>>[ NO AUDIO ]
>>[ ROLL CALL ]
>>Mayor, you have a quorum.
>>Thank you, Mr. Grin and
Diet. Okay, folks,
let's do the Pledge of
Allegiance all together. I
pledge allegiance
to the flag.>> And to the
Republic
for which it stands.
>>Under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice
for all.
>>Thank you. Can I get a motion
to approve the agenda,please?
>>Second.
>>It's been moved and seconded.
All in favor?
>>Aye.
>>Any opposed? Any extensions?
The ayes have it. Okay, public
comment.
>>We'll go to the attendees.
If you have a public comment,
please use the raised hand
feature now. You will have two
minutes to speak. Please state
your name and the ward you live
in right now. First, we'll go
to Michael Borman. Michael, you
should be able
to unmute yourself. There it
is.
>>Good evening. My name is
Michael Gorman. I live in Ward
5. First of all, I want
to just begin
by saying a thank you to the
mayor and the council and the
city staff. These are,
I guess you could say, kind
of crazy times. And I'm happy
to give a shout out
for government service. Now,
what I'd like
to say today is pretty simple.
Please, please, let's run a
balanced budget going forward.
And when I say balanced budget,
I mean balanced, not
by dipping into the city
savings accounts. I realize
that's not the proper
accounting terminology. The
general fund or all those
accounts that we set aside
to have money just in case
something terrible goes on.
Dipping
into that is not what I mean
by running a balanced budget.
And also not
by raising taxes. We're already
paying a lot of taxes. I don't
think it should be necessary
to raise taxes. Now, I do
realize that a lot of planned
expenditures can't be backed
down from now, and that that
probably means that some
of the things we'd really like
to do even more than the
planned expenditures will have
to not do them because you
can't back down from these
planned expenditures. So I
don't know,
maybe we won't be able
to do as nice a spruce up of
Driscoll park as we would like.
But I think it's very important
to run a proper balanced budget
going forward. And I. Yeah. So
that's all I have to say. And
thanks again to all of you
for all you do.
>>Next, we'll go to Michael
Bonds. Michael, you should be
able
to unmute yourself.
>>Okay. Can you hear me?
>>Yes, we can.
>>Awesome. Good evening,
mayor and council members. My
name is Mike Bonds. I live in
Ward 3 on Carnaby Street. So
to just echo some of what the
previous gentleman said,
I understand that for the last
year and then especially
with budget season approaching,
there's been a lot of scrutiny
regarding our finances
from the public. And
of course,
I also understand that
with all the changes
down the street with the
federal government and then all
the budget shortfalls we have
above us
at the state level and
at the county level,
it might be trickier this year
of budgeting. But
like you said,
I do believe that Hyattsville
should commit
to passing a budget for FY26
that doesn't draw so heavily,
heavily on the carryover money
from the general fund as we
have in the previous years.
But we also need
to just commit to having those
deep conversations that we need
to about whether we need the
things that are in this budget
and future budgets, like,
does it really meet our needs
to have a huge upgrade
to a new park,
or might it just be better
to do some small,
meaningful improvements
to what we have? And also,
I would say we need to commit
to maximizing transparency,
break out as many line items in
our budget as we possibly can
so we know exactly where our
money is going and possibly
even be innovative by releasing
some raw budget data, like a
spreadsheet or a CSV file or
something like that. So if we
are interested as residents,
we can do our own analyses
of this data instead of having
to look for a budget book. And
the data is, like,
unselectable. And if you look
at, like, our neighbors,
College Park, Greenbelt,
Bowie, they seem
to have no issues doing a lot
of things that we've seen
to be struggling with. And I
don't think there's any reason
we can't do what they do
at least as well as they do,
if not better. So thank you
for your time.
>>Next we'll go to Melissa
Schweizger. Melissa, you should
be able to unmute yourself.
>>Good evening,
mayor and council and staff.
Thanks, as always,
for being here. Really
appreciate you 100%. Echo the
previous two comments
about fiscal realism. We can't
keep spending
beyond our budget. Wanted
to speak very quickly
on HCC244,241 and 247. Those
are the things you're looking
at about AI. I'm transferring
208 and the Landry property.
I'm not going to comment
on whether I agree
with these or not,
but I'm just concerned that
none of these have any fiscal
impact. And two
of these are action items.
You're being asked
for basically
to sign a blank check
on the transfer of 208 and
on the landing property. We
know that the city staff did
have an analysis done. They
identified potential
improvements to 208. They
actually contracted
with a consultant to to cost
out some
of those improvements. So
there's no reason there can't
be a cost there. They've
identified some pilot AI tools.
They've been doing research. I
think you as a council really
deserve
to have a financial estimate,
especially when you're being
asked to approve.
To approve these Items
on the AI HCC 244. I'm glad
to see that the city is looking
at developing guidelines
for AI. It's super important.
But I'm very concerned that
they're proposing to pilot
before they actually develop
the guidelines. And our cities
aren't even using AI. Hello,
Lamppost is AI. Stop sign
cameras by Avio are using AI.
So let's be honest,
we're already using it. And
it's not just a tech issue.
There are major ethical issues.
So I would like to see this
committee called an AI
committee and not just an it.
It's not about a system or a
tool or a technology. It's
about how we as humans use it.
And those ethical issues need
to be front and center. Thanks
so much.
>>Next we'll go to Giovanni
Luca Campelia. You should be
able to unmute yourself. Yes.
Can everyone hear me? Yes, we
can. Perfect. Thank you very
much, Mr. Mayor and Council
members. I wanted just to give
a quick public comment
regarding my zoning variance
request, which is
on the consent agenda
for today's meeting. This is
just a small project that me,
as a resident of Ward Number
2, together
with my wife put forth
to develop the third floor
of our house,
which is an old property on
4100 Hamilton street
at the corner between Hamilton
street and 4131st Avenue I
understand that as part
of the consent agenda,
there is no discussion
for this project. But
in case I wanted
to mention.
>>That, I believe my architect,
Mr. Tom.
>>Hammond, is also available
during this meeting. Again,
thank you very much for the
consideration and I look
forward to hearing from you.
Thanks. Next we'll go to
Daniel Lang. Daniel, you should
be able to unmute yourself.
Good evening and thank you
mayor,
council and city employees
for your dedicated commitment
to our community. My comments
are specifically around the AI
presentation that is today I
reviewed the presentation,
excited that Hyattville is
taking steps towards AI. Just
have a few points of emphasis
and questions or items that I
wish are considered
during the presentation
in the future adoption events.
In reviewing it, exciting that
it still included the phrase
dei. That's a plus. But then
also noted that when we are
working with AI and developing
those tools, we're working with
a tool that not only performs
mechanical processes
but cognitive ones as well.
It's fundamentally different
than other technological
technological advances. And I
see that there's a guardrail
to prohibit use of PII in this.
>>But I do think it needs to.
>>Be even much stronger than
that. Ensuring that the data is
entered is properly stored and
controlled on servers that the
city controls, which may have a
substantial impact to the
budget and a substantial cost
associated with it. And I do
see that there are elements
of self correcting mechanisms,
but we also need to ensure
of regulation
of destructive capabilities
of the tools to make sure that
it is still ethical and fair.
There was a mention
of only using biased data sets,
although I do think it is
rather difficult slash
impossible to come up with a
data set that isn't biased. So
curious what measures will be
put in place to establish
equitable and just decisions.
Myself and another volunteer
at the Hyattsville Library,
Yumiko Joins, are hosting a
computer skills program in
March at the Hyattsville
Library. One
of the sessions we do plan.
To host is around Responsible
Uses of Generative AI. For
anyone who might be interested
in that. Thank you.
>>Next we'll go to Daniel
Broder. Daniel, you should be
able to unmute yourself.
You'll hear me. Yes, we do.
Cool.
>>Good evening, Hyatt's Phil.
Dan Broder, Ward 2 I want
to make a comment about the AI
presentation and I am making
this comment both as a resident
of Hyattsville and as somebody
who works professionally with
AI and is getting his doctorate
in AI. This may do not spend
money on this. This is the
wrong approach to adopting AI
for the municipal government.
There are no guardrails
in place prior
to the procurement of AI. It is
running concurrent
to the procurement. This is the
wrong approach. People's safety
when it comes to their privacy
for particularly data that
might be handled
by the police department needs
to be protected
before any sort
of pilot is put into place.
This does not require spending
money on this project.
Furthermore, if the City of
Hyattsville would need
to stand up equipment to
isolate data storage or
processing that would run
completely contrary to the
city's environmental goals,
data centers are projected
to absorb 9% of total US power
in 2030. Do not do this this
way. If you need
to automate a city service,
there are plenty of free open
source quote unquote AI ways
to do so,
but wide scale adoption of a
buzzword towards privacy
problems that may not need
solving, particularly in an
environment where the city is
losing lots of money,
is a really bad idea.
Finally, just want to shout
out all the Hyattsville
residents who made it out
to the President's Day protest
yesterday and expand Ranked
choice voting in Hyattsville,
please. Thank you.
>>Next we'll go to Cheryl
Aguiar. She'll be able to
unmute yourself.
>>Thank you. Good evening
Council members and Mayor
Crossling.Thank you
for the opportunity
to speak today. I'm Cheryl
Aguilar and I'm here as the
founding director of the Hope
center. For Wellness, a mental
health agency focused on
holistic healing and as a
community partner in the City
of Hyatt Mental Health Program
which was spearheaded here
in these meetings and led by
Councilwoman Schrub and
supported
by the entire council and the
Mayor, so thank you so much.
Now we have In Wellness with
Thrive a program that is really
thriving as a pilot program
in our community.
In recent months, In Wellness
with Thrive has conducted
countless intake sessions
with children,
youth and parents and I get to
hear firsthand the many
stressors affecting their
mental health see. Seeing their
immediate relief upon accessing
free. Bilingual services both
in person and virtually
after weeks months
of searching
for support is a testament
of the program's impact. This
initiative not only provides
critical mental Health services
to the city's most vulnerable
residents who are facing
trauma, anxiety and depression,
but it also offers hope,
healing and a profound sense
of being heard,
seen and understood. In our
Art space programs, young
people have explored and
processed critical issues of
adolescent development such as
identity and self esteem, and
our sessions have supported a
sense
of connection and belonging.
