] But we have to,

[1:33:26] I'm glad that we have,

[1:33:27] I think we have the right

[1:33:29] person to do it and I think

[1:33:31] that it should be a IT

[1:33:34] committee as it's described,

[1:33:36] not just an AI committee,

[1:33:39] because I think we have

[1:33:40] to be forward looking. If we

[1:33:42] see how rapidly technology has

[1:33:44] changed, even in just the 10

[1:33:46] years that I've been

[1:33:47] on council, having an IT

[1:33:49] committee is something that

[1:33:50] I've always thought that we

[1:33:51] should have. So it's so that we

[1:33:53] can set, you know,

[1:33:54] get advisement

[1:33:55] from the many professionals

[1:33:56] in our community who work

[1:33:57] in IT on setting and adopting

[1:33:58] appropriate technology

[1:34:00] policies, period, in the city

[1:34:03] of high school, but also

[1:34:04] to manage the adoption

[1:34:05] of several

[1:34:07] of the changes that's going on.

[1:34:09] So I am pretty content with

[1:34:11] this presentation. I applaud

[1:34:13] the effort. I never thought

[1:34:14] that I would sit through a

[1:34:16] presentation where we were

[1:34:17] talking

[1:34:18] about language model and all

[1:34:19] of the, the technical terms

[1:34:20] that you use. And I'm glad that

[1:34:22] you braved your way

[1:34:23] through it. And, yeah, I'm

[1:34:24] happy and I'm looking forward

[1:34:25] to supporting this.

[1:34:27] >>Thank you, Council

[1:34:28] President Solomon.

[1:34:30] >>Are there any other questions

[1:34:32] or comments, Mr. Mr. Harbor?

[1:34:34] >>Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And

[1:34:36] thank you, Deputy City

[1:34:39] Administrator Reims,

[1:34:41] for the presentation. I think,

[1:34:43] as other council members have

[1:34:44] stated before me,

[1:34:47] I look forward to seeing the

[1:34:50] city embrace this new frontier.

[1:34:52] At the same time, I think it's

[1:34:55] important that we proceed

[1:34:58] with caution. So making sure

[1:34:59] that that committee is

[1:35:00] in place,

[1:35:02] that that committee can come up

[1:35:03] with some recommendation

[1:35:05] in terms

[1:35:06] of if and when we are going to

[1:35:08] adopt some specific AI tools,

[1:35:10] what criteria should we be

[1:35:12] looking at, knowing exactly how

[1:35:14] they handle the data

[1:35:17] after work. So those are the

[1:35:18] things that I want us to kind

[1:35:20] of like develop

[1:35:22] before we put any specific tool

[1:35:24] in place. So having our

[1:35:27] selection criteria and ethical

[1:35:30] on that line

[1:35:32] for how we want things to go,

[1:35:34] I think that's what I have

[1:35:35] to say. Thank you.

[1:35:36] >>Thank you, Mr. Harper. Any

[1:35:37] other question,

[1:35:38] comments or questions

[1:35:39] by anybody? Ms. Douglas?

[1:35:41] >>Yeah, I just, I just wanted

[1:35:43] to make one quick point. We do

[1:35:44] already have the IT committee

[1:35:46] established, but as Laura said,

[1:35:48] we, we are trying

[1:35:51] to morph that into some

[1:35:52] additional departments. So,

[1:35:53] for instance, at this point,

[1:35:55] Finance, Finance, the police,

[1:35:58] DPW, and one person from

[1:36:00] administration who are very

[1:36:01] knowledgeable

[1:36:02] in technology are

[1:36:04] on that committee. So we have

[1:36:05] reps from each

[1:36:07] of those departments.

[1:36:08] But as we now add AI

[1:36:09] into this, and now Laura's

[1:36:11] become a part

[1:36:12] of this committee, it will

[1:36:13] morph a little bit and have a

[1:36:14] few more members. So I do want

[1:36:15] to just make sure. We've had

[1:36:16] the committee probably for

[1:36:17] about eight months. So I just

[1:36:19] wanted to make, make that clear

[1:36:21] that this committee will,

[1:36:22] will now pick up AI.

[1:36:24] >>Thank you, Ms. Douglas, and

[1:36:27] thank you, Ms. Re,

[1:36:28] for the presentation. Okay,

[1:36:32] we're going to move on now

[1:36:33] to appointments. Vice

[1:36:36] President Wozczak, are you

[1:36:37] here?

[1:36:44] >>Get off guard there. One

[1:36:45] moment, please.

[1:36:53] >>Open to appointments. If you

[1:36:54] want to do consent.

[1:36:59] >>Do you have it? Ms. Marse?

[1:37:00] >>Working on it.

[1:37:01] >>It crashed.

[1:37:03] >>I can transfer it to Mr.

[1:37:04] Solomon if you'd like.

[1:37:05] >>Yes, please.

[1:37:08] >>Mr. Solomon.

[1:37:11] >>Appointment 7A appointments

[1:37:12] to CO.

[1:37:13] >>Wait one second. Can you turn

[1:37:14] your mic up a bit?

[1:37:19] >>I can. I can try to talk

[1:37:20] louder. I don't think I can

[1:37:22] turn my mic.

[1:37:23] >>Okay. Okay.

[1:37:24] >>All right. 7A. Appointments

[1:37:25] to the CO Compliance Advisory

[1:37:26] Committee. I move that the

[1:37:27] mayor council approve the

[1:37:29] reappointment of Ian fay

[1:37:30] to the CO Compliance Advisory

[1:37:31] Committee for a term

[1:37:33] of two years ending on

[1:37:34] February 18, 2027. 7b.

[1:37:39] Appointment to high school

[1:37:40] environment committee. I move

[1:37:41] that the mayor Council approve

[1:37:43] the appointment of Ryan Newman

[1:37:44] to the highest bill

[1:37:46] Environment committee

[1:37:47] for A term

[1:37:48] of two years ending February

[1:37:49] 18, 2027. 7c. Appointment

[1:37:50] to heights Phil. Health,

[1:37:51] Wellness and Recreation

[1:37:52] Advisory Committee. I move that

[1:37:53] the mayor council approve the

[1:37:55] reapportment of Britney Miller

[1:37:57] to Height Phil. Health,

[1:37:58] Wellness and Recreation

[1:37:59] Advisory Committee for a term

[1:38:00] of two years ending February

[1:38:02] 18, 2027.

[1:38:06] >>I said second. I'm sorry,

[1:38:07] who was that? Thank you. It's

[1:38:10] been moved. And. And seconded.

[1:38:11] All in favor? Any opposed? Any

[1:38:17] abstentions?

[1:38:19] >>Thank you.

[1:38:21] >>The ayes have it, Mr.

[1:38:22] Solomon. Consent agenda

[1:38:25] consent.

[1:38:26] >>8 A Schedule A budget work

[1:38:27] session for February 26, 2025.

[1:38:29] A move that the mayor council

[1:38:30] schedule an

[1:38:31] in person budget work session

[1:38:32] for February 26, 2025 at 7pm

[1:38:34] to be held at the City

[1:38:36] Municipal Building. 8B. Zoning

[1:38:39] variance request V8. 20V8924

[1:38:40] 4100 Hamilton street in

[1:38:44] Hyattsville. I move the city

[1:38:46] council authorize the mayor

[1:38:48] to send a letter of support

[1:38:49] to the board of Zoning Appeals

[1:38:51] for the subject property at

[1:38:53] 4100 Hamilton Street,

[1:38:54] Highsville v. 80 924. The

[1:38:55] purpose

[1:38:56] of the zoning variance is

[1:38:58] to request is to request it

[1:39:00] to be. Is to request is

[1:39:05] to validate existing. The

[1:39:07] purpose of the zoning variance

[1:39:08] request is to validate existing

[1:39:11] conditions. A lot width at the

[1:39:12] building line side street yard

[1:39:13] depth and waiver of accessory

[1:39:15] building location requirements

[1:39:16] enable the construction

[1:39:18] of a third floor addition on an

[1:39:20] existing three story single

[1:39:21] family dwelling. Sorry

[1:39:23] about that 1.8C. Disbursement

[1:39:24] of FY25 Thrive Grant Awards. I

[1:39:26] moved that the mayor council

[1:39:27] authorized expenditure of

[1:39:29] $8,993 to support the grant

[1:39:30] proposals recommended

[1:39:32] from the Hyatville Health,

[1:39:34] Wellness and Recreation

[1:39:36] Advisory Committee and listed

[1:39:37] in the attached memo

[1:39:39] for dissemination of the FY25

[1:39:45] Thrive grants. That is all.

[1:39:46] >>Second.

[1:39:47] >>I'm sorry, who was the

[1:39:48] second? Okay, thank you. It's

[1:39:49] been moved and seconded. All in

[1:39:50] favor?

[1:39:52] >>Aye.

[1:39:54] >>Any opposed? Abstentions.

[1:39:59] Okay. Seeing none. Action

[1:40:00] items, Mr. Solomon.

[1:40:02] >>Action items. Not a roadway

[1:40:04] transfer. MD 208 Hamilton

[1:40:06] Street. I move that the mayor

[1:40:09] and council authorize the city

[1:40:12] administrator to execute the

[1:40:13] roadway transfer agreement

[1:40:14] of MD 208 Hamilton street

[1:40:15] between the city of

[1:40:16] Hyattsville and Maryland

[1:40:17] Department of Transportation,

[1:40:19] State Highway Administration.

[1:40:21] >>I know that's your baby. You

[1:40:23] got the champagne? Did you pop

[1:40:25] it yet?

[1:40:26] >>Well, I'm gonna wait

[1:40:27] for the word.

[1:40:30] >>Okay. It's been seconded by

[1:40:31] Ms. Straub. Ms. Taylor.

[1:40:41] >>Yes. Good evening, Mayor and

[1:40:42] council. Thank you

[1:40:43] for the opportunity to speak

[1:40:44] on this roadway transfer. It's

[1:40:47] been a long journey. I'm gonna

[1:40:49] briefly talk

[1:40:50] through the history, just

[1:40:52] for those of you that may not

[1:40:53] be as familiar

[1:40:54] with this process. So back

[1:40:55] in late 2021, the council

[1:41:00] authorized the city

[1:41:01] administrator and staff

[1:41:03] to begin negotiations with M.