And in our individual therapy
sessions,
our therapists provide vital
one on one and family support
to community members navigating
gun violence, family conflict
and the isolation of feeling
different challenges that have
identified in in today's
political climate access
to mental care is urgent, that
demand is growing and the need
is undeniable. You have already
led the way in this arena,
so thank you for championing
mental health already for the
City of Hyattsville. As the
devastating impact
of federal cuts to Lifeline
programs unfold, your continued
support ensures that children
and families in highest of
income ensure our immigration
status, retirement receive the
care they need and deserve.
Thank you for continuing to
Support this initiative.
>>Next, we have Bradley
Phelps. Bradley, you should be
able
to unmute yourself.
>>Hello, I'm Bradley Phelps
from Ward 2. Thank you, Mayor
and council members
for your time
in public service. My public
comment is
to reiterate concerns raised
by previous public comments
about artificial intelligence
that is not outlined
in the presentation
to be given later tonight. As
the presentation slides point
out, there are risks
to using AI. We also know and
must consider carefully the
known costs of AI. It requires
a large amount of computational
power and therefore a large
amount
of energy and electricity,
often at data centers. Some
estimates claim that ChatGPT
may use one to two orders of
magnitude more electricity than
a conventional Google search.
Additionally, these data
centers frequently consume
large.
>>Amounts of water to cool
their computers.
>>As AI and applications
for AI
for local governments improve,
they will hopefully become more
efficient and tailored,
demanding only what is required
in terms of computational power
and energy for a given task.
But due to its recency
on the public stage and lack
of transparency
within the field,
the city should move forward
under the assumption that AI
uses a lot of power and a lot
of water. In a state where we
1. Import nearly 20%
of our electricity. 2. Are
trying to build
out more renewable energy. 3.
Are trying to retire fossil
fuel electricity generation
sources. 4. Are also trying to
electrify vehicles and
buildings, including in
Hyattsville. We must carefully
interrogate any new demand
source for electricity
in the state, including
at the municipal level.
In short, I ask that the city
and council strongly weigh the
energy, water and other
environmental costs of AI as it
develops a city policy.
Additionally, Hyattsville can
also raise this concern
to the Gov AI Coalition. And
the Gov AI Coalition can push
the AI industry to take energy
and environmental consideration
seriously. Thank you for your
time and consideration.
>>Next we have Gopi Dokai. You
should be able to unmute
yourself.
>>Great.
>>Thank you.
>>Can you all hear me?
>>Yes, we can.
>>Okay. Awesome. Good evening.
My name is Gopi Dokai. Thank
you so much for your time,
council members and mayor and
hearing all of our concerns
out. I'm a resident of Ward 3
in Gateway West. I'm also a
candidate for Ward 3 City
Council
in this election cycle. My
comment is around the park that
is being voted on later
during this meeting. That's
in Gateway west is community.
Currently it's a private park
and I just wanted
to voice my support for this
becoming a city and public park
so that the entire Hyattsville
community can enjoy this. I
know when several
of us were first looking at
Hyattsville as a place
to call Home.
>>We were attracted to the fact
that.
>>The city had a really strong
sustainability plan and a plan
to make it a walkable community
and a place where lots of
different public spaces could
be.
>>Offered for community to
gather.
>>And by making this into a
public park and having it taken
over by the city,
I believe that it can continue
on with this vision. Thank you.
>>Next we go to Tatiana Lubik
Valanovic. You should be able
to unmute yourself.
>>Yes. Hi, good evening, I am
Tatiana Tanya Krubyk Lulanovik
from World5. I hope
to meet you sometime
in person. Right now,
I believe that I'm one
of many residents like we heard
here that are very concerned
about our city budget. So
that's the bottom line. Our
general reserve fund was
depleted
in just last two years from 26
million to 16 million. That's
39% drop. And that has
to stop. And the city council
got email from me with more
percentages that showed that
even we had good revenue
income. Still, the city just
spent much more. And we all
like services. But if we ask
our residents what they pick,
do they pick things. Fiscal
responsibility,
over trimming, servicing,
getting services
under control,
they will pick up probably,
you know, fiscal
responsibility. I hope that
anyone who disagree
with that can tell me. But what
we heard today is that we are
for budget related to AI
presentation that we had today.
The city already started
collecting very expensive
report proposals. There are 20
of them. The report will cost
$50,000. There is no price tag
for AI implementation,
which is very boring,
not even broad assessment. So I
agree with many other
presenters.
>>Who mentioned other aspects
of AI implementation.
>>But the cost is just too
high. That's it. Thank you for
your attention.
>>Next we have Irene Marsh.
Irene, you should be able
to unmute yourself. Yes.
>>Did that work?
>>Yeah, we hear you. Okay.
>>Okay.
>>I too am very concerned about
our budget and the way we have
been failing
to meet deadlines related
to audits.
>>And so forth, and just paying
money.
>>For one consultation
after another. All this money
going out there and then the
prospective expenses
of doing AI, which we may not
benefit from very.
>>Much, and just that we are
spending.
>>Money we do not have. And if
I did this with my money,
I would be living
on the street.
>> So I hope there will be a
>>Way to cut back on our
expenses.
>>And not run up more and more
debts. Thank you.
>>Okay, go back
to the attendees. If you'd
like to make a comment, please
use the raised hand feature
now. Last call, Mr. Marshall,
you should be able to unmute
yourself.
>>Mayor and council members,
my name Is Marshall.
>>I'm in board four.
>>While I too have budget
concerns, mine are for
different reasons. I am
extremely concerned that in
this.
>>City'S steadfast and hard
position on continuing
to be a sanctuary city,
that it will cost us great sums
of funding and money. And my
concern is if that happens,
that means taxes are going to
go up.
>>My taxes have gone up every
year.
>>Since I've lived here and
they continue
to rise. I cannot continue to
pay more and more tax and the
last thing I want to do is have
a tax increase related
on the position of sanctuary
cities.
>>I cannot. I've never been a
fan of this.
>>City becoming a sanctuary
city. Most of you have been on
the council a while know that
aside from.
>>My personal position,
for the, for the.
>>Good of this entire city,
you have got
to protect the bottom line.
And the way you do that is.
>>By budgeting good,
by budgeting in a very
responsible manner and also by
managing your money well.
>>If you're going to operate
in a form that is going
to cost every taxpayer
in the city more money,
that.
>>Does not work for anyone.
>>It doesn't even work for all
of you. The next thing I want
to talk about has to do
with city staff,
particularly dpw
but the city staff as a whole.
We have had several snow events
and what I've seen personally
in this city is a response that
is heads and shoulders
above other places I've been
in this area. Not only did we
have snow last week on what was
my trash day.
>>But my trash was also
collected and.
>>My snow was plowed.
>>Most places don't get that.
So thank you to the city
for their work. That's all.
>>Last call in the attendees.
If you'd like
to make a comment, please use
the raised hand feature.
Seeing none. That concludes
public comment. Thank you very
much. Mr. Grunendife. Mr. Are
you here?
>>Hello everyone. I am here. I
apologize for jumping
on a little late. We had
another meeting. I'm going to
share my screen if that's okay.
Let me see. Okay. Okay.
>>Can you see that?
>>Can you see that? Yes, that
shared. Okay, great. Okay,
listen, actually
before I begin though,
there was a lot
of discussion on,
on AI and I do want to just
clarify just a few things and I
know that's,
that's a discussion that's
going to come up later and
Laura will add additional
commentary to that, but she and
I attended a conference
at the International City
Managers Association. When we
attended that conference,
we learned that a lot
of municipalities around the
country had been using
generative AI for decision
Making and. And
to gain efficiencies and
to get to do, you know,
evaluate data, data sets. So we
were very interested in that.
Laura volunteered
to take the lead on that and
to come back and try to learn
what other cities are doing.
So I do want to be clear,
we are not investing any money
at this time. We are
in the exploration phase. This
is a part
of us just being transparent
with the community and
with the council. And we just
want to let you know that we
are exploring, we are
benchmarking, we are seeing
what other cities are doing.
We are not
in a place where we're using,
where we're putting any money
and investing any money
into this. We want
to use how. We want to
understand how we can use data,
how we can make more informed
decisions. We know that it is
very important that we do our
due diligence because we are
absolutely sure that there are
risks that may be associated
with this, including security
risk, environmental concerns.
So again, we want
to be transparent. We're
looking into this. We wanted to
let you know that we found that
other cities
across the country are using it
for public safety, traffic
management, service delivery,
urban planning and development,
environmental management,
emergency response. So we saw a
list of things.
>>That other cities were doing.
>>We just said it's time to
explore this and see what it.
Whether or not Laura will talk
about that a little more.
Anytime we invest money,
we have to bring it back
to this council. And we are
very clear about doing it and
very transparent. We come back
to this community council and
we let them know if we've
identified something, we will
tell them the risks associated
with it, if there are any,
and then we will ask
for the funding for this. So
please do not be concerned that
we are moving out,
spending money to do anything
with AI other than explore and
putting in a framework so that
if we do decide,
we will have that work
in place. So I did want
to just clarify that. So I'm
going to start
with the very first slide.
See, is this thing moving? Are
you seeing the next slide?
Something's going wrong here.
Can you see the agenda slide?
>>Yes, yes.
>>Oh, good.
>>Okay,
so let's move it.
>>All right, so this is,
this is how. These are the
areas that we'll cover. All
right, the next one, I do want
to shout
out our police department,
but. And I thank you for those
of you who gave compliments
to the. The staff. Both DPW and
the police have been working
very hard. And
in this particular one,
I do want to just shout out,
many of you saw Kelly
Hernandez, she was
on several news channels. You
can see Fox, Fox 5, 7 News, and
D.C. now we show. We frequently
showcase our officers. And then
they work and the work that
they do on social media and
on our websites and all
of these news outlets. Pick
this particular one up. You
know, Kelly just,
she works very hard, as all
of our officers do, and we are
really, really proud of her.
And the work that she did,
going into a burning car and
rescuing a motorist whose.
Whose legs were
at least thought
to be broken. Not sure how the
outcome of that. Chief, are you
on if there's anything to add
about Kelly?
>>No, ma'am, that's it. The
driver's legs were broken,
but other than that, that's it,
ma'am. Thank you.
>>Very good. All right. Thank
you. So I did want
to just acknowledge that.
Okay. And next, once again,
our police officers were in
Rosa Parks Elementary School
last week doing reading
with the. With the students.
They moved through. They were
there about two hours. We had a
really good time. And the kids,
you could see in that picture
to the far right,
the kids were giving hugs
to the police officers. And
of course, they loved seeing
Lindsey there as well. So just
want to shout
out our officers. Another
program that Sandra and
Shakira sponsored. And Jeff
Ulysse, our interim director
of economic development, and
Sandra were the panelists,
and they talked
to this international group
of visitors. These visitors
come probably twice a year
from different countries.
We've had Asian countries,
Africa all over. This time it
was Middle east and North
Africa. They wanted
to hear examples
of successful partnerships. So
we appreciate Jeff and Sandra
for leading that. Many
of the staff attended. Mayor
Carlton was there as well. And
this particular session,
they want to focus
on human rights, poverty,
financial support,
volunteerism,
and just what we're doing for
youth and countering extremism,
trafficking and violence,
as you can see there. So very
successful meet,
meet and greet. Children and
youth again doing some good
things over there
in the youth center. The drop
in center meets three nights a
week. In this last class, last
week they had a cycling class
from Kristen Fajardo and they
learned all about safe cycling
and other benefits
to cycling. And he raffled two
bikes. So two of our youth who
attended were able to leave
for the afternoon
with new bikes. And last second
to last slide. We've got a few
events coming up. We've got the
taste of black history. That's
going to be this Thursday the
20th. And over in at Flavors
in Ward 3. And we have a
financial literacy session that
is for Youth in grades 6
through 12 who attend school
here in the city of
Hyattsville. So those. Look
for those two events coming up.
And then I'm going
to talk. I'm going
to hand this off to Ron
before I go
through the weekly offerings.
This is just a quick audit
update. We are in. We are
thrilled that we finally got
23 in. So he's got it
in hand. It's pretty thick.
He's going through it and we
should be able to.
To get that thing out of here
within the next two weeks.
Ron, you want
to take this one?
>>Thank you, City
Administrator. Yes, thank you
so, so much. Good evening,
council and citizens. Did I
lose you?
>>No.
>>Okay, great, great. Yes,
Just a quick update. Just kind
of following behind City
Administrator Douglas. Yes. So
I have the final draft of FY23.
>>We are a couple weeks
behind plan schedule to
complete and file.
>>What I didn't take
into consideration, what.
>>I didn't know was the current
outgoing CPA firm staff was
out the first.
>>Two weeks of January.
>>So that pretty much put us
behind a couple weeks.
>>But again, I'm confident that
we can complete FY23 and I get
that submitted to the state,
hopefully within the next.
>>Two weeks or less.
>>As I mentioned before,
as we talked
about previously,
we do have a new firm. We
issued a request
for proposal come back in
November. We selected
Solinskoff and Axel Ride.
>>There will be Axelrod.
>>They will begin working
on FY24. They're going
to be contracted
to complete FY24, 25 and 26. I
anticipate, my hope and
anticipation is that we
complete 23, get 24 completed
by spring and spring,
early spring.
>>And by the time we complete
fiscal.
>>Year 25, 25 is due October
31 by state law and hopefully
by the end of the year, if not
completed.
>>At least close to completion
for FY25.
>>So we're getting there.
Typically you can only get one
audit done a year. But on.
On top
of the other requirements
for the charter, for the.
For the treasurer,
in the process of also crafting
the FY26 budget. So I want
to thank everyone
for their support. We continue.
My staff and I will continue
to put forth the effort
to be transparent and,
and again. And we take all of
the comments very seriously and
we continue to try
to be more. Just try to be
diligent and get all the
financial information due to
this legislative body as
required. Thank you.
>>Yeah. And our new auditing
firm is ready to go, so Ron
said that they're anxious
to get started,
so we're ready as well. Okay,
thanks, Ron. So I'm gonna just
go through weekly offerings.
We've got the seated yoga
class, that's for older adults
and that's every Wednesday
from 10 to 11. And then we also
have the free Zumba class,
that's Wednesdays four
to five. We have winter
creative mind sessions. You can
see the dates here.
But they're starting in
January. They started in
January and they'll go
through March 11th. And then
English sessions are on
Tuesday. Spanish sessions are
Thursdays, same time, 10 to
11, 11:30, rather. Got some
committee meetings coming up.
We've got code compliance on
February 19th this week
tomorrow. Education facilities
task force is this Thursday.
And education advisory
committee meeting is next
Monday the 24th. And then we've
got the cert team, that's
Wednesday, tomorrow evening
right here in the building.
Fields permit meeting. It's
about that time now for people
to start getting information
on getting field permits. Camp
coach in training. That that's
open now for registration. So
for anyone that wants
to sign up. Actually, I think,
Sandra, correct me,
I think it doesn't open
until the 20th. So that's when
they can start signing up,
Correct?
>>Yes, that's actually it will
open the application
on the 20th for the coaches and
then the 20th with also open
spring and summer camps
registration for the little
ones.
>>Perfect. All right,
then we've got Narcan training
this Thursday as well here at
the city building. I mentioned
Taste of Black History. And
then finally Partner Care
Partner support group
on the 21st. And Narcan
training. Narcan training in
Spanish again, that's Friday.
And Parent child dance party
Saturday. This Saturday, Plant
propaganda workshop is Sunday
the 23rd. And lunch and Learn
workshop rec desk, tutorial
for older adults and
for caregivers. And that's
going to be on Monday the 24th.
Okay, I'm going to stop share
and take any questions you may
have for me.
>>Colleagues,
comments or questions. Mr.
Shagla, thank you.
>>I don't need an answer
on this now. I don't expect you
to necessarily have one,
but I just want
to put a plug in. I've heard
from several constituents
asking about the status of the
parade and if and when we may
bring that parade back. Desire
to have it come back. So don't
want to put you on the spot,
but maybe I'm curious to know
too what the long term planning
is related to the parade.
Thank you.
>>Okay, thank you. And yes,
I cannot answer that
at this time. We have had
discussions
on it because there is a lot
of staff time involved
in that. A Lot
of planning and a lot
of coordination. So we have had
discussions about it. I don't
know that we have actually come
to a decision
on whether we'll be able to
bring it back this year or not,
but I do. I will get you an
answer on that after we have
another meeting.
>>All right, does anyone else
have any questions or comments?
Okay. Seeing none. I believe we
have a presentation is
on the.
>>Absolutely. And that will be.
I think Leslie's going
to open that up,
and I believe Hal's going
to present.
>>Good evening,
mayor and council. We are going
to give you an update
on where we are currently
with 3505 moving towards
substantial completion.
Deputy Director Hal Metzler is
here to present this to you.
Hal, are you there?
>>Yes, I am here. All right,
let me share my screen and
we'll get started.
>>Awesome.
>>Thank you.
>>All right. Good evening,
mayor and council. I am here
to give you an update on the
Hyattsville Public Safety
building project. The 3505
Hamilton street adaptive reuse
project,
the new police station. It's
had a number of names
over the years,
but we mostly just call it
3505. So we. Let me move to the
next slide here and just kind
of give everyone a little
background of how we got
to where we are currently. It
started back in 2010 when the
city acquired 3505 Hamilton
street in 2011, there was a
space utilization study that
looked at all of the city's
buildings and kind of, you
know, gave the city a kind
of a plan of how
to move forward with some of
the properties that the city
owned. In May of 2015, the
council passed a motion
to authorize to proceed
on moving 3505. Excuse me.
On moving the Hyattsville
Police Department to 3505
Hamilton Street. From there,
the city hired the city project
manager, which was myself at
the time still the project
manager for this project. And
from here on out,
I know a lot more about what's
going on. I wasn't able
to find a whole lot
of information on some
of the previous background,
but from here out, this is
everything I have worked on.
In the spring of 2016, we
solicited an RFP
for an engineering firm
to design the building, and JMT
was selected as that firm and
approved by the council. In
April of 2016. We did our first
kind of initial concepts of the
building and the project and
how it could work
in that space. Came up
with some initial estimates
for the project, and it was
decided that we needed
to just look at some
of the other options for where
the where the city services
could be relocated. So we did
do an evaluation of additional
locations where the police
department could be relocated
and where the city
administration offices could be
located. We did evaluate
options where they could both
be co located and separate
locations. And we did present
that information to council.
In February of 2017, it was
decided to continue with the
3505 location and the council
again voted in May of 2017
to proceed with this reuse of
3505 Hamilton street
over the next several years.
From between May 2017 and the
spring of 2022, our team was
working on all
of the engineering, the design,
the permitting and the
solicitation of the project,
which was
like many things affected
by the pandemic,
which did put some delays
into the process, especially
the permitting process. We
finally got it out to bid
in the fall of 2021. And
in the spring of 2022, we
selected Whiting Turner as the
best option
for the construction
of the project. They provided
the best value to the city and
the council approved their
contract in. It did take us a
couple months to get a contract
negotiated and was finally
signed in July of 2022 and we
held our groundbreaking in
September of 2022. For those of
you that were there or weren't
there,
just got a quick little video
of our ceremony here
to celebrate the beginning
of the project. I know some of
you could probably see yourself
in the video and we definitely
got a lot
of video and pictures
to share as we go
through closing
out this project here. The
project began construction
shortly after that
groundbreaking and it has
continued continuous
through today. Last year in
2024, we did have to come back
to council first in January
to get authorization
for a change order to combine
the security and it portions
of the project into the
Whiting Turner contract. It was
originally broken out
into multiple vendors and due
to some lessons learned,
we decided it was best
to combine that all under
Whiting Turner to give the city
the best product and best
protection for that work.
Again, we. Once that work was
authorized, we did have
to come back a second time
for some general conditions.