[1:41:07] SHA to start talking

[1:41:08] about the transfer

[1:41:09] of ownership of the segment

[1:41:11] of Hamilton street between

[1:41:13] Queens chapel Road and 38th

[1:41:15] Avenue. Since that time,

[1:41:17] you've been working

[1:41:19] with the SHA District 3 office

[1:41:22] to evaluate different scenarios

[1:41:23] of a transfer, develop

[1:41:26] conceptual plans and just get

[1:41:29] the state on board

[1:41:31] with our vision

[1:41:32] for that transfer process. Had

[1:41:34] many setbacks

[1:41:36] during that process. Namely,

[1:41:39] there was significant turnover

[1:41:40] in staff in the District 3

[1:41:42] office. So that was a major

[1:41:44] delay

[1:41:46] in the negotiation process in

[1:41:49] 2022. Luckily, through our

[1:41:50] persistence and collaboration

[1:41:52] with the District 3 office,

[1:41:54] we were able to come

[1:41:56] to a mutual understanding. And

[1:41:59] the District 3 engineer

[1:42:01] initiated that transfer process

[1:42:03] with MDOT's real estate office

[1:42:06] in April of 2023. I believe

[1:42:11] at that time we were under the

[1:42:14] impression the transfer process

[1:42:16] would take approximately six

[1:42:18] months. Obviously it took a

[1:42:20] fair bit longer than that.

[1:42:22] But we continued to follow up

[1:42:24] with them, Both the District 3

[1:42:26] office and the real estate

[1:42:28] office, and ultimately got a

[1:42:30] draft transfer agreement in

[1:42:32] January of this year, which.

[1:42:34] Which we've shared

[1:42:36] with you as part

[1:42:37] of the packet here. Let's see,

[1:42:41] what else do I have?

[1:42:43] Ultimately, we decided

[1:42:44] to do an as is transfer. That

[1:42:50] was a recommendation from the

[1:42:52] district engineer and part

[1:42:55] of our assessment. They were

[1:42:59] generally in support of the

[1:43:01] conceptual designs and the

[1:43:03] vision that we were presenting

[1:43:04] to them,

[1:43:06] but they were very transparent

[1:43:07] with us that if the state were

[1:43:09] to complete some of the

[1:43:12] conceptual design improvements,

[1:43:13] that that transfer process

[1:43:15] could take upwards of 10 years

[1:43:17] to complete. So ultimately it

[1:43:21] was. It was decided to move

[1:43:24] in this direction.

[1:43:27] Additionally, I'll remind

[1:43:29] everyone that the transfer

[1:43:31] agreement does not include the

[1:43:33] traffic light

[1:43:35] at the intersection of

[1:43:37] Hamilton and 38 strikes. If.

[1:43:39] If we were to proceed

[1:43:40] with this transfer agreement,

[1:43:43] that signal would continue

[1:43:45] to be Owned and maintained by

[1:43:46] M. SHA we would not take over

[1:43:48] the operation and maintenance

[1:43:51] of that signal. Let me see if I

[1:43:54] have anything else. I think

[1:43:56] those are. Those are the high

[1:43:58] points there. Leslie and Hal, I

[1:44:00] don't know if you have any

[1:44:01] additional context. Thank you.

[1:44:03] >>Ms. Roby. I called you

[1:44:04] by your first name, So I

[1:44:06] apologize. Ms. Riddle.

[1:44:07] >>Thank you. Thank you.

[1:44:11] Taylor. Mayor and council.

[1:44:13] This is as Mr. Solomon has his

[1:44:15] champagne ready. A long time

[1:44:17] coming. I know there had been a

[1:44:19] public question

[1:44:21] about budget as is. There is no

[1:44:24] cost to the city

[1:44:25] for this transfer. This is

[1:44:28] in writing. And this,

[1:44:30] of course, any improvements

[1:44:32] that we do that. The street is

[1:44:34] in good shape. The street was

[1:44:36] redone just a few years ago.

[1:44:38] But anything that we do will

[1:44:40] have to come back to this body

[1:44:42] for approval. I know there are

[1:44:44] some safety measures certainly

[1:44:45] we'd like to take

[1:44:47] into account, but that is where

[1:44:49] we are. I think Taylor

[1:44:51] represented it well. Hal, do

[1:44:53] you have anything additional?

[1:44:57] >>No, nothing. Nothing else

[1:44:59] additional right now.

[1:45:01] >>Thank you. Thank you, Mary.

[1:45:02] Thank you, Council.

[1:45:04] >>Thank you very much.

[1:45:05] Council, any questions? Mr.

[1:45:08] Dennis, sorry I jumped

[1:45:11] in front of Mr. Solomon, but

[1:45:13] I. I was. Thank you.

[1:45:15] >>Thank you for all the work

[1:45:17] that's.

[1:45:18] >>Been going into this. Can

[1:45:20] someone explain

[1:45:21] to me the consequences,

[1:45:23] I mean. Or not associated

[1:45:26] with not taking

[1:45:28] over the intersection. It seems

[1:45:32] like that a lot of. A lot

[1:45:34] of concern is over safety

[1:45:36] at an inner.

[1:45:37] At the intersection. We won't

[1:45:40] have that intersect. So like,

[1:45:42] does this hamstring us

[1:45:44] in our abilities

[1:45:47] to make this like.

[1:45:50] >>Oh, I like.

[1:45:51] >>So this seems

[1:45:54] like it's better than the.

[1:45:56] Than nothing. But also like

[1:46:01] it's still somewhat not as.

[1:46:02] >>So they will own the

[1:46:04] signalization. Council member

[1:46:05] DENNIS we own the roadway. So

[1:46:07] in conjunction

[1:46:08] with state highway,

[1:46:09] we certainly have some leverage

[1:46:11] to be able to improve that

[1:46:13] intersection considerably. I

[1:46:16] think that's the crux of it.

[1:46:17] We own the roadway. They own

[1:46:19] the signalization. We don't own

[1:46:21] any signals. Just so know.

[1:46:23] >>Oh, I know. And okay. So we

[1:46:28] would still be able to

[1:46:30] potentially promulgate some

[1:46:32] safety improvements

[1:46:34] with that question. It's. It's

[1:46:36] just the signalization that

[1:46:38] they. So if we wanted to do a

[1:46:41] protected intersection for.

[1:46:43] For instance, that would be

[1:46:45] something that could be

[1:46:46] considered

[1:46:47] at that intersection. Yes.

[1:46:49] >>As long as we had state

[1:46:50] highway or 38. Right.

[1:46:52] Approval, then yes,

[1:46:54] that is feasible.

[1:46:56] >>Okay. Thank you.

[1:46:57] >>Absolutely.

[1:46:59] >>Some.

[1:47:03] >>I wanted to. I wanted

[1:47:06] to say thank you to. To

[1:47:10] Leslie, to How. To Taylor,

[1:47:15] for your hard work on this. I

[1:47:19] think this means a lot

[1:47:21] to our community. You guys were

[1:47:23] out there for the meetings and

[1:47:25] I don't know how many times

[1:47:27] they yelled and screamed at us

[1:47:28] about not being able

[1:47:29] to do anything about state,

[1:47:30] about that road because it was

[1:47:32] a state road and wanted us

[1:47:34] to take this on. And I

[1:47:35] appreciate you guys

[1:47:38] for actually taking it

[1:47:39] on and getting it

[1:47:40] across the finish line. One

[1:47:41] name that I did want

[1:47:42] to mention,

[1:47:43] because I know this was held up

[1:47:44] for a very long time,

[1:47:45] but we figured, well, we had

[1:47:46] to wait

[1:47:47] until our thumbs and figure

[1:47:49] out what the state was doing.

[1:47:50] But delegate Nicole Williams,

[1:47:51] who this year is serving as

[1:47:54] chair of the Prince George's

[1:47:55] delegation, I happened

[1:47:58] to speak to her right

[1:47:59] before she was going

[1:48:02] into a meeting with State

[1:48:04] highway, and I said, hey,

[1:48:05] we got something that's held up

[1:48:06] with them. She was like, no,

[1:48:07] no, no. I want

[1:48:09] to know everything

[1:48:11] about it right now, because I.

[1:48:12] I'm coming up with a list

[1:48:13] of things that they need

[1:48:14] to do immediately. And so I'm

[1:48:15] glad that she took this. She

[1:48:17] added this to her list. And it

[1:48:18] literally looks like, like,

[1:48:19] you know, a month

[1:48:20] after she had that meeting,

[1:48:21] like, they came back

[1:48:22] to us and this was. This was

[1:48:23] moving, moving along. So I'm

[1:48:24] appreciative to her as well.

[1:48:27] And yeah,

[1:48:28] I think that when we talk

[1:48:30] about the east, west divide,

[1:48:31] this is one

[1:48:32] of those things that, you know,

[1:48:33] I don't think there's a story,

[1:48:35] darker contrast sometimes in

[1:48:36] our city than leaving one side

[1:48:38] of Hamilton street, crossing

[1:48:41] over 38th and entering the

[1:48:42] other side. Even, you know,

[1:48:44] when it comes to Christmas

[1:48:45] lights, we've mentioned

[1:48:47] in the past. So I think that

[1:48:48] this would be extremely useful

[1:48:50] tool for many things, but also

[1:48:51] in healing that divide and look

[1:48:54] forward to the next motion

[1:48:56] to take over the next part of

[1:48:57] Hamilton Street.

[1:48:58] >>So thank you. Well, I don't

[1:49:00] appreciate you not sharing that

[1:49:01] champagne with all of us. Just

[1:49:03] saying.

[1:49:05] >>So I'm doing a dry

[1:49:06] February, so I can't even drink

[1:49:08] it myself. I can only pour it

[1:49:10] and cheer to those who wish to

[1:49:11] partake.

[1:49:12] >>What are you gonna do?

[1:49:14] You're not gonna feed you the

[1:49:15] dog,

[1:49:16] are you?

[1:49:17] >>Absolutely.

[1:49:19] >>Ms. Wazat.

[1:49:20] >>Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:49:23] >>So I have a few questions.

[1:49:24] >>I heard Director Riddle say

[1:49:27] that Hamilton was recently

[1:49:29] refreshed by sha. So first I

[1:49:31] just wanted to ask a few

[1:49:33] additional questions on that.

[1:49:36] What aspects of the roadway did

[1:49:37] they recently maintain? Like,

[1:49:40] was it the. The road surface,

[1:49:43] the striping? I think there are

[1:49:46] sharrows on there,

[1:49:47] the shared arrows

[1:49:49] for cyclists. Did they do

[1:49:51] anything with the lighting, the

[1:49:53] walkways that are not

[1:49:55] continuous right now or other

[1:49:57] streetscaping? Like, what was

[1:49:59] their investment in the street?

[1:50:01] >>So there was it was actually

[1:50:04] wssc. They replaced the water

[1:50:06] main in the center

[1:50:08] of the road. I think it was

[1:50:09] about four or five years ago.

[1:50:10] That was a complete full

[1:50:12] replacement of the full depth

[1:50:13] patch as well as the top

[1:50:15] coating of the street. So that,

[1:50:17] you know,

[1:50:19] lasts quite a long time. There

[1:50:23] were certain intersections

[1:50:25] where the sidewalk was updated

[1:50:26] for ADA compliance. There are

[1:50:29] some sidewalks that need

[1:50:30] to be taken care of, that need

[1:50:32] to be reconfigured and fixed.

[1:50:33] Those are on our radar. We will

[1:50:35] bring that back to council

[1:50:37] at some juncture. Taylor,

[1:50:41] anything to add? Al?

[1:50:45] >>No, no. The, the one thing I

[1:50:47] did want to add is that as you

[1:50:50] mentioned, WSSC did rebuild the

[1:50:51] road and they went basically

[1:50:54] all the way from the entrance

[1:50:57] at Driscoll park all the way

[1:50:59] to Ager Road and I believe

[1:51:02] across Jager Road going towards

[1:51:03] Metro. They put a new 16 inch

[1:51:05] water main there. So they did a

[1:51:06] very thorough reconstruction.

[1:51:09] >>Of the, of the asphalt curve

[1:51:11] to curb.

[1:51:14] >>Okay, great. And do we have,

[1:51:16] I know you said we've looked

[1:51:17] into this, but do we have an

[1:51:19] estimate right now

[1:51:20] for the cost of installing a

[1:51:21] continuous walkway or sidewalk?

[1:51:23] Because I know that's been one

[1:51:26] of the main complaints that

[1:51:27] people have is that the

[1:51:28] sidewalk starts and stops and

[1:51:30] starts and stops. So do we have

[1:51:32] an estimate for that project?

[1:51:34] >>So we have a concept design

[1:51:35] at this juncture that we share

[1:51:37] with State highway, but we do

[1:51:38] not have a cost estimate.

[1:51:39] Again, we will bring that back

[1:51:41] to council in the near future.

[1:51:42] >>And if we accept this road,

[1:51:44] then that cost is on us.

[1:51:47] >>That's correct.

[1:51:48] >>Okay. And also how much do we

[1:51:51] anticipate that it would cost

[1:51:53] us to maintain this road? So

[1:51:54] when we think

[1:51:56] about street thing and the

[1:51:57] like that we do on all

[1:51:58] of our other roads,

[1:52:00] how much does it cost us to, to

[1:52:02] maintain this specific stretch

[1:52:04] of road?

[1:52:05] >>So quite honestly,

[1:52:06] we've been doing it all along.

[1:52:08] It's a blip on the radar of

[1:52:10] State Highway. And so we push

[1:52:12] the snow, we sweep the road,

[1:52:13] we pick up the trash. Some of

[1:52:16] that is considered maintenance

[1:52:18] by State Highway. So honestly

[1:52:20] it's nothing to add

[1:52:23] to things we already do. So

[1:52:25] it's a wash as far as cost. I

[1:52:29] mean, it wouldn't get done if

[1:52:31] we didn't do it. That's pretty

[1:52:33] much it. Now, they would

[1:52:34] eventually come

[1:52:36] through and plow it,

[1:52:37] but we plow it because it's one

[1:52:39] of our main arterials and it's

[1:52:41] adjacent to our roadway.

[1:52:42] >>Okay.

[1:52:44] >>And then my final question

[1:52:46] is, would there be any benefit

[1:52:49] or any dis. Benefit

[1:52:50] to the people who actually live

[1:52:52] on this road, like, what will

[1:52:54] they experience that might be

[1:52:56] any different in a positive or

[1:52:57] negative way?

[1:53:01] >>So positive, positive. You

[1:53:02] know, we can fix all the

[1:53:04] existing sidewalks that have

[1:53:05] some trip hazards. We can make

[1:53:08] sure we're already taking care

[1:53:09] of the trees. That's, that's

[1:53:11] just part of it. I think

[1:53:13] in a. I, I honestly,

[1:53:15] council member wise,

[1:53:17] I can't think of anything

[1:53:18] negative.

[1:53:19] >>Taylor.

[1:53:20] >>Hal.

[1:53:22] >>So I, I know currently

[1:53:23] there's,

[1:53:24] and this is not something

[1:53:26] we've, we've spoken about,

[1:53:27] there's some issues

[1:53:28] with flooding

[1:53:29] on the roadway when there's,

[1:53:31] when there's, you know,

[1:53:32] weather events. And that's

[1:53:33] definitely something that we

[1:53:35] want to look at. Would be a

[1:53:36] major improvement.

[1:53:38] >>Yeah, I was going

[1:53:40] to add that the biggest benefit

[1:53:41] for the city and the residents

[1:53:43] on that street is that the city

[1:53:45] can and is typically more

[1:53:47] responsive than state highway

[1:53:48] will be. You know,

[1:53:51] the state can take anywhere

[1:53:53] from five to seven years just

[1:53:56] to design a sidewalk

[1:53:57] replacement project and get it

[1:53:59] funded. Whereas, you know,

[1:54:01] we don't need that length

[1:54:03] of time to make something

[1:54:04] like that happen. And you know,

[1:54:05] in this road, especially

[1:54:07] since WSSC resurfaced,

[1:54:08] it is so far down

[1:54:11] on the state's list of roads

[1:54:12] that need attention that we

[1:54:14] probably wouldn't see them do

[1:54:15] anything major on that road

[1:54:19] for another 10 plus years

[1:54:20] easily.

[1:54:23] >>Okay, thank you.

[1:54:25] >>Okay. Excuse me. How many

[1:54:27] questions do you have, Mr.

[1:54:28] S.H.

[1:54:30] >>I got a couple. Go for it.

[1:54:32] And, and may. And I hope none

[1:54:34] of them have already been

[1:54:36] asked. I had a little technical

[1:54:37] glitch for my computer powered

[1:54:38] down in the middle

[1:54:39] of this Q and A. So my

[1:54:41] apologies in advance if this is

[1:54:43] duplicative,

[1:54:46] but couple questions. So, you

[1:54:48] know, one of the discussions

[1:54:50] was negotiations and

[1:54:53] negotiations for the terms of

[1:54:55] this transfer and there was

[1:54:57] discussion of Maryland State

[1:54:58] Highways making some

[1:54:59] improvements prior

[1:55:01] to the transfer, but that would

[1:55:02] extend the required time

[1:55:04] to make the transfer. And I

[1:55:09] know we don't have a cost

[1:55:11] estimate

[1:55:12] for our desired improvements.

[1:55:14] We've got a concept design,

[1:55:16] but you know, we kind of know

[1:55:17] about how much a linear foot of

[1:55:19] sidewalk costs or how much it

[1:55:20] takes to put

[1:55:22] in a street light or something

[1:55:24] like that. Was it ever broached

[1:55:26] with Maryland State Highways to

[1:55:29] rather than make the

[1:55:31] improvements to transfer the

[1:55:34] land and transfer along

[1:55:35] with the land, some

[1:55:36] of the amount

[1:55:37] of those anticipations,

[1:55:40] anticipated improvements was

[1:55:41] that asked of Maryland State

[1:55:42] Highways and did they respond

[1:55:44] to that?

[1:55:45] >>At one juncture we had talked

[1:55:46] about that, but it, it was

[1:55:48] at the very beginning when we,

[1:55:50] we were looking at working with

[1:55:53] our consultant and doing a

[1:55:55] concept plan at this point.

[1:55:56] It's not

[1:55:58] on the table and it's.

[1:56:00] >>Not on the table

[1:56:01] at this point. Oh, go ahead.

[1:56:03] >>I'm hoping to add

[1:56:05] to that. I, I think I recall,

[1:56:06] Leslie, when that was a part

[1:56:08] of the conversation. One

[1:56:09] of the, the trip hazards on

[1:56:10] that is that that will require

[1:56:12] an appropriation also from,

[1:56:14] from the General assembly,

[1:56:15] which was something that we had

[1:56:16] not worked

[1:56:18] on previously and hadn't.

[1:56:19] Hasn't been any

[1:56:20] of our legislative requests

[1:56:22] since that time period.

[1:56:23] >>That is correct.

[1:56:24] >>And, and on a reimbursable

[1:56:25] basis that they were not

[1:56:27] interested in doing at the time

[1:56:28] because it was not a very high

[1:56:29] priority for them.

[1:56:32] >>Well, you know, although I

[1:56:34] think we could manage the road

[1:56:36] better and it sounds like

[1:56:37] in a lot of ways we already are

[1:56:39] managing the road. It doesn't

[1:56:40] really feel

[1:56:42] like we're getting, you know,

[1:56:43] we're taking this long term

[1:56:45] maintenance responsibility for

[1:56:47] a road that you already

[1:56:48] described as kind

[1:56:50] of an afterthought to them that

[1:56:52] something they'd probably

[1:56:54] rather not be responsible

[1:56:56] for and we're taking it over

[1:56:58] without really anything

[1:57:01] from them other than giving it

[1:57:04] to us. And it just,

[1:57:06] it just feels like there could

[1:57:07] have been opportunities there

[1:57:09] for a better, a better bargain

[1:57:10] for the city. But you said

[1:57:12] those negotiations that, that

[1:57:14] ship has sailed. I can't

[1:57:15] remember exactly what words you

[1:57:17] used, but you said there were

[1:57:18] some early deliberations

[1:57:20] to those ends,

[1:57:21] but nothing recent. And could

[1:57:22] you elaborate a little bit more

[1:57:24] on those monetary discussions?