And that general conditions
just covered all these. All the
minor changes
to the project that occur
in this type
of adaptive reuse. There's
always, you know,
unknowns that come up. There
was some additional work that
needed to be done to
accommodate the security and
it. And that was what was
approved in July of 2024.
They've been continuing
to work and I just wanted to
Give everyone a quick update on
the progress and then we'll
talk about the schedule for
going forward. I got a number
of photos here. I'm going
to go through them kind
of quick and just kind of show
everyone where we've been and
where we're. Where we're going
with this. This is the first.
Many of you might remember that
we have this great mural that
was commissioned by the bank
back when the bank was first
opened. We did take this out.
We did have it restored. And
Mr. Igali here, the gentleman
on the left, is the original
artist that painted this
painting. I believe it was
in the 60s. He is still
with us. He did a great job
of working with his team to
clean up and restore this
painting and repair some damage
that was done just over time
and where it was located in
case people never saw it or you
don't remember. This is kind
of what the lobby looked like
when we started the building.
And now you can see we've kept
a lot of these original details
and appearance
in this lobby and wanted
to really kind
of keep that feel going. Just
another quick view of the lobby
here and we're looking at the
area that is now the new
community room for.
For this building. And we feel
this is going
to be a great space. Could be
very similar to the Prangley
Room. It's going to provide a
great meeting room and a great
option for the public
to gather on that side
of the city. We did want
to show this. This room is one
of my favorite rooms. It was
one
of the original bank president.
President's office
with all this great paneling.
And if some of you saw it,
I couldn't find a picture.
But some of the paneling had
just been damaged
over the years. There were a
lot of splits and cracks. And
they did a great job of kind of
restoring the original look and
feel of this space. And this
is. It's going
to be a great room. When you
get to come see it next,
I want to kind of move up
to the third floor. This is
another great change that that
occurred. You can kind of see
on the picture on the.
On the left and then
on the right. The left was what
it kind of looked like. And the
right is the progress
of the demo. We had. They had
built out all these walls,
these kind of knee walls
to there. They are required
by code
to give some head protection
to the ceiling. And the bank
had built them out this way,
which, as you can see, kind
of made it very dark. He had
these
like long little hallways
to get down to the windows.
And we were able
to open those up and you know,
use some, some built
in furniture to, to provide
that head protection. And we
did that everywhere up here on
this third floor and you know,
open the space up,
we got a lot more natural
light, which was one of the,
the very important things.
Buildings. The, the current
department, if you know
about it, half the offices are
closets and storage rooms that
were converted. Many
of them don't have windows.
And you know, for,
for people's mental health,
it's, you know, having access
to sunlight was really
important. And so we were,
we're glad we were able
to kind of open up a lot of
these windows and get a lot
more natural light
into these spaces. Likewise
these pictures here, it looks
like the light is on, but these
are actually solar tubes. So
that is natural sunlight that
is brought in
through a skylight in a series
of reflective tubing
to bring that natural light
into the space. So rooms that
didn't have an exterior window
did get some solar tubes
to kind
of help bring that natural
light into the space. These
next couple slides are just
kind of showing some of the
great improvements that have
been made so that the police
staff can do their job better.
This is the evidence processing
area. If you saw it
in the current station. It's
again basically a converted
closet with a countertop on
some cabinets and an old postal
mailbox that they use
to secure their evidence. Here
now there's room for officers
to process evidence as that
comes in and then put it into
these secure lockers so that
there's a better chain
of evidence
for the evidence that comes in.
And when the officers need
to go to court, they've got a
much better process to document
where the evidence was.
Likewise, we have this great
new space. This space is just
for evidence processing.
Again, they're currently
in a very small,
cramped room that is not
really, wasn't ever really
built as a lab. It was just a
corner of an office that kind
of got converted to a space.
And now we've got an actual lab
that is built
to those particular standards.
Next, I just wanted to kind
of go over our communication
space a little. This is another
great resource for the city.
You know, we, we planned this
new communications room that's
in this suite where there's
offices, there's a break room,
there's lockers,
there's a locker room, there
will be a bathroom so our
communications staff can have
everything they need and be
in their space. So if something
does happen, there's an
emergency, we need
to get folks Back
to their stations in a hurry.
They're not elsewhere
in the building. They're able
to kind of do what they need
to do and stay in their space
for those emergency situations.
This is just
to show you as we build out the
space this far wall here is
going to be our video wall
which will. Right now we have a
couple TVs mounted
on the wall. They do an okay
job, but you know, we're going
to have a video wall built here
so that they can monitor all
the citywide cameras and all
the building cameras. As all
these facilities get completed,
all the cameras from all of the
city's buildings will feed
into this, into this building
and our dispatch staff will be
able to monitor all the cameras
that are, that are
in the city. And then just an
example of the workstations.
These are purpose built
workstations which are a lot
better than the currently kind
of cobbled together desks and
workstations that the staff
have. It will provide a much
more comfortable working
environment
for the dispatchers who are on.
The chief will correct me,
but I believe they're on 12
hour shifts. So we need
to make sure that they can,
you know, work comfortably and
work productively
in these spaces. And that's
what, you know,
these consoles will allow.
It's been a long time
since we've seen this,
but this is what the,
the building used
to look like. For those of you
that might not be familiar or
remember kind of, kind
of what it looked like. It, you
know, they, they, you know,
they had the old 80s style
sign. You know, the, there was
just, you know, some lack
of maintenance that happens
with an older building,
including this giant ramp
in the front that was not up
to current ADA codes. And you
can see here we've got a much
more kind of inviting plaza
to welcome folks in. There'll
be a memorial wall
on the left, the flags. The
ramp is kind of built
into the, into the plaza. So
it's not, you know, just kind
of, you know, sticking out
into the sidewalk. It's, it's
kind of part of the,
the whole landscape. And this
is a really nice, going to be a
really nice welcoming feature
for, for the building. What's
coming up next is that in
March 2025, Whiting Turner is
planning to work
with the county to get our
temporary use and occupancy
permit which will get us to the
substantial completion portion
of the project. Substantial
completion. And the temporary
use and occupancy means that we
can start scheduling things
like installation
of furniture and installation
of the communications
Equipment while Whiting Turner
kind of wraps up some
of the smaller items, some
of the outside items,
the parking lot, things
like that, we're anticipating
by May 2025, we'll be working
on the punch list items. And
that's just all those final
little, you know, repairs, you
know, any, anything that got
nicked or damaged. The walls
get scuffed. That's what the
punch list is for. We have our
inspection and commissioning
teams that will be checking
everything out. They'll make
sure all the outlets work,
they'll make sure the H Vac
system is up and running
properly. And anything that
needs
to be done will be completed
during this punch list phase.
The nice thing is that once we
get to the punch list phase, we
can start scheduling the
occupancy by the Hyattsville
Police Department and start
moving staff over. Once we get
down to this point
of the project. And then
August 2025, we anticipate the
final completion and acceptance
of the project. This date could
be moved up,
but we anticipate that the
August 2025 is kind of the
latest that this will occur.
And once we get
to final completion, Whiting
Turner will be be done
with their, with their work
on the project. They'll turn,
I'll turn all the keys and
everything back over and the
building will be fully ours to,
to occupy and use. So
with that, are there any, any
questions I can answer?
>>Thank you. Mr. Metzl, can you
stop sharing your screen,
please? Thank you. Council
members. Questions? Comments?
Seeing none. Great
presentation, Mr. Metzler.
>>Thank you everybody.
>>Okay, we have another
presentation, Artificial
intelligence.
>>Oh my goodness. I guess
everybody's holding all the
questions for me.
>>Absolutely.
>>That's great.
>>Hands are going up now.
>>Awesome. Let me share my
screen and we'll get started.
Hopefully you can see my
screen. So. Good evening,
mayor and council
of residents. First off,
I just want to thank everybody
for the interest
in this presentation. That is
definitely good to see. So
tonight we're here,
we're going
to take a high level look
at AI, how it's developing in
local government work and what
it could mean for
Hyattsville. As Tracy
mentioned, just
to give you some backstory
on how we got here,
this started for me and Tracy
back at last summer's
Municipal League conference
where AI was just starting
to get serious attention. Fast
forward from there to last
September at the
International City Managers
Conference Tracy and I
attended. AI was just
everywhere, so nearly vendor
every conversation it was
coming up so. And
beyond all that hype, there was
a common theme that also kept
Coming up. So curiosity mixed
with a level of apprehension.
And I want to say that I get
it. AI can absolutely feel
intimidating and there are
definitely real risks
in using it. So the reality is
though, that the technology is
here and it's not going away.
So that is why we think it's
important
to proactively address this use
in our city. So with that,
let's get to it. This is the
agenda that we'll cover
in the presentation. We're
going to first look
at some basics to ensure that
we're speaking the same
language about AI,
common terminology and
functions, and then we'll
review some high level benefits
and risks of AI, as well as
existing guidance and best
practices. Finally, we'll
finish up
with some recommendations for
Heizo. So first up,
the future is now. AI is
rapidly evolving, it's rapidly
expanding. I've seen at least
10 commercials
during the last Super bowl
about AI. And what you'll see
on the next few slides are some
common tools that are
incorporating AI. So Google
search and translate. I don't
even think I turned this on,
but now I get the AI overview
whenever I Google something.
Social media algorithms have
been a thing
for quite some time now. The
Domino's Pizza Chatbot, my kids
love that. So that place orders
with domino pizza now plenty
of smart home devices, Alexa,
all of that stuff. Your live
traffic navigation that is
avoiding you out
of high traffic area,
the face ID on your phone and
Siri. So just a few examples
there. So what exactly is AI?
So just kind
of laying it out. So we have a
common definition here. So it's
technology that mimics human
learning and can complete
tasks, automate processes,
recognize and predict patterns,
solve problems and generate
content. So there's several key
areas
of AI listed here. I'm going
to briefly try and go over them
and I'll try and share a real
world example making it
relatively simple and hopefully
easy to understand each
of these areas. So first off,
machine learning,
that is teaching machines
to learn
from data and improving
over time. So an example
of this is your Netflix
recommendation system. So
Netflix looks
at your watch history, your
viewing patterns and then it
suggests shows and movies that
you might like based on your
previous likes and watches,
natural language processing.
So that's helping machines
understand and respond
to human language. So a good
example
of this one are voice
assistants like Siri or
Alexa. My kids love asking
Alexa first thing
in the morning,
what's the weather today? And
when you're asking Alexa that
processes your speech, it's
understanding what your intent
is with the question, it's
retrieving that weather data
and it's responding
with an answer
in a natural language. Then
there's computer vision,
which is enabling machines to
interpret and analyze visual
images or videos. An example
of that that we've had
for some time now is Google
Photos face recognition,
or if you use Amazon photos,
or if you use iPhone photos,
that face recognition. So that
is where photos can
automatically detect and
categorize people
in your pictures, allowing you
to search for your mom or your
kid's name and find all the
images featuring them, even if
they're taken years apart. And
finally robotics,
which is using AI
to control machines
to perform tasks. So an example
of that are those robot vacuums
that clean your homes. They map
the environment, they detect
obstacles, and they learn good
cleaning paths
over time. I mean,
another good example of that
one I think everybody's
familiar with are the self
driving cars that we hear
about. So when we talk
about AI, there are typically
two types that we're speaking
of. There's predictive AI and
generative AI. So predictive AI
uses previous examples or
system data
to predict those outcomes. So
that example I gave earlier
about your Netflix queue is one
example. Others are your email
filters. So sorting those
messages
into your priority inbox, your
spam, your promotional folders,
those are all based on looking
at previous patterns.
Generative AI or gen AI is
probably the one that you've
heard people talk
about most lately. Genai uses
large language models,
LLMs and machine learning to
analyze data and produce new
content. So that new content
can include text,
images and even audio. So the
most well known example that
you've probably heard of is
ChatGPT,
but there are definitely others
out there. So why do we care
about AI? Let's talk
about it. So let's take a few
minutes just to review the
benefits as well as the risks
and then look
at some use cases
for local government
for benefits. It is definitely
pretty clear that AI
at least has the potential
to be transformative. So AI
tools can help us enhance
efficiencies, improve services,
make those database decisions,
and these tools can encourage
modernization and innovation.
And what we've seen are that
even relatively simple AI
tools, things like the AI.
Oops, sorry, jumped ahead. So
even things
like the AI note taker,
that can really increase
efficiencies, save time and
potentially reduce costs. So I
am someone who spent a good
portion of my career here in
high school writing council
meeting minutes and I can't
imagine what a time saver,
potentially something
like that could be on that. So
staff can focus
on other priorities. What we're
also seeing is that many of the
tools that local governments
are already using are starting
to introduce AI tools
into their existing platforms.
So just a small example
of this one,
although we see more and more
of them every day,
I received an email from Zoom
just the other day introducing
their built
in AI companion tool. So we can
see that the benefits
of AI tools can be significant.
But while we consider them,
we also of course have to look
at the flip side and talk
through some
of the risks as well. So I
definitely want to be clear
here that AI use has risks and
potential ethical implications.
So I've listed out a few
of them here. We'll just kind
of briefly go over them. The
bias and discrimination so AI
models can perpetuate existing
biases in data. So when the
data that's being used
with the AI models is biased,
those biases can also get baked
into the results or decisions
generated by AI, further
perpetuating those biases and
discrimination and causing
further harm. So that is
definitely a significant risk
that there Privacy concerns. A
few people mentioned this
earlier. It's definitely a good
point. The use of ChatGPT is a
good example
of how privacy concerns can
come into play with Gen AI.
When you use Chat, GPT or
similar model,
every text you put
into that model is sent to an
AI system which then processes
that information
to generate the response. So if
you're sharing personal
identifying information when
you're using these tools, there
is a risk that that information
could be stored, analyzed,
or even accessed by humans
on the other side of the model
for training or improvement
purposes. So that is a serious
risk. And we've seen other
local governments kind
of straight out ban the use of
personal identifying
information with those types
of models. Hallucinations. So
those are incorrect or
misleading results generated
by AI. AI doesn't actually
think like a human does. It
just predicts words or patterns
based
on the data it's seen before.
And sometimes when it doesn't
have that right information,
it can fill in those gaps with
either made up or incorrect
answers, but present them
to the users as facts. And so
that's called an AI
hallucination. So one example
we see lots of cities who are
using website chatbots now is
if you ask the website chatbot
who is the mayor of Hyattville
and the AI for whatever reason
didn't have up
to date information on that, it
might just make up a name
admitting that it didn't know.
So the answer seems real,
but it's completely false. So
that is something that can be
dangerous when you're using AI
for public services and
transparency challenges. So
black box problem, what that
is, that is difficulty in
extreme explaining AI
decisions. So that occurs when
you have an AI decision making
process that is so complex
on the inside that it makes it
difficult for an individual
to explain how the model got
to the decision. So we can see
the data input and we can see
the output,
the decision that comes out
of the model,
but we can't see what happens
in between and we can't explain
it. So this lack
of transparency can lead
to a lack of public trust and
of course, frustration. The
last two potential
for overreliance on AI, risk
of reducing oversight. So AI
of course relies on data. It
can be prone
to hallucinations. If we reduce
human oversight and we lose
that human fact checking,
we're setting ourselves up for
more risk there and potentially
harmful decisions. Of course, I
think everybody here has
probably heard concerns
about job displacement because
of AI. These are all valid and
significant risks and things
that we can't overlook as we
consider the use of AI. Okay,
so how are cities using AI? So
I want
to provide a few examples here
of the different ways that
cities are using AI. These are
just a way for us to kind
of get a feel for the landscape
here. I'm not advocating
for any of these tools,
but just a way for us to
consider how some cities are
using them. So
under the umbrella
of public safety,
some cities are using AI
to analyze crime reports,
identify those patterns and
look at those patterns
to focus crime prevention
in their city. Other cities are
using AI for emergency response
optimization, using things
like drones to assist
in search and rescue missions
in order to speed up and
prioritize emergency response.
In the public works arena,
we're seeing AI tools being
used
to plan trash pickup routes, to
provide the shortest and most
time time efficient routes. So
saving you gas,
saving you staff time. And then
there are also tools like smart
street lighting that dims
lighting when no one is around
to save energy and brightens up
when pedestrians or cars pass
by. So then to monitor
for problems
before they become an
emergency.
For resident services,
we're seeing many communities,
as I mentioned earlier,
starting to use AI chatbots
to provide quick answers
to common questions
in multiple languages. We're
also seeing those AI
translation and transcription
tools which can improve meeting
accessibility as well. And
finally listed on here,
some cities are using AI tools
to process and improve permits
as well. So these are just some
of the use cases. I'm sure that
I've just scratched the surface
here. And there's probably a
lot more moving forward
with AI. So let's take a quick
look at what guidance exists,
what resources are available
for Hyatt School and what best
practices that we should
consider as we look towards
developing some guidelines
for our city. So starting
at the Federal level, in
October 2023, President Biden
issued an Executive Order of
Safe, Secure and Trustworthy
Development and Use of AI.
That order directed agencies to
create policies addressing AI
risks and opportunities.
However, in the flurry of
executive orders that we've
seen over the last month,
President Trump revoked that
executive order from 2023 and
rescinded all policies
developed under it. So really
rolling back some would have
been some established
guidelines and safeguards that
were in place. This 2025
executive order directs federal
agencies
to develop an artificial
Intelligence action plan
within 180 days. That 2025
order seems
to be a little bit more focused
on speed, speed and removing
barriers and less focused on
establishing oversight
mechanism. So that's what's
happening right now
at the federal level.
On the state level, I have
to apologize for doing
Maryland wrong here. I
incorrectly stated that there
is no state guidance and that's
just not true. So I will
quickly summarize what's going
on at the state level and when
we post this presentation
on the website, I can
definitely update that info.
So in 2024, January
of last year, Governor Moore
signed an executive order
providing guiding principles
for AI use. Those principles
include fairness, equity,
innovation,
security and transparency.
That order also established an
AI sub cabinet
to develop an AI roadmap
for the state. This roadmap was
published just last month in
January and has been submitted
to the General Assembly. Some
key parts of Maryland's
strategy include ensuring that
state has good data,
foundations,
supporting state agencies in
their experimentation and
possible adoption
of AI technologies, and
significantly training the
state workforce to understand
AI risks and opportunities
beyond the federal and the
state guidance. Looking
at what guidance is out there
for local government, there are
many professional organizations
such as ICMA and NLC that are
stepping up
to also provide access
to trainings and best practices
for local governments. There
are also some cities that have
been at this for a while. So
we've been able
to benchmark and look
at other cities like New
York, Boston, San Jose,
for example,
who have really good AI
policies in place right now.
Taking us back
for just a minute to that city
managers conference I mentioned
that Traci and I attended last
year. One
of the keynote speakers
at the conference was
from the Gov AI Coalition.
The Gov AI Coalition was
started by the City of San
Jose in 2023 with the goal
of creating a network
of local government officials
for the purpose
of sharing knowledge, best
practices,
policies and use cases
for AI and local government.
We just joined this coalition
just the other week and our
membership gives us access
to all of those resources as
well as a seat on the many
committees and work groups that
they have exploring the
responsibilities
of AI and public sector. It's
pretty exciting. I think this
is going
to be a great resource
for the city and as a bonus,
it is also a free resource
for us. So that is fantastic.
In the time that I've been
researching AI, a number of
best practices have come up
again and again. Just looking
as we benchmark and we look at
what other communities we've
seen similar best practices
that keep coming up. So I just
want to take a few minutes as
we consider what this could
look like in Heightsville
to take a look
at what best practices we see
on each one. So adopting a
citywide AI policy or
guidelines, so making sure that
the city establishes clear
guidelines encourage that
innovation and efficiency while
still mitigating those
significant risks. I think it's
really important that we've
seen that the policy has to be
flexible because things are
changing so quickly so it can
be regularly updated
to keep pace
with the advancements
in this area. Protecting
personal data so I mentioned
that earlier, some cities are
prohibiting the use of personal
identifying information. Any
generative AI prompt human
in the loop. So this goes back
to making sure that you have
all content that is generated
by AI reviewed by a human. So a
human doing that fact check and
review
of the content generated. So
that is really treating the
content that AI is generating
as a draft and making sure that
as the person who's generating
that content, you as the person
are always responsible
for that final product.