[1:57:27] >>Certainly.

[1:57:29] >>I mean this was again,

[1:57:30] this has been in negotiations

[1:57:32] for me for years. We did meet

[1:57:35] with state highway a number of

[1:57:37] times and there was talk about,

[1:57:41] you know, they're assisting or

[1:57:46] giving us money or financing.

[1:57:50] And at this juncture they said

[1:57:52] we're going

[1:57:54] to give it you as is.

[1:57:55] Certainly we could go back

[1:57:57] to them, but I think that the

[1:57:59] state is probably not

[1:58:01] in the best positions

[1:58:04] to allocate money

[1:58:06] to this stretch of roadway

[1:58:08] because it's so small, pal.

[1:58:11] >>Yeah, I did want

[1:58:12] to add one item

[1:58:13] to that as well,

[1:58:15] is that this goes back

[1:58:16] to a frequent discussion we

[1:58:18] have with things highway is

[1:58:20] that they through. And I'll be

[1:58:23] honest, I don't remember which,

[1:58:25] which state law it is. But by

[1:58:27] state law they require the city

[1:58:29] to perform maintenance

[1:58:31] on the sidewalks

[1:58:33] on state roads in the city.

[1:58:35] And if they consider it a

[1:58:36] maintenance activity,

[1:58:38] they're not going to pay

[1:58:40] for it regardless of whether we

[1:58:41] own the road or take it

[1:58:43] from them. And it's a,

[1:58:45] it's a frequent issue we have

[1:58:46] with them because we feel

[1:58:47] like there's, there's

[1:58:48] like sections

[1:58:49] of sidewalk where it needs

[1:58:51] to be reconstructed. And to us

[1:58:52] that's not a maintenance

[1:58:54] activity,

[1:58:55] that's a construction activity.

[1:58:56] And there's no clear guidance

[1:58:58] in the state law or the,

[1:58:59] or MDOT's policies

[1:59:01] of what the definition

[1:59:04] of maintenance versus, you

[1:59:06] know, reconstruction is. So

[1:59:08] that's, I think where we kind

[1:59:10] of end up here is that, you

[1:59:12] know, if they consider all this

[1:59:14] a maintenance activity,

[1:59:15] they're, they're not going

[1:59:17] to give us anything. Anything

[1:59:19] for that.

[1:59:21] >>Okay. Yeah. You know,

[1:59:24] I don't know how I'll vote

[1:59:26] on this. I like the idea

[1:59:27] of us getting it,

[1:59:29] but I do feel like it's not

[1:59:32] necessarily a great deal

[1:59:34] for us, you know, and that

[1:59:37] in assuming this long term,

[1:59:39] you know, although it's

[1:59:41] in good shape now,

[1:59:42] that asphalt is going to need

[1:59:43] to be repaved, we are assuming

[1:59:45] longer term costs for,

[1:59:47] for doing this. And we already

[1:59:48] know the reason we want it is

[1:59:50] because the road isn't really

[1:59:52] in the condition we want it

[1:59:54] to be in. And so we're

[1:59:57] anticipating making

[1:59:59] infrastructure improvements and

[2:00:01] also the long term maintenance,

[2:00:05] but we haven't got them

[2:00:06] to give us anything

[2:00:08] but the road, which is in their

[2:00:10] financial interest and no

[2:00:11] longer want

[2:00:13] to maintain anyways. So I do

[2:00:17] have, I do have just kind

[2:00:18] of some concerns about that.

[2:00:22] The. So

[2:00:23] about the intersection.

[2:00:25] There's three, you know,

[2:00:28] three or four roads. It's a

[2:00:30] standard four way intersection.

[2:00:31] And

[2:00:33] of those four roads that

[2:00:35] connect at that intersection,

[2:00:38] we own three of them

[2:00:40] at this point,

[2:00:42] is my understanding.

[2:00:43] But we're not taking ownership

[2:00:45] of the signal. And is that

[2:00:46] because we didn't want it or

[2:00:48] they wouldn't give it to us?

[2:00:51] Or could you elaborate further

[2:00:52] on that?

[2:00:53] >>They own the third leg of 38

[2:00:56] and we don't manage signals and

[2:00:58] they wouldn't give it to us.

[2:01:00] So that's pretty much it.

[2:01:03] >>So we asked them and they

[2:01:04] said, sorry,

[2:01:06] we won't give you that. I mean,

[2:01:08] is there a protocol for that if

[2:01:11] we own three quarters of that

[2:01:12] intersection?

[2:01:16] >>One thing I can add to that

[2:01:18] is currently we only own two

[2:01:19] legs of that road. We would own

[2:01:20] three if, if you agree

[2:01:22] to take this on.

[2:01:24] >>Right, right, understood.

[2:01:25] >>Generally, municipalities

[2:01:27] don't own traffic signals.

[2:01:30] Again, I believe there is a.

[2:01:34] It's been a while

[2:01:35] since I looked this up, but I

[2:01:36] believe there's a state law

[2:01:37] that requires them to be owned

[2:01:39] by either the county or the

[2:01:40] state. I don't believe hardly

[2:01:43] any municipalities

[2:01:45] like ours own a traffic signal.

[2:01:47] You know, Baltimore City does,

[2:01:49] and the counties generally do,

[2:01:51] but I don't believe any Other

[2:01:52] municipalities own them. So we

[2:01:53] wouldn't,

[2:01:54] they wouldn't give it

[2:01:55] to us and,

[2:01:56] and we wouldn't take it over

[2:01:57] because we wouldn't have the

[2:01:58] infrastructure to, to maintain

[2:01:59] that.

[2:02:01] >>And we didn't ask.

[2:02:05] >>Okay. Because to Sam's point,

[2:02:06] a lot

[2:02:08] of the safety concerns are

[2:02:09] right at that intersection.

[2:02:12] The backups that are caused

[2:02:13] by that intersection,

[2:02:15] the blocking of roads,

[2:02:16] driveways, the fact that it

[2:02:19] doesn't give you a walk signal

[2:02:21] when you want to cross,

[2:02:24] you got

[2:02:25] to push a button and wait

[2:02:27] for a full rotation

[2:02:28] to get a walk signal. They're

[2:02:29] just. They don't give you that

[2:02:31] automatic walk option when

[2:02:34] you're waiting there. Various

[2:02:35] things that I think the city

[2:02:40] would be interested

[2:02:41] in improving but.

[2:02:43] But it sounds like a lot

[2:02:45] of those things will be

[2:02:46] off the table.

[2:02:51] But my last comment,

[2:02:52] and this goes to a lot

[2:02:54] of the public comments,

[2:02:56] I would have liked

[2:02:57] to have seen a cost for the

[2:02:59] improvements. I know we did a

[2:03:01] study. It wasn't included

[2:03:02] in the packet. There was public

[2:03:04] comment related

[2:03:05] to what the results

[2:03:07] of that study were. We got a

[2:03:09] concept plan. I don't know.

[2:03:12] Did Pannoni deliver the full

[2:03:18] package for that contract is

[2:03:21] that we got. Because I asked

[2:03:23] for it and all I got was one

[2:03:25] single sheet.

[2:03:29] >>That.

[2:03:30] >>Had some lines on it.

[2:03:31] But was there like a,

[2:03:34] a broader deliverable to what

[2:03:36] Panoni did for that?

[2:03:42] >>I don't believe so. Hal.

[2:03:43] Hal, you probably know the

[2:03:45] answer to that. I don't believe

[2:03:47] so. I think you all authorized

[2:03:49] us to go up to 100k,

[2:03:51] but I don't think we asked

[2:03:52] for them

[2:03:54] to go any further in, in

[2:03:55] until we were able to determine

[2:03:57] whether we were able

[2:04:01] to obtain the road. So I don't

[2:04:02] think we ever got anything

[2:04:03] further than that. I. We did

[2:04:04] not get caught cost estimates

[2:04:05] at this point.

[2:04:06] But there were things

[2:04:07] from a safety perspective,

[2:04:08] crosswalks that we've asked

[2:04:09] them to do. We've walked this

[2:04:10] road, probably Councilman

[2:04:11] President Solomon, you may

[2:04:13] remember, but I think we

[2:04:14] started walking this road in

[2:04:15] 2017, pointing out all

[2:04:17] of the things that needed

[2:04:18] to be repaired and fixed. So

[2:04:21] each, each time we do anything

[2:04:23] on this road, we'd have

[2:04:25] to bring it back to you all.

[2:04:26] We have to do this within, you

[2:04:27] know, within whatever what

[2:04:29] we're able to,

[2:04:30] financially able

[2:04:31] to absorb each year. So it's

[2:04:33] not like we'll take it

[2:04:34] over and then go out and start

[2:04:35] making all the repairs

[2:04:36] immediately. We've got to do an

[2:04:37] assessment and we will ask them

[2:04:39] for cost estimates etc,

[2:04:40] and then come back

[2:04:41] to this body

[2:04:42] with the repairs that we need

[2:04:43] to have made. Hal, I don't want

[2:04:45] to speak. Speak for you or

[2:04:46] Leslie or, Or Taylor. Is that

[2:04:47] accurate?

[2:04:49] >>Yeah, yeah, that's. That's

[2:04:51] accurate. The other piece

[2:04:52] of this is, I mean,

[2:04:54] you're looking

[2:04:55] at not just the intersection

[2:04:59] at 38th and Hamilton. You're

[2:05:00] looking at the crosswalk. That

[2:05:02] is a crosswalk with no, you

[2:05:04] know, no flashing beacon,

[2:05:06] no pedestrian safety,

[2:05:08] which is right across

[2:05:10] from the park and right across

[2:05:11] from 3505. So, you know, we, we

[2:05:14] realize that there'll be some

[2:05:17] level of investment, but

[2:05:18] with a concept plan,

[2:05:21] I don't think either Hal or

[2:05:22] Taylor, I want to put a number

[2:05:24] on that because it would be,

[2:05:26] you know, it again, concept

[2:05:30] plan and a good number. I'm

[2:05:33] not. And we are not willing

[2:05:36] to do that until we have better

[2:05:38] information.

[2:05:40] >>The concept that we prepared

[2:05:43] was to kind

[2:05:46] of see what was feasible

[2:05:48] for that section of road. And

[2:05:50] then we, we did share that

[2:05:52] with State highway because when

[2:05:53] the negotiation started back

[2:05:55] in like 2021, they. They did

[2:05:56] give the option and they looked

[2:05:58] at all three options of them

[2:06:00] making improvements and keeping

[2:06:01] the road, them making

[2:06:03] improvements and giving the

[2:06:05] road to the city and them just

[2:06:06] giving the road to the city

[2:06:07] with no improvements. So that's

[2:06:10] what the concept was developed

[2:06:13] for, was to kind

[2:06:15] of give them a sense of what we

[2:06:17] think could happen there and

[2:06:19] what we would like to see, but

[2:06:22] it's not a concept that's ready

[2:06:23] to go

[2:06:24] to engineering design yet. We

[2:06:25] would have to re. Review it.

[2:06:26] We'd have to look

[2:06:28] at what's changed

[2:06:29] in the last four or five years

[2:06:31] since it was developed. We

[2:06:33] would have to have some

[2:06:34] community meetings and get some

[2:06:35] input on what some of the

[2:06:37] safety features are and where

[2:06:39] they're located. So it's not

[2:06:40] ready to have an estimate

[2:06:42] at this time. It's just this is

[2:06:44] what we think could. Could. We

[2:06:46] could do to make these safety

[2:06:48] improvements,

[2:06:49] but it wasn't close to being a

[2:06:51] final design yet.

[2:06:52] >>And I think the other piece

[2:06:54] of this is we've waited

[2:06:55] for years for the state

[2:06:56] to get back to us. I mean,

[2:06:58] Taylor was on, you know,

[2:07:00] consistently reaching out

[2:07:01] to the state, consistently

[2:07:03] saying, do you have something?

[2:07:04] Oh, no, it's with it's

[2:07:05] with our real estate people.

[2:07:07] So when we finally got this

[2:07:09] offer back and it's like, okay,

[2:07:11] well, let's discuss this

[2:07:12] with council, let's bring it

[2:07:14] to action. Let's, you know,

[2:07:16] do what we believe is the right

[2:07:17] thing, I think,

[2:07:18] for our residents and the

[2:07:19] safety of people,

[2:07:21] pedestrians. I mean,

[2:07:23] the state's not going

[2:07:24] to do this. That's just it.

[2:07:29] >>My final question is related

[2:07:32] to like the biggest issue,

[2:07:34] and we've heard about this,

[2:07:35] it's in our traffic study and

[2:07:36] other things is the

[2:07:38] discontinuous sidewalks,

[2:07:40] sidewalks broken,

[2:07:42] breakup and all along there.

[2:07:43] And it's a,

[2:07:44] it's a popular route to get

[2:07:45] to the metro is. Did we

[2:07:49] determine whether we have the

[2:07:51] right of way

[2:07:53] to build those if we want

[2:07:54] to make contiguous sidewalks

[2:07:56] along both sides

[2:07:59] of the road there, or do we.

[2:08:02] Are we unclear whether that

[2:08:04] right away will come

[2:08:05] with this transfer?

[2:08:08] >>I mean,

[2:08:09] I think we have ample right

[2:08:10] of way. It's a fairly wide

[2:08:12] street, so even if we have

[2:08:14] to come into the

[2:08:16] around private property and

[2:08:18] into the existing street, we

[2:08:19] have more than ample clearance.

[2:08:21] But how.

[2:08:24] >>Yeah, there, as Lizzie

[2:08:27] mentioned, there is generally

[2:08:28] very wide right of way.

[2:08:29] There's only one location where

[2:08:30] there's two houses

[2:08:31] near the intersection

[2:08:32] with 36th Avenue, basically the

[2:08:37] edge of the asphalt. So that

[2:08:39] would be the only, you know,

[2:08:42] kind of difficult connection

[2:08:44] for us to make. We have

[2:08:45] to look

[2:08:47] at what's available space wise.

[2:08:49] Panoni did include that

[2:08:51] in their concept, but, you

[2:08:52] know, we'd have to look

[2:08:53] at that final, you know,

[2:08:55] once we kind of get that,

[2:08:57] we get the survey from State

[2:08:59] highway and they give us the

[2:09:00] final plats

[2:09:01] to see exactly what would fit.

[2:09:03] But generally the rest

[2:09:04] of the areas, there is room

[2:09:06] for us to, to finish those,

[2:09:08] those sidewalk segments. It's

[2:09:10] just that 1, 1, 2 property area

[2:09:12] that's a little,

[2:09:14] little challenging

[2:09:16] for us.

[2:09:17] >>Okay, thank you.

[2:09:19] >>Thank you, Mr. Shelby. Mr.

[2:09:20] Solomon.

[2:09:21] >>I, I was just going

[2:09:23] to assist staff

[2:09:24] with providing some responses.

[2:09:28] The first thing is just on,

[2:09:29] on the cost. I think that. Do

[2:09:32] you know, do we have. We don't.

[2:09:33] Do we have estimates for any.

[2:09:34] For cost

[2:09:36] on any parcels that we don't

[2:09:37] own in the city of

[2:09:39] Hinesville, Any projects

[2:09:40] on land that we don't own? Do

[2:09:41] we have any estimates?

[2:09:42] >>No.

[2:09:44] >>Exactly. And so I think that

[2:09:45] the request to,

[2:09:47] to have an estimate

[2:09:49] at this point is just outside

[2:09:50] of the scope

[2:09:51] of work that we assign

[2:09:52] to our staff members, which is,

[2:09:54] you know,

[2:09:55] we can't estimate a project

[2:09:56] until we have something

[2:09:58] to do that estimate.

[2:10:00] On the second portion

[2:10:02] of the estimate Is, well,

[2:10:03] what would it cost

[2:10:04] to rebuild the roadway? Well,

[2:10:06] the roadway was. Was rebuilt

[2:10:08] and so we wouldn't have a cost

[2:10:11] estimate on what it costs

[2:10:12] to rebuild again

[2:10:14] until we start to determine

[2:10:15] that it's deteriorated

[2:10:16] to a point that we would need

[2:10:17] to rebuild it. As staff

[2:10:19] mentioned, four years ago, when

[2:10:20] this road did have significant

[2:10:23] issues and we were struggling

[2:10:24] with how to convince State

[2:10:27] highway to rebuild this road,

[2:10:31] they told us that this was such

[2:10:32] a low priority

[2:10:34] on their list that even

[2:10:35] in that awful condition,

[2:10:37] it still would be 10 to 20

[2:10:38] years before they got around

[2:10:40] to it. And luckily,

[2:10:42] I think we had the assistance

[2:10:43] of then County Councilwoman

[2:10:45] Tavares who was able to get

[2:10:47] over to WSSC and say, hey,

[2:10:49] what do you guys. What can you

[2:10:50] guys do? And they decided that

[2:10:52] they had to do some work

[2:10:53] on that street. And that's the

[2:10:54] only way that it got

[2:10:56] to a point now. But the point

[2:10:57] that it is now it's rebuilt.

[2:10:59] So you wouldn't have an

[2:11:00] estimate on a rebuilt road

[2:11:01] until it starts

[2:11:02] to deteriorate again. And then

[2:11:03] you need to go in and look at

[2:11:04] it and correct me if I'm wrong,

[2:11:06] but I imagine this is how the

[2:11:07] process goes, then you need

[2:11:08] to go look at it and see how

[2:11:09] much that costs. Right now we

[2:11:10] can say that maybe eight years

[2:11:11] down the road, but who knows,

[2:11:12] maybe the roadways are done so

[2:11:15] well that, you know,

[2:11:17] we don't have a problem until

[2:11:18] 10 years down the road.

[2:11:20] But it wouldn't be until we got

[2:11:21] closer that we saw the roads

[2:11:23] had deteriorated

[2:11:24] to a point that we needed

[2:11:25] to investigate how much

[2:11:27] of a cost to do the

[2:11:28] replacements that we would have

[2:11:30] an estimate on that. So I.

[2:11:31] Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[2:11:32] >>You good?

[2:11:33] >>Yep.

[2:11:34] >>Thank you, Mr. Solomon.

[2:11:35] Okay, so we got another comment

[2:11:37] and then we're going to. I'm

[2:11:39] going to have

[2:11:40] to ask a question

[2:11:41] on this one, Mr. Hava.

[2:11:43] >>Thank you, Mayor. I just

[2:11:45] wanted to thank staff

[2:11:47] for bringing this forward and

[2:11:49] for seeing this one through.

[2:11:52] I'm happy and glad that we

[2:11:55] finally get in there and that

[2:11:57] council will approve this. I

[2:12:00] think, yes, there are going

[2:12:02] to be costs associated

[2:12:03] with this,

[2:12:04] but the bottom line, for me,

[2:12:06] it's a quality

[2:12:07] of life and a safety issue

[2:12:09] for those residents who live

[2:12:11] around there. For people who

[2:12:13] patronize the park,

[2:12:15] for people who work

[2:12:17] through and from the Metro, the

[2:12:18] intersection at Hamilton and

[2:12:20] 38, I think it's relatively

[2:12:22] safe. At least there is a

[2:12:24] traffic signal there that you

[2:12:25] can use.

[2:12:27] >>Yes.

[2:12:28] >>There is no dedicated turn

[2:12:29] signal, but

[2:12:30] with us taking over,

[2:12:32] I think it's going

[2:12:34] to facilitate that conversation

[2:12:35] with state highway

[2:12:37] to tell them hey, could we

[2:12:39] improve this signalization here

[2:12:41] to have that dedicated turn.