Promoting public transparency
so making sure that city
policies or guidelines are
published
on the city websites,
disclosing how AI tools are
being used by the city,
requiring disclosure
of AI use. So some cities are
requiring that so that you
provide citations if you've had
AI assist you
in creating work. And then this
last one,
which I thought was really
interesting, was reviewing
contract and vendor use
of AI, because I don't think
that's something that we've
really been thinking much
about here. So, you know,
it's not just the city's use
of AI, but all of the contracts
and vendors that we work with
could potentially be using AI.
And so I think it's important
for us
to take a look and what we see
in the cities that have adopted
these factors. Best practices,
take a look at what their
vendors policies are regarding
AI and potentially including
language in your contracts
with vendors to address AI. We
got a few more to go
through here. Training
employees is obviously really
important. It's incredibly
important,
especially now that this is new
for everybody. So making sure
that everybody has basic AI
literacy, understands data
security, understands the bis,
the benefits and the risks
of AI starting small. So we've
seen this in several
jurisdictions where as they're
kind of dipping their toe
in this area, they're piloting
low risk AI applications first
before scaling up, focusing
on data quality. So bad data
in, bad data out. So ensuring
that data used
with AI is accurate,
unbiased and comprehensive,
promoting equity and inclusion.
So
in cities we see a best
practice
of incorporating equity review
into the process and evaluation
of AI systems. So
to address any potential issues
of bias and addressing and
promoting our core values
of diversity,
equity and inclusion. Engaging
stakeholders, so leaning in
on experts
from other jurisdictions. This
is where I think Gov AI
coalition is going
to be really valuable for us
and making sure that we involve
residents as well as employees
and council members in both
plans and implementation. So
this is one of those steps,
just actually talking
with you guys about AI and then
establishing feedback loops,
so scheduling regular
evaluations, adjustments
to AI guidelines and
adjustments
to systems as well. So those
are all great best practices
that we've seen
in other jurisdictions. Okay,
so we've talked
about benefits, we've talked
about risks, we talked
about guidance and resources.
So now let's take a moment to
just continue consider what a
framework
for implementing AI and Hyatt
spoke could look like. So first
off, starting with kind of
like our mission and goals, I
think it's pretty clear that we
want to encourage AI tools that
can deliver better, more
efficient and equitable
services to our residents. We
know that in order
to use AI we have to develop a
strategy that aligns with the
city's values and our goals and
considers the needs and
expectations of all
of our stakeholders. And we
know that in order
to do this, we have
to create a framework for the
responsible use and ethical use
of AI in order to mitigate all
of those risks. So overall,
the guiding principles mission
for the use of AI in
Hyattsville is that it really
has to be centered
on ethical, responsible,
thoughtful and deliberate
strategy. With that said,
so proposed framework begins
with the establishment
of an internal IT committee.
So this committee is actually
something that we've been
talking about
for a while internally really
in the context of our
procurement policy and not AI
specifically looking at that
to review AI purchases.
But we'd also like to be able
to use this on our departmental
committee because it is so
important to hear from all
of our departments,
departments to meet regularly
to develop guidelines for
Hyattsville. We'd also
like those committee members
to participate in the gov AI
committees and working groups,
conduct needs assessments and
really talking
with our departments,
the people that are working
in our departments, to
determine what departments and
services that we have that
could potentially benefit
from AI tools, evaluate and
recommend AI tools and monitor
those pilot programs. So our
hope is that we plan to have
this commitment committee kick
off
within the next month or so.
At the same time, we've got
to build capacity in our staff
by training them on AI. Last
week, a few of us attended a
virtual ICMA training
on AI and we'll be looking
for additional opportunities
to train staff on that basic AI
literacy as well as more
technical training for those
staff members who are more
directly involved with AI. And
that will just have
to be an ongoing effort
for us. Throughout this
presentation I mentioned the
importance
of data a few times across.
Quality of data is incredibly
important when using AI tools.
So the city recently issued an
RFP for data assessment
analysis. I want
to be clear that the issuance
of this AI, of this RFP
actually wasn't directly
related to AI. Where it came
from was a 2024 council budget
initiative submitted on behalf
of the Race and Equity Task
Force
for a program data analyst
with the goal of increasing
data based decision making
in the city. I listed it here
on this roadmap
for next steps. Just because
the importance of data,
with the respect
for AI tools and the importance
of us to really like refine our
database decision making is,
while not directly tied
to AI, it is so important
to that path
for AI and having AI readiness.
So if we're going
to do anything with AI,
it definitely ties
to data and we need
to have a good handle
on our data. So that RFP was
issued in January
of this year. We just received
all the submissions. There was
a bid opening today and we
anticipate an award for that
in March. Another best practice
that we've mentioned is that we
want to use in Hyattsville is
public transparency. So
ensuring that the public has
transparency into the city's AI
guidance and the use
of AI tools. So
on this front, we plan
to update our website
with information
on the city's use of AI, share
the guidelines when they are
drafted by the IT committee and
provide a public listing of
what AI tools the city is
using. So I put a photo up
on here. It's a great example I
found of a website. It's
Lebanon, New Hampshire. You
can't see it too well
on here. I do encourage you
to check out their website
because I think they're doing a
good job. They very clearly
identify the AI tool,
what departments are using the
tool, the purpose, the
implementation data and their
impact analysis of the tool.
And when they have tools that
they retire,
are no longer using on there,
they very clearly label that
and kind of archive that. So
there is a history on there as
well. I just think it's a great
model for us. In the spirit
of starting small,
which was one of those best
practices that we had, we're
also suggesting that we begin
to pilot low risk AI tools this
spring and summer. Tools that
have limited scope, no impact
on privacy, they're not using
personal identifying
information, they're easy
for the public to understand
what the use cases and what the
benefits are. And these tools
would not be involved
in decision making. So that is
what I mean when I'm talking
low risk. So some tools that
we're currently considering are
AI powered language translation
and transcription and AI
meeting note takers. So I heard
earlier there were a couple
of questions regarding costs
for these programs,
and I'll just kind of lay
out what I know about cost for
these two particular ones right
now. So the cost for AI
language translation is
approximately $12,000 for 100
hours. So what would that
cover? That would cover about
the 60ish hours that we spend
in council meetings every year.
If you can believe it's 60
hours as well as community
meetings and events. The nice
thing about this particular
tool is unused hours roll over
to the following year if we
decide to continue
with the service. And then this
service in particular is
actually potentially a
replacement for our existing
closed captioning services,
which are approximately the
same cost but do not provide
the translation features or the
captioning for community
meetings and events. As far as
costs go
for AI meeting note takers,
those can vary. I mean,
to be honest,
I haven't done much digging
into this right now. I've seen
ranges from $8 to $22 a month
per user, just depending
on the features. So that is
something I think our AI
committee
to tackle and look into.
There's definitely some work
to be done here in terms of
refining what these initial
lower risk AI programs look
like as well as costs
associated with them.
But we hope
to have some tools,
an initial pilot in place
by spring or summer this year.
And of course you Know, a big
part of a pilot is monitoring
and evaluating what the results
are and using that
to inform us as we work
on guidelines. So the last
piece here as we kind of go
through this framework is
drafting and bringing back
forward to council and the
public guidelines for the use
of AI in Heightsville. So right
now I anticipate that this
would come back to council
in the fall or winter. Give the
IT committee a little bit
of time
to get up and running, get some
training and we have time
to dig
into the landscape as a team.
Okay, so that was a lot
of me talking
at you. I just want to close
with an acknowledgment that AI
is going to continue
to integrate in our daily lives
whether we're ready
for it or not. It's here. I
think we'd like to see
Heightsville take a proactive
approach here so we can both
benefit from the technology and
actively mitigate risks as well
as ensuring that our public is
informed on this. So I
definitely appreciate
everybody's time tonight. I'm
happy
to answer any questions. Thank
you.
>>Thank you Ms. Reams,
colleagues, questions,
comments. Mr. Shagri.
>>Thanks. You know we had a lot
of comments
on this and you know,
several concerns raised related
to cost and energy usage. I
thought you know all of those
comments that we heard are,
were insightful. I,
you know I haven't paid for any
artificial intelligence
application use. I find that a
lot of the like Googling and
various things that I do are
now just kind
of it's becoming integrated
into it and I, you know from a
city function where these
applications come will probably
be like you said,
like note taking. I have been
in Zoom meetings that have an
AI note taker. They seem to
work pretty good and I would be
interested in kind
of using that, that Gov
platform to sort of advocate
for smarter, less energy
intensive AI technologies and
applications. It seems like
with the Deepseek app that's
out right now that was built
for 5 million and uses very
little energy, that some of
these systems are probably
grossly over engineered and use
up more resources than is
necessary. And that is a
problem right now. That's a
problem in Maryland
with people's energy bills.
That's a problem
with you know, really spiking
demand right now related
to a lot of artificial
intelligence and data center
applications and how we sort
of advocate for more
responsible technology. There
is something I'm interested in
but you know, on a, on a simple
and also cost I think you know,
we don't want to get
over committed in terms
of what the expense for, for
some things might be. I know
there isn't any proposals
on the table now,
just a general thing
to be mindful of. In general,
if it's something that is kind
of drudgery and kind of
monotonous work that we don't
want to have a human creative
component to. I'm thinking
of minutes,
possibly translation. You know,
I'm thinking about like
searching. I frequently do
this. I go
to our interface and I search
through old minutes. And that
process is kind of clunky. You
know, you miss some stuff if
your search isn't just right
things to improve these
services and free up people's
time to do more engaging and
interesting things. I'm
generally supportive of that.
So that's it
for me.
>>Thank you. Ms. Dry.
>>Yes, I just wanted
to add that currently the
Police and Public Safety
Committee is looking at AI
policy as it concerns policing
technology because it's
something that, you know, I
think we really want public
feedback on. You know,
right now it, it's something
that, you know,
we're not using
like say the generative AI for,
but there is a lot out there.
So I think we're trying
to look.
>>At a sort of like holistic
policy.