[2:12:42] But

[2:12:45] at least if they don't do it,

[2:12:46] we can make the, you know,

[2:12:47] hard on the ground improvement

[2:12:50] that we can. I think this is

[2:12:51] just. We should be happy

[2:12:55] about this and I'm glad

[2:13:01] to see that we finally taken

[2:13:03] over what should have been done

[2:13:05] a long time and that those

[2:13:07] residents along the corridor

[2:13:09] will receive the same services

[2:13:10] that we receive

[2:13:13] in our neighborhood road. So

[2:13:15] that's all I had to say

[2:13:16] in terms of comment on this.

[2:13:18] And I hope that we can also get

[2:13:20] the remaining segment Queen

[2:13:22] Chapel to Eder because there's

[2:13:25] work to be done there as well.

[2:13:26] >>Thank you.

[2:13:27] >>Thank you, Mr. Har.

[2:13:29] Colleagues. It's been,

[2:13:31] it's been moved and seconded.

[2:13:33] All in favor?

[2:13:34] >>Aye.

[2:13:40] >>Any opposed? Are there any

[2:13:41] extensions? Okay, the ayes have

[2:13:46] it. Mr. Solomon.

[2:13:53] >>Resolution 2025 02,

[2:13:55] Dedication of Parcel 5, a

[2:13:57] recreational facility

[2:13:59] of landing property

[2:14:00] to the city of Heightsville for

[2:14:01] public use. I move that the

[2:14:02] mayor and the city council

[2:14:04] adopt Resolution 2025 02,

[2:14:06] formally dedicating Parcel 5, a

[2:14:09] 20447 AC parcel of which

[2:14:13] includes a recreational

[2:14:16] facility and a. Oh, I'm sorry,

[2:14:21] I read that 86 acre woodland.

[2:14:22] >>I think you're drinking that

[2:14:23] same pain.

[2:14:27] >>Got weird. To be used and

[2:14:29] maintained as a public

[2:14:31] recreational park. So

[2:14:32] for the record,

[2:14:35] that should say a 2.0447 acre

[2:14:36] parcel playground.

[2:14:38] >>Is there a second

[2:14:39] for this?

[2:14:41] >>Second?

[2:14:43] >>Okay, it's been moved

[2:14:44] in second. Mr. Ulysse. Good

[2:14:47] evening Mayor, Council,

[2:14:49] Council, thank you for

[2:14:52] to discuss this today. I want

[2:14:54] to also thank council member

[2:14:56] Wozik and council member

[2:14:58] Redmond for their facilitation

[2:15:00] of conversation regarding this

[2:15:02] of this park as well as the

[2:15:05] other council members who I'm

[2:15:07] sure feel the questions

[2:15:08] regarding the dedication

[2:15:09] of this park was before the

[2:15:10] council and this body December

[2:15:12] 2nd of last year to provide the

[2:15:14] council refresher. This project

[2:15:16] has been a long time in the

[2:15:19] making. I believe this project

[2:15:20] received planning board

[2:15:22] approval back in 2018. And at

[2:15:23] that point the project itself

[2:15:25] was split into two phases.

[2:15:28] This project included the

[2:15:30] construction of 331 single

[2:15:31] family attached townhouses.

[2:15:35] And that project within the

[2:15:37] first phase included

[2:15:40] construction of 200 units as

[2:15:44] well as the parcel V. So I'll

[2:15:47] correct council president

[2:15:48] Solomon actually is council

[2:15:51] parcel V as opposed

[2:15:53] to parcel five

[2:15:56] within that parcel it includes,

[2:15:59] as mentioned in motion, 0.86

[2:16:01] acre of an acre preservation

[2:16:05] area as well as on site

[2:16:08] recreational infrastructure

[2:16:09] which includes master plan

[2:16:11] multi use trail, a straight

[2:16:13] Shaded overlook structure

[2:16:16] with amphitheater seating,

[2:16:18] essentially two shaded

[2:16:20] structures play area which

[2:16:23] includes preschool equipment as

[2:16:25] well as three bike racks,

[2:16:27] two pet waste stations, 16

[2:16:30] benches distributed throughout

[2:16:32] the entire parcel and

[2:16:34] vegetative landscaping as well.

[2:16:37] We initially had essentially as

[2:16:39] a result of the December 2

[2:16:43] council meeting and discussion

[2:16:45] on this,

[2:16:47] we conducted a first inspection

[2:16:49] on January 30.

[2:16:51] In that inspection we were able

[2:16:54] to produce short punch list of

[2:16:56] items which include central

[2:16:59] remediation of deadwood within

[2:17:02] the woodland preservation area,

[2:17:03] repair replace

[2:17:06] of a playground spinner, looks

[2:17:07] like they had some loose pieces

[2:17:10] and maybe some broken pieces

[2:17:12] at the bottom of it as well as

[2:17:14] repair and replace a mirror

[2:17:15] panel also

[2:17:17] on the playground looks

[2:17:21] like it had small imperfections

[2:17:22] on there that needs

[2:17:23] to be replaced as well. Result

[2:17:25] of the December meeting also

[2:17:27] allowed me

[2:17:28] to provide presentation

[2:17:30] to our Youth Advisory

[2:17:31] committee. This project itself

[2:17:33] is adjacent to Northwestern

[2:17:36] High School where we've had a

[2:17:38] lot of discussions regarding

[2:17:40] how the high school and

[2:17:43] students as well as community

[2:17:44] can collaborate and work

[2:17:47] together throughout the school

[2:17:49] year. So we were able

[2:17:51] to provide the youth Advisory

[2:17:52] Committee with a presentation

[2:17:54] regarding the dedication of

[2:17:56] this park parcel. I'll

[2:17:57] reiterate as well,

[2:17:58] this parcel as a result of this

[2:18:00] development project is not an

[2:18:01] obligation or the council has

[2:18:03] no obligation to accept. But it

[2:18:05] was discussed and I believe

[2:18:07] there is a certain desire

[2:18:09] to move forward

[2:18:10] with the acceptance

[2:18:11] of this.

[2:18:12] >>The Youth Advisory Council

[2:18:13] provides comments as.

[2:18:14] >>Well where

[2:18:16] in general they are in support

[2:18:17] in support of accepting this

[2:18:18] parcel and playground. They

[2:18:20] provided comments

[2:18:21] on conditions that they would

[2:18:25] like

[2:18:27] to see such as a four foot

[2:18:29] fence around the perimeter

[2:18:31] of the playground equipment,

[2:18:32] continued conversations

[2:18:34] with the PG County Public

[2:18:35] school system regarding a

[2:18:37] pedestrian pathway and

[2:18:40] essentially some reinforced

[2:18:41] fencing

[2:18:43] around the parcel area as well.

[2:18:45] Through our review and

[2:18:48] through the initial after the

[2:18:50] initial inspection and punch

[2:18:52] list items which are amenable

[2:18:55] by the developer and has agreed

[2:18:56] to provide either replace and

[2:19:00] or repair the broken material

[2:19:03] infrastructure as well as

[2:19:05] to take care of and complete

[2:19:07] the remedial work associated

[2:19:09] with the woodland preservation

[2:19:12] area. So we have come to a

[2:19:14] point now where we've produced

[2:19:16] a punch list item punch list of

[2:19:19] items that the developer has

[2:19:20] agreed to to complete. So it's

[2:19:22] before the council now to.

[2:19:24] >>See if there's a desire

[2:19:25] to move.

[2:19:27] >>Forward with dedication

[2:19:28] through and via resolution.

[2:19:30] Thank you. Ms. Riddle, do you

[2:19:33] want

[2:19:34] to add anything?

[2:19:38] >>Thank you Mayor Crosline.

[2:19:40] Thank you Jeff. We staff is

[2:19:42] in support of this. I think it

[2:19:44] provides an amenity

[2:19:46] on that side of the city of

[2:19:48] Hyattsville that we do not

[2:19:49] have. It's a well constructed

[2:19:53] Park. We have done multiple

[2:19:55] inspections. I think we've

[2:19:57] accommodated

[2:19:59] for the upcoming budget

[2:20:01] for this park,

[2:20:02] so we've done that again,

[2:20:05] I think this is a very well

[2:20:07] constructed, lovely amenity

[2:20:10] for this area of the city of

[2:20:11] Hyattsville.

[2:20:13] >>Thank you, colleagues. Any

[2:20:17] questions? Comments? Going

[2:20:26] once, Going twice. Thank you so

[2:20:28] much. Okay, it's been moved.

[2:20:29] It's been seconded. All

[2:20:32] in favor? Aye. Aye.

[2:20:33] >>Aye.

[2:20:35] >>Opposed? Abstentions? Seeing

[2:20:40] none. The ayes have it. Okay,

[2:20:42] we are down

[2:20:44] to council dialogue. Anyone

[2:20:45] have anything they want

[2:20:46] to want to address or say

[2:20:47] to the community,

[2:20:48] this is the time. Raise your

[2:20:50] hand. Mr. Dennis. Thank you,

[2:20:53] Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to

[2:20:55] remind everyone that the most

[2:21:00] dangerous thing we do

[2:21:02] on a daily basis is get

[2:21:03] behind a car, get

[2:21:04] behind a wheel and drive a car.

[2:21:07] While we're doing that,

[2:21:08] we should avoid engaging in

[2:21:12] activities that would otherwise

[2:21:13] distract us from the very real

[2:21:15] responsibility that we need

[2:21:18] to take, that we take

[2:21:22] by getting behind the wheel and

[2:21:24] operating a vehicle. And I just

[2:21:29] really stress that it's much

[2:21:33] better to arrive somewhere a

[2:21:35] little bit late than to take a

[2:21:42] call or use your phone while

[2:21:48] driving. It's an unnecessary

[2:21:53] risk, and it still boggles my

[2:21:54] mind that people. People

[2:21:57] continue to take that risk,

[2:21:58] put themselves, their loved

[2:22:00] ones, and other people

[2:22:04] on the street

[2:22:06] at risk regularly. Thank you.

[2:22:12] Thank you, Mr. Dennis. Mr.

[2:22:13] Redmond. Thank you, sir.