>>And obviously as we're
looking at the stop sign
cameras and things like that,
there's a lot
of AI already built
into those technologies. So,
you know, if I would.
>>Even though there's going to
be an.
>>Internal committee, I would
really like
to see that committee sort of
like either branch out
into some of the committees,
the committees that we already
have, like the Police and
Public Safety Committee or
maybe the Race and Equity
Task Force or code compliance,
to take some of these issues
to our engaged residents
to really get a handle
on what the, you know,
where the residents are.
>>So.
>>That, yeah, that we get a
really comprehensive policy.
>>I think that's a great idea.
>>Thank you. Mr. Mr. Edmond,
thank you. A couple questions
and forgive me if I missed it,
I was trying to track along
with what, Ms. Reams, you.
>>Were sharing along with what
I've seen.
>>Our residents saying and
trying
to jive all that together
for the committee. Did you say
who will be on.
>>It as far as not necessarily
names but position wise. Wise.
Like is it always going
to have a seat for the IT
manager and.
>>Is it going to be that kind
of setup or is that still being
worked out?
>>Yeah, I mean, I,
of course it would have a seat
for the IT manager. I mean, our
hope is that we would have
representation from all
of the departments. You know,
I think we're still kind
of figuring out, I think, you
know, there's a lot of just
like there's interest
in the public. I feel
like there is interest
in staff in this too,
at all levels of staff. So I
think we still got
to figure that
out who are the right people
to get on it. Certainly it,
that's a no brainer. But also
making sure that we have all
the departments represented.
>>Okay.
>>And then the expenditure
around the data collection or I
guess I don't want
to misrepresent it,
but the data rfp.
>>That'S out when that comes
time to make that decision and
award it and pay. Was that
money already in the budget
this year?
>>Yeah, that's a great
question. So that initiative,
as I mentioned,
it was a council initiative.
It was added I think sort of
at the tail end
of the budget last year. And so
the allocated funds to that,
it's $50,000. That was the
budget for that. We have
received a number
of proposals. I, you know, the
evaluation team hasn't even had
a chance
to open them up and look
at them yet.
But I think there's something
like 18 or 19 proposals that
we've received. And you know,
the costs could range anywhere
in between that budget. So we
will do our typical thing that
we do with all the RFPs. We
will evaluate them and then
come back
with a recommendation
for award.
But is a budgeted cost at this
moment.
>>Okay.
>>And if I could add one point
of clarification,
they did do the bid opening
this morning, but they're
in the evaluation process.
They'll be beginning that the,
the data analyst was a proposal
and I believe Laura said this
in her presentation,
but I'll just clarify. Race and
Equity committee came forward
and essentially said that they
needed some assistance because
part of what that that plan,
our Race and equity plan is,
is to look at the data
from several areas, housing,
community policing,
et cetera. And so they needed a
data analyst and they requested
that of this body and you all
approved it. So that's where
that came from.
>>And I just. Yes, thank you
for that refresh.
>>I remember Mr. Hava and I
talking
about that towards the tail end
of that meeting. I'm glad it's
coming back. And I remember,
I guess thinking about our
resident and community concerns
around the budget. We always
said, well, how do we make
decisions if we don't have a
good handle
on data?
>>So I guess to reiterate
to those.
>>Listening, this is a first
step, a.
>>Key step and to get into more
data informed decision making
by your officials and
policymakers. Thank you, Mr.
Redmond. Colleagues, are there
any other questions? There we
go. Mr. Salem, thank you.
>>The first thing I want
to say is thank you to Deputy
City Administrator almost a
Deputy Cliff, Deputy City
Administrator Laura Reams. I
know that this is not your
field, but I also know that
when you set your mind
to something and you wrap your,
your hands and your brain
around it, that we have
outstanding results. Always
thinking
of non citizens voting,
thinking of, you know,
a number of the initiatives
that you voted on and I'm glad
that this is one that's
in your portfolio. First thing
is that I will remind the
community Hyattsville was
officially incorporated in
1886. That means our city is
older than the the car. Ford
didn't start mass producing
vehicles until 1913. And I'm
sure that if we dug
into records, we had
to come up
with a vehicle use policy.
Computers were not broadly
accepted until 1953. So I'm
sure if we dug
in the records, Hyattisville
had to come up with a computer
usage policy and the Internet
wasn't broadly accepted until
1991. And I'm sure that if we
dug in our records, we have
to come up with an Internet
usage policy. And here we are
roughly 40 years later. And I
think that it's,
I think that it's a no brainer.
We need an AI usage policy. So
this committee is necessary.
Even if we didn't need a usage
policy
within the city and staff,
which I don't think anyone
could doubt that any reasonable
person could, we would still
need an AI procurement policy.
Because even if we decided
to stick our heads in the sand
like it sounds
like some people want to do,
the rest
of the world isn't doing that.
And every tool that we use,
as Director RAM has mentioned,
every tool that we use,
they're all rolling out their
AI features and we would still
need a policy on which
of those tools we would use and
under what circumstances we'd
be permitted to use them and
how we would use them. So I
think, you know, the idea that
we would wouldn't move forward
in this arena is just, I don't
know, it's beyond me.
But we have to,
I'm glad that we have,
I think we have the right
person to do it and I think
that it should be a IT
committee as it's described,
not just an AI committee,
because I think we have
to be forward looking. If we
see how rapidly technology has
changed, even in just the 10
years that I've been
on council, having an IT
committee is something that
I've always thought that we
should have. So it's so that we
can set, you know,
get advisement
from the many professionals
in our community who work
in IT on setting and adopting
appropriate technology
policies, period, in the city
of high school, but also
to manage the adoption
of several
of the changes that's going on.
So I am pretty content with
this presentation. I applaud
the effort. I never thought
that I would sit through a
presentation where we were
talking
about language model and all
of the, the technical terms
that you use. And I'm glad that
you braved your way
through it. And, yeah, I'm
happy and I'm looking forward
to supporting this.
>>Thank you, Council
President Solomon.
>>Are there any other questions
or comments, Mr. Mr. Harbor?
>>Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And
thank you, Deputy City
Administrator Reims,
for the presentation. I think,
as other council members have
stated before me,
I look forward to seeing the
city embrace this new frontier.
At the same time, I think it's
important that we proceed
with caution. So making sure
that that committee is
in place,
that that committee can come up
with some recommendation
in terms
of if and when we are going to
adopt some specific AI tools,
what criteria should we be
looking at, knowing exactly how
they handle the data
after work. So those are the
things that I want us to kind
of like develop
before we put any specific tool
in place. So having our
selection criteria and ethical
on that line
for how we want things to go,
I think that's what I have
to say. Thank you.
>>Thank you, Mr. Harper. Any
other question,
comments or questions
by anybody? Ms. Douglas?
>>Yeah, I just, I just wanted
to make one quick point. We do
already have the IT committee
established, but as Laura said,
we, we are trying
to morph that into some
additional departments. So,
for instance, at this point,
Finance, Finance, the police,
DPW, and one person from
administration who are very
knowledgeable
in technology are
on that committee. So we have
reps from each
of those departments.
But as we now add AI
into this, and now Laura's
become a part
of this committee, it will
morph a little bit and have a
few more members. So I do want
to just make sure. We've had
the committee probably for
about eight months. So I just
wanted to make, make that clear
that this committee will,
will now pick up AI.
>>Thank you, Ms. Douglas, and
thank you, Ms. Re,
for the presentation. Okay,
we're going to move on now
to appointments. Vice
President Wozczak, are you
here?
>>Get off guard there. One
moment, please.
>>Open to appointments. If you
want to do consent.
>>Do you have it? Ms. Marse?
>>Working on it.
>>It crashed.
>>I can transfer it to Mr.
Solomon if you'd like.
>>Yes, please.
>>Mr. Solomon.
>>Appointment 7A appointments
to CO.
>>Wait one second. Can you turn
your mic up a bit?
>>I can. I can try to talk
louder. I don't think I can
turn my mic.
>>Okay. Okay.
>>All right. 7A. Appointments
to the CO Compliance Advisory
Committee. I move that the
mayor council approve the
reappointment of Ian fay
to the CO Compliance Advisory
Committee for a term
of two years ending on
February 18, 2027. 7b.
Appointment to high school
environment committee. I move
that the mayor Council approve
the appointment of Ryan Newman
to the highest bill
Environment committee
for A term
of two years ending February
18, 2027. 7c. Appointment
to heights Phil. Health,
Wellness and Recreation
Advisory Committee. I move that
the mayor council approve the
reapportment of Britney Miller
to Height Phil. Health,
Wellness and Recreation
Advisory Committee for a term
of two years ending February
18, 2027.
>>I said second. I'm sorry,
who was that? Thank you. It's
been moved. And. And seconded.
All in favor? Any opposed? Any
abstentions?
>>Thank you.
>>The ayes have it, Mr.
Solomon. Consent agenda
consent.
>>8 A Schedule A budget work
session for February 26, 2025.
A move that the mayor council
schedule an
in person budget work session
for February 26, 2025 at 7pm
to be held at the City
Municipal Building. 8B. Zoning
variance request V8. 20V8924
4100 Hamilton street in
Hyattsville. I move the city
council authorize the mayor
to send a letter of support
to the board of Zoning Appeals
for the subject property at
4100 Hamilton Street,
Highsville v. 80 924. The
purpose
of the zoning variance is
to request is to request it
to be. Is to request is
to validate existing. The
purpose of the zoning variance
request is to validate existing
conditions. A lot width at the
building line side street yard
depth and waiver of accessory
building location requirements
enable the construction
of a third floor addition on an
existing three story single
family dwelling. Sorry
about that 1.8C. Disbursement
of FY25 Thrive Grant Awards. I
moved that the mayor council
authorized expenditure of
$8,993 to support the grant
proposals recommended
from the Hyatville Health,
Wellness and Recreation
Advisory Committee and listed
in the attached memo
for dissemination of the FY25
Thrive grants. That is all.
>>Second.
>>I'm sorry, who was the
second? Okay, thank you. It's
been moved and seconded. All in
favor?
>>Aye.
>>Any opposed? Abstentions.