[2:22:16] For those. I think, you know,

[2:22:18] we're entering the budget

[2:22:20] season, and thank you

[2:22:21] in advance for residents

[2:22:22] for speaking out, out, getting

[2:22:24] engaged, asking questions. One

[2:22:26] of the things that we. I was

[2:22:29] always trained at work was if

[2:22:31] you offer feedback, think three

[2:22:32] things.

[2:22:34] >>That makes it useful,

[2:22:35] making it timely.

[2:22:36] >>Making it actionable,

[2:22:37] making it accurate. As we

[2:22:39] engage

[2:22:40] in these conversations. As a

[2:22:41] community, I invite and I.

[2:22:43] >>Even challenge residents when

[2:22:45] offering feedback.

[2:22:47] >>You know, help us, help us

[2:22:50] better.

[2:22:51] >>Understand what it is you

[2:22:52] want to see more

[2:22:53] of or less of. Saying cut the

[2:22:55] budget or making it balanced,

[2:22:57] sure. We will work towards

[2:22:59] that.

[2:23:00] >>If there's something you want

[2:23:01] to see.

[2:23:02] >>More or less of, tell us

[2:23:03] that,

[2:23:04] too.

[2:23:05] >>I think that's the piece

[2:23:06] that, you.

[2:23:07] >>Know, will really be helpful

[2:23:08] as we move forward.

[2:23:09] >>If there are programs you

[2:23:10] want us.

[2:23:11] >>To reinvest in or invest

[2:23:12] more, that's great.

[2:23:13] >>We want to hear it.

[2:23:14] Obviously, if there are

[2:23:15] programs you feel.

[2:23:16] >>Aren'T you necessarily as

[2:23:17] useful? We

[2:23:18] like that feedback as well. So

[2:23:19] I invite residents,

[2:23:20] when giving this.

[2:23:22] >>Feedback to us, tell us a

[2:23:23] little more than just cut the

[2:23:25] budget or make it balanced.

[2:23:30] Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

[2:23:31] Van. Mr. Shadley?

[2:23:36] >>Yes, thank you. A couple

[2:23:37] of comments. I'll go. I'll lead

[2:23:41] with budget because that's what

[2:23:44] was just brought up. You know,

[2:23:47] there are a lot of concerns

[2:23:51] with budget and we do,

[2:23:53] there are there is cause

[2:23:57] for concern with budget. I do

[2:23:59] think that it's good that we

[2:24:00] are setting up this audit

[2:24:01] committee. I do think that will

[2:24:02] be kind of inject some kind

[2:24:03] of closer attention

[2:24:05] into the matter.

[2:24:08] But I think the you know,

[2:24:11] I've said this on the dais

[2:24:13] before and I've said it to city

[2:24:16] administrator and city

[2:24:18] treasurer and really everybody,

[2:24:21] that one of our big problems

[2:24:23] in my estimate with the budget

[2:24:25] is that we never come close

[2:24:30] to spending what we budget.

[2:24:34] And so we're projecting

[2:24:38] expenditures that exceed

[2:24:40] revenues by significant amounts

[2:24:43] and that doesn't materialize.

[2:24:47] And I think a consequence of

[2:24:49] that is that we don't have a

[2:24:50] real accurate budget or idea

[2:24:52] of what we're really going

[2:24:55] to spend. And it strikes me

[2:24:58] that other jurisdictions may be

[2:25:00] more accurate in forecasting

[2:25:02] what they're spending

[2:25:03] in a given year. So our

[2:25:06] treasurer has said that he's

[2:25:10] going to work on maybe giving

[2:25:11] us a more accurate and maybe

[2:25:13] this comes down

[2:25:15] to all department heads, too,

[2:25:16] and what that budget looks

[2:25:17] like,

[2:25:18] but a more accurate reflection

[2:25:20] of what our expenditures will

[2:25:24] be at the time that we're

[2:25:25] in the budget cycle. The other

[2:25:29] point or the other announcement

[2:25:31] I wanted to make March 1, 4

[2:25:35] to 6pm at the Mennonite

[2:25:39] Hyattsville Mennonite Church.

[2:25:44] We're going to be screening a

[2:25:48] documentary film on the push

[2:25:50] for rent stabilization

[2:25:52] at the county level. And then

[2:25:54] we're going

[2:25:56] to have a discussion

[2:25:58] with panelists, including

[2:26:01] myself, on rent stabilization

[2:26:03] in Hyattsville and next steps

[2:26:07] to Knyatville. So of course,

[2:26:08] council members, city staff,

[2:26:11] you all be getting an invite

[2:26:14] from me. If you hadn't heard

[2:26:15] about it,

[2:26:16] you're hearing it now. You'll

[2:26:17] probably hear more

[2:26:18] about it. I encourage you

[2:26:20] to come. It'll be shared,

[2:26:21] probably community table and.

[2:26:22] >>It'Ll be.

[2:26:25] >>East West Highway, 4 to 6pm

[2:26:28] March 1.

[2:26:29] >>Thank you. Ms. Wasa.

[2:26:35] >>Yeah, Mr. Shively fell off.

[2:26:39] Okay. So I wanted to ask if we

[2:26:42] could focus a little bit more

[2:26:45] on the upcoming council meeting

[2:26:46] that is

[2:26:48] about budget priorities. And I

[2:26:49] know this is normally council

[2:26:51] dialogue when council talks,

[2:26:53] but I wondered if I could ask

[2:26:58] either our city administrator

[2:27:00] or deputy city administrator to

[2:27:03] describe again the format that

[2:27:05] that meeting will take

[2:27:07] to encourage residents

[2:27:08] to attend,

[2:27:09] because we've been getting a

[2:27:11] lot of inquiries

[2:27:12] in our email and live

[2:27:14] on the street when we go out

[2:27:16] grocery shopping and such

[2:27:18] asking us about budget. So I

[2:27:20] wondered if you could just

[2:27:22] Tell us again,

[2:27:24] what will that meeting look

[2:27:25] like if a resident were

[2:27:26] to show up?

[2:27:27] >>Well, to be honest

[2:27:29] with you, Ms. Walsack, this is

[2:27:30] council dialogue. I'll allow

[2:27:32] Ms. Douglas, if she. If she

[2:27:34] wants to give us the answer to

[2:27:35] that.

[2:27:38] >>Yes. I don't know if Laura is

[2:27:40] still on. She has. Who is going

[2:27:42] to speak. Speak each night. So

[2:27:44] I don't have that in front

[2:27:46] of me, but essentially this

[2:27:48] will be similar to the format

[2:27:49] that we did last time,

[2:27:50] which is a roundtable format.

[2:27:52] The feedback that we got from

[2:27:54] the council was that it was too

[2:27:56] much in one night. So,

[2:27:57] for instance, you spend time

[2:27:59] with DPW and then you spend

[2:28:00] time with police, Community

[2:28:03] Services, and it was just

[2:28:04] taking too long to try

[2:28:05] to ask all the questions,

[2:28:06] particularly as we had a lot

[2:28:08] of new people

[2:28:09] at that first one that we did,

[2:28:11] new council members. So this

[2:28:13] time we're dividing the staff

[2:28:16] up so that DPW and police will

[2:28:18] be on two separate nights and

[2:28:20] they'll be at a table. And so

[2:28:22] they will just talk

[2:28:23] about the priorities, the

[2:28:25] things that they are currently

[2:28:26] working on,

[2:28:27] the things that are projected

[2:28:29] to be or projected for FY26,

[2:28:33] and the goals and objectives

[2:28:35] of the department. So it's just

[2:28:37] an opportunity

[2:28:39] to ask a little more,

[2:28:40] a few more questions up,

[2:28:41] up close and personal

[2:28:42] for the council. If residents

[2:28:44] attend that meeting,

[2:28:45] typically they are observing,

[2:28:48] so they're not in the position

[2:28:51] to ask the questions, but they

[2:28:52] can sit and observe and take

[2:28:55] notes. Laura, I don't recall

[2:28:57] the dates and who's

[2:28:58] on which date. I know Laura is

[2:29:00] working those details.

[2:29:01] >>Yeah. So we have two budget

[2:29:05] roundtable meetings. So the

[2:29:07] first will be on Monday,

[2:29:09] February 24, and the way that

[2:29:11] we've split it up that night,

[2:29:12] we will have dpw,

[2:29:14] but DPW focused

[2:29:15] on operations. So we're

[2:29:16] actually splitting DPW

[2:29:17] on two different nights,

[2:29:19] operations one night and then

[2:29:20] projects the other night, just

[2:29:21] to allow ample time

[2:29:23] for conversation there. So that

[2:29:26] Monday we'll have DPW

[2:29:28] Operations, Community

[2:29:29] Services, Clerk Election and

[2:29:30] Council Communications,

[2:29:32] Finance and Parking. So there

[2:29:36] will be the director for each

[2:29:37] of those departments, along

[2:29:38] with one or two

[2:29:39] of their employees able

[2:29:41] to speak to, you know,

[2:29:43] what they're planning for, the

[2:29:44] budget,

[2:29:46] the projects that they have

[2:29:47] on their plate, all

[2:29:48] of that kind of stuff. And then

[2:29:50] on Wednesday, February 26, we

[2:29:51] have the DPW projects

[2:29:52] on that night, the Police

[2:29:55] Department, Community Business

[2:29:57] and Economic Development, HR

[2:29:58] and the Administration

[2:30:00] Department.

[2:30:01] >>Thanks, Laura. So would it be

[2:30:02] possible for you

[2:30:04] to add those departments to the

[2:30:05] page that's called

[2:30:10] hyattsville.org 922finance so

[2:30:13] that people can look

[2:30:15] on there and kind

[2:30:16] of see which departments are on

[2:30:18] which night so that they can

[2:30:20] decide if they have to come

[2:30:22] to just one of those,

[2:30:24] which night they would like to

[2:30:25] come.

[2:30:26] >>We sure can.

[2:30:27] >>Thank you very much. Yeah,

[2:30:28] and I'm just looking forward to

[2:30:29] seeing people there because

[2:30:30] again, like council member

[2:30:31] Redmond said,

[2:30:33] it would be great to hear

[2:30:34] specifically what people are

[2:30:35] interested in prioritizing

[2:30:36] because as we know, a budget is

[2:30:37] a priority setting document.

[2:30:38] It's a strategic plan

[2:30:41] with numbers in it. So we

[2:30:42] really need

[2:30:44] to know what people want us

[2:30:45] to focus on and what people do

[2:30:46] not want us

[2:30:48] to focus on. I also wanted to

[2:30:50] acknowledge the young people

[2:30:52] who are working with waba,

[2:30:54] the Washington association of

[2:30:56] Bicyclists, to advocate

[2:30:58] for bike racks at

[2:31:00] Northwestern. The Youth

[2:31:01] Advisory Council is really

[2:31:03] interested in working

[2:31:04] with the WABA youth to try

[2:31:06] to get bike racks at

[2:31:08] Northwestern. If you can

[2:31:09] believe it,

[2:31:10] we have a high school

[2:31:11] with no bike racks. So there

[2:31:14] are high schoolers who are

[2:31:16] bravely riding their bikes

[2:31:17] for school and locking them

[2:31:18] to fence posts, poles and

[2:31:20] fences,

[2:31:23] and they don't feel very secure

[2:31:24] about where they're parking

[2:31:26] their bikes. So they would

[2:31:28] really like if the adults could

[2:31:29] get together and find a way,

[2:31:33] you know, from the city, pgcps,

[2:31:34] Northwestern, the county, and

[2:31:38] any community organizations

[2:31:40] that are interested

[2:31:41] in getting some bike racks put

[2:31:43] at the high school. So I just

[2:31:45] wanted to acknowledge Dan

[2:31:47] Barron, a resident who brought

[2:31:49] this to our attention because

[2:31:50] he heard the young people

[2:31:52] talking about it. And I wanted

[2:31:53] to acknowledge the Youth

[2:31:54] Advisory Council members

[2:31:56] for kind

[2:31:57] of putting an exclamation point

[2:31:58] at the end of that request.

[2:32:00] They do, in fact, see a need

[2:32:01] for safer,

[2:32:02] more secure bike parking. They

[2:32:03] do see a need for that parking

[2:32:04] to be in a centrally

[2:32:06] conveniently located spot or

[2:32:09] spots on campus so that they

[2:32:12] can get quickly to class. And

[2:32:14] in addition to that,

[2:32:16] I know we talked a lot about

[2:32:17] road maintenance and road

[2:32:18] projects tonight. They would

[2:32:19] like to see better bike

[2:32:21] infrastructure near their

[2:32:22] school and a better speed limit

[2:32:24] similar to what they have over

[2:32:25] by the College Park Academy.

[2:32:27] If you have not been

[2:32:29] over there in Riverdale park,

[2:32:32] please take some time

[2:32:34] to walk, bike or drive over

[2:32:35] by College Park Academy and see

[2:32:37] the incredible walking and

[2:32:39] biking infrastructure and the

[2:32:41] livable speed limit that they

[2:32:42] have set over there. It really

[2:32:44] is encouraging young people

[2:32:45] to walk and bike

[2:32:46] to school.

[2:32:48] >>Thanks, Ms. Wasa. You know,

[2:32:51] it might be an interesting

[2:32:55] thing that when the, when the

[2:32:57] committee comes together and

[2:32:58] they have have thoughts

[2:32:59] like this, that they can

[2:33:00] actually make a presentation

[2:33:01] to the council

[2:33:02] at some point.

[2:33:03] >>Yes, that would be great.

[2:33:04] >>Mr. Salman, thank you.

[2:33:06] >>I just, I wanted to. I didn't

[2:33:09] get a chance

[2:33:10] to say thank you to. To

[2:33:11] Officer Hernandez. Her

[2:33:14] accomplishments were mentioned

[2:33:15] earlier. I. I felt

[2:33:16] like we should

[2:33:17] at least recognize her

[2:33:18] on the dayas. But also I want

[2:33:20] to say thank you to Lisa

[2:33:22] Walker, Hap and the Girl

[2:33:25] Scouts who dropped off.

[2:33:27] >>You got your cookies. We

[2:33:28] can't see it.

[2:33:30] >>Yes, there we go. I gotta

[2:33:31] shake it up. It's AI.

[2:33:32] >>It goes.

[2:33:33] >>It goes.

[2:33:35] >>Google campaign.

[2:33:36] >>They dropped off Valentine's

[2:33:39] treats for the council

[2:33:40] at the city building. So if you

[2:33:42] haven't stopped by

[2:33:43] to get yours, I'd say get it.

[2:33:44] This was my dinner tonight as I

[2:33:45] sat

[2:33:46] through the council meeting,

[2:33:47] so it did go to great use.

[2:33:49] But thank you for thinking

[2:33:50] of us this Valentine's day.

[2:33:52] >>Very good, Ms. Drop.

[2:33:55] >>Thank you. So I wanted

[2:33:57] to thank all

[2:33:58] of the residents who reached

[2:34:01] out to inquire or to apply

[2:34:02] to the audit committee. So

[2:34:05] hopefully those applications

[2:34:07] are rolling in. I can't wait

[2:34:09] to read all

[2:34:10] of them.

[2:34:11] >>So.

[2:34:12] >>Gotten a lot

[2:34:13] of calls and emails. So

[2:34:14] hopefully we'll be getting that

[2:34:15] committee off the ground soon

[2:34:16] since that term 2023 audit is

[2:34:18] imminent.

[2:34:20] >>So I don't think I've ever

[2:34:22] been so excited for such a big

[2:34:23] document.

[2:34:24] >>That I had to read with so

[2:34:25] many numbers.

[2:34:27] >>But there, there we are.

[2:34:30] >>That's my boring midlife

[2:34:33] right now. But anyway, so,

[2:34:34] yeah, thank you everybody for,

[2:34:36] for being so involved and I do

[2:34:38] really hope that we get

[2:34:40] residents coming

[2:34:41] to those sessions at,

[2:34:42] on the 24th and the 26th

[2:34:44] at 7pm to, you know,

[2:34:46] to help us through this, this

[2:34:48] budget process.

[2:34:49] >>So that's all.

[2:34:50] >>Thank you.

[2:34:51] >>Thank you, Ms. Treb. Mr.

[2:34:52] Harbor.

[2:34:55] >>Yes, thank you. I'm going

[2:34:56] to start

[2:34:57] by saying the same thing

[2:34:58] Consul Member Salman said

[2:35:00] earlier. Thank you, Ms.

[2:35:01] Walker. And the Girl Scout for

[2:35:03] the cookies. I have not pick up

[2:35:05] mine yet,

[2:35:07] but don't eat cookies

[2:35:08] for dinner. Okay, you can have

[2:35:10] them for this. So

[2:35:12] on a serious note,

[2:35:16] I heard a lot of comments

[2:35:17] about budget. Yes, we need

[2:35:18] to work on that. We need

[2:35:20] to be realistic. The one thing

[2:35:22] I can say, you know,

[2:35:24] probably I heard Council

[2:35:27] Member Shabli's comment. I

[2:35:30] wouldn't say that it's the

[2:35:33] Treasury's fault that we don't

[2:35:34] get the numbers accurate

[2:35:36] because most of the time what

[2:35:37] the treasurer is doing is

[2:35:39] plugging in things. So what I

[2:35:40] will do here is just kind of

[2:35:42] like invite our department

[2:35:45] to really focus

[2:35:46] on what they can chew on

[2:35:48] because I have the feeling that

[2:35:51] sometimes we plan for a lot of

[2:35:53] projects and we don't have the

[2:35:54] manpower

[2:35:56] to execute those projects. So

[2:35:58] be realistic as you identify

[2:36:00] your priorities. And that also

[2:36:02] goes to us council members.

[2:36:06] Let's be honest

[2:36:08] with our proposal,

[2:36:09] with things that we want staff

[2:36:11] to work on and really see. Can

[2:36:13] all of these be accomplished

[2:36:16] within the next 12 months?

[2:36:18] Considering existing projects

[2:36:20] that are already there,

[2:36:21] maybe this could be the year

[2:36:24] to kind of like have a freeze

[2:36:27] on new project and just try

[2:36:29] to see what we can do

[2:36:31] to clear the existing backlog

[2:36:34] of project. Let's think

[2:36:37] about that. Aside from that,

[2:36:39] let's continue to stand with

[2:36:42] our neighbors who might be

[2:36:45] experiencing difficult times,

[2:36:47] job related,

[2:36:49] immigration status related. We

[2:36:52] are a caring community. Let's

[2:36:54] make sure that everything,

[2:36:57] everyone is welcome here and

[2:36:59] then we stand with them. Thank

[2:37:00] you.

[2:37:02] >>Thank you, Mr. Harbour. And I

[2:37:04] would like to thank all

[2:37:08] of you and especially our staff

[2:37:09] for the amazing work that you

[2:37:10] do day in and day out

[2:37:13] for our city. And I want

[2:37:15] to just like Ms. Strapp just

[2:37:18] mentioned, encourage everyone

[2:37:21] to come on the 20, 24th and the

[2:37:23] 26th to hear how their money

[2:37:25] has actually been being spent

[2:37:27] and what the projects are that

[2:37:30] they're being spent on. And

[2:37:31] like Mr. Harbour just

[2:37:33] mentioned, you know,

[2:37:35] there are. We have some tough

[2:37:36] things going on

[2:37:38] in our country right now,

[2:37:39] and we're going to probably

[2:37:40] experience some tough times

[2:37:41] in the near future. So it's a

[2:37:43] time for us understanding,

[2:37:46] but not grandstanding. Okay?

[2:37:49] So let's all just do what we

[2:37:51] can to understand how things go

[2:37:53] and understand how each other

[2:37:54] think. And we work together

[2:37:56] with our community. So thank

[2:37:58] you very much. Can I get a

[2:38:00] motion to adjourn, please?

[2:38:01] >>Don't move.

[2:38:02] >>Second.

[2:38:04] >>It's been moved. It's been

[2:38:05] seconded. All in favor?

[2:38:07] Anybody opposed to this? Are

[2:38:12] there any extensions? Okay.

[2:38:15] Good night. Hyattsville.

City Council on 2025-02-18 7:00 PM - Regular Council Meeting

Agenda

Transcript