Okay. Seeing none. Action
items, Mr. Solomon.
>>Action items. Not a roadway
transfer. MD 208 Hamilton
Street. I move that the mayor
and council authorize the city
administrator to execute the
roadway transfer agreement
of MD 208 Hamilton street
between the city of
Hyattsville and Maryland
Department of Transportation,
State Highway Administration.
>>I know that's your baby. You
got the champagne? Did you pop
it yet?
>>Well, I'm gonna wait
for the word.
>>Okay. It's been seconded by
Ms. Straub. Ms. Taylor.
>>Yes. Good evening, Mayor and
council. Thank you
for the opportunity to speak
on this roadway transfer. It's
been a long journey. I'm gonna
briefly talk
through the history, just
for those of you that may not
be as familiar
with this process. So back
in late 2021, the council
authorized the city
administrator and staff
to begin negotiations with M.
SHA to start talking
about the transfer
of ownership of the segment
of Hamilton street between
Queens chapel Road and 38th
Avenue. Since that time,
you've been working
with the SHA District 3 office
to evaluate different scenarios
of a transfer, develop
conceptual plans and just get
the state on board
with our vision
for that transfer process. Had
many setbacks
during that process. Namely,
there was significant turnover
in staff in the District 3
office. So that was a major
delay
in the negotiation process in
2022. Luckily, through our
persistence and collaboration
with the District 3 office,
we were able to come
to a mutual understanding. And
the District 3 engineer
initiated that transfer process
with MDOT's real estate office
in April of 2023. I believe
at that time we were under the
impression the transfer process
would take approximately six
months. Obviously it took a
fair bit longer than that.
But we continued to follow up
with them, Both the District 3
office and the real estate
office, and ultimately got a
draft transfer agreement in
January of this year, which.
Which we've shared
with you as part
of the packet here. Let's see,
what else do I have?
Ultimately, we decided
to do an as is transfer. That
was a recommendation from the
district engineer and part
of our assessment. They were
generally in support of the
conceptual designs and the
vision that we were presenting
to them,
but they were very transparent
with us that if the state were
to complete some of the
conceptual design improvements,
that that transfer process
could take upwards of 10 years
to complete. So ultimately it
was. It was decided to move
in this direction.
Additionally, I'll remind
everyone that the transfer
agreement does not include the
traffic light
at the intersection of
Hamilton and 38 strikes. If.
If we were to proceed
with this transfer agreement,
that signal would continue
to be Owned and maintained by
M. SHA we would not take over
the operation and maintenance
of that signal. Let me see if I
have anything else. I think
those are. Those are the high
points there. Leslie and Hal, I
don't know if you have any
additional context. Thank you.
>>Ms. Roby. I called you
by your first name, So I
apologize. Ms. Riddle.
>>Thank you. Thank you.
Taylor. Mayor and council.
This is as Mr. Solomon has his
champagne ready. A long time
coming. I know there had been a
public question
about budget as is. There is no
cost to the city
for this transfer. This is
in writing. And this,
of course, any improvements
that we do that. The street is
in good shape. The street was
redone just a few years ago.
But anything that we do will
have to come back to this body
for approval. I know there are
some safety measures certainly
we'd like to take
into account, but that is where
we are. I think Taylor
represented it well. Hal, do
you have anything additional?
>>No, nothing. Nothing else
additional right now.
>>Thank you. Thank you, Mary.
Thank you, Council.
>>Thank you very much.
Council, any questions? Mr.
Dennis, sorry I jumped
in front of Mr. Solomon, but
I. I was. Thank you.
>>Thank you for all the work
that's.
>>Been going into this. Can
someone explain
to me the consequences,
I mean. Or not associated
with not taking
over the intersection. It seems
like that a lot of. A lot
of concern is over safety
at an inner.
At the intersection. We won't
have that intersect. So like,
does this hamstring us
in our abilities
to make this like.
>>Oh, I like.
>>So this seems
like it's better than the.
Than nothing. But also like
it's still somewhat not as.
>>So they will own the
signalization. Council member
DENNIS we own the roadway. So
in conjunction
with state highway,
we certainly have some leverage
to be able to improve that
intersection considerably. I
think that's the crux of it.
We own the roadway. They own
the signalization. We don't own
any signals. Just so know.
>>Oh, I know. And okay. So we
would still be able to
potentially promulgate some
safety improvements
with that question. It's. It's
just the signalization that
they. So if we wanted to do a
protected intersection for.
For instance, that would be
something that could be
considered
at that intersection. Yes.
>>As long as we had state
highway or 38. Right.
Approval, then yes,
that is feasible.
>>Okay. Thank you.
>>Absolutely.
>>Some.
>>I wanted to. I wanted
to say thank you to. To
Leslie, to How. To Taylor,
for your hard work on this. I
think this means a lot
to our community. You guys were
out there for the meetings and
I don't know how many times
they yelled and screamed at us
about not being able
to do anything about state,
about that road because it was
a state road and wanted us
to take this on. And I
appreciate you guys
for actually taking it
on and getting it
across the finish line. One
name that I did want
to mention,
because I know this was held up
for a very long time,
but we figured, well, we had
to wait
until our thumbs and figure
out what the state was doing.
But delegate Nicole Williams,
who this year is serving as
chair of the Prince George's
delegation, I happened
to speak to her right
before she was going
into a meeting with State
highway, and I said, hey,
we got something that's held up
with them. She was like, no,
no, no. I want
to know everything
about it right now, because I.
I'm coming up with a list
of things that they need
to do immediately. And so I'm
glad that she took this. She
added this to her list. And it
literally looks like, like,
you know, a month
after she had that meeting,
like, they came back
to us and this was. This was
moving, moving along. So I'm
appreciative to her as well.
And yeah,
I think that when we talk
about the east, west divide,
this is one
of those things that, you know,
I don't think there's a story,
darker contrast sometimes in
our city than leaving one side
of Hamilton street, crossing
over 38th and entering the
other side. Even, you know,
when it comes to Christmas
lights, we've mentioned
in the past. So I think that
this would be extremely useful
tool for many things, but also
in healing that divide and look
forward to the next motion
to take over the next part of
Hamilton Street.
>>So thank you. Well, I don't
appreciate you not sharing that
champagne with all of us. Just
saying.
>>So I'm doing a dry
February, so I can't even drink
it myself. I can only pour it
and cheer to those who wish to
partake.
>>What are you gonna do?
You're not gonna feed you the
dog,
are you?
>>Absolutely.
>>Ms. Wazat.
>>Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
>>So I have a few questions.
>>I heard Director Riddle say
that Hamilton was recently
refreshed by sha. So first I
just wanted to ask a few
additional questions on that.
What aspects of the roadway did
they recently maintain? Like,
was it the. The road surface,
the striping? I think there are
sharrows on there,
the shared arrows
for cyclists. Did they do
anything with the lighting, the
walkways that are not
continuous right now or other
streetscaping? Like, what was
their investment in the street?
>>So there was it was actually
wssc. They replaced the water
main in the center
of the road. I think it was
about four or five years ago.
That was a complete full
replacement of the full depth
patch as well as the top
coating of the street. So that,
you know,
lasts quite a long time. There
were certain intersections
where the sidewalk was updated
for ADA compliance. There are
some sidewalks that need
to be taken care of, that need
to be reconfigured and fixed.
Those are on our radar. We will
bring that back to council
at some juncture. Taylor,
anything to add? Al?
>>No, no. The, the one thing I
did want to add is that as you
mentioned, WSSC did rebuild the
road and they went basically
all the way from the entrance
at Driscoll park all the way
to Ager Road and I believe
across Jager Road going towards
Metro. They put a new 16 inch
water main there. So they did a
very thorough reconstruction.
>>Of the, of the asphalt curve
to curb.
>>Okay, great. And do we have,
I know you said we've looked
into this, but do we have an
estimate right now
for the cost of installing a
continuous walkway or sidewalk?
Because I know that's been one
of the main complaints that
people have is that the
sidewalk starts and stops and
starts and stops. So do we have
an estimate for that project?
>>So we have a concept design
at this juncture that we share
with State highway, but we do
not have a cost estimate.
Again, we will bring that back
to council in the near future.
>>And if we accept this road,
then that cost is on us.
>>That's correct.
>>Okay. And also how much do we
anticipate that it would cost
us to maintain this road? So
when we think
about street thing and the
like that we do on all
of our other roads,
how much does it cost us to, to
maintain this specific stretch
of road?
>>So quite honestly,
we've been doing it all along.
It's a blip on the radar of
State Highway. And so we push
the snow, we sweep the road,
we pick up the trash. Some of
that is considered maintenance
by State Highway. So honestly
it's nothing to add
to things we already do. So
it's a wash as far as cost. I
mean, it wouldn't get done if
we didn't do it. That's pretty
much it. Now, they would
eventually come
through and plow it,
but we plow it because it's one
of our main arterials and it's
adjacent to our roadway.
>>Okay.
>>And then my final question
is, would there be any benefit
or any dis. Benefit
to the people who actually live
on this road, like, what will
they experience that might be
any different in a positive or
negative way?
>>So positive, positive. You
know, we can fix all the
existing sidewalks that have
some trip hazards. We can make
sure we're already taking care
of the trees. That's, that's
just part of it. I think
in a. I, I honestly,
council member wise,
I can't think of anything
negative.
>>Taylor.
>>Hal.
>>So I, I know currently
there's,
and this is not something
we've, we've spoken about,
there's some issues
with flooding
on the roadway when there's,
when there's, you know,
weather events. And that's
definitely something that we
want to look at. Would be a
major improvement.
>>Yeah, I was going
to add that the biggest benefit
for the city and the residents
on that street is that the city
can and is typically more
responsive than state highway
will be. You know,
the state can take anywhere
from five to seven years just
to design a sidewalk
replacement project and get it
funded. Whereas, you know,
we don't need that length
of time to make something
like that happen. And you know,
in this road, especially
since WSSC resurfaced,
it is so far down
on the state's list of roads
that need attention that we
probably wouldn't see them do
anything major on that road
for another 10 plus years
easily.
>>Okay, thank you.
>>Okay. Excuse me. How many
questions do you have, Mr.
S.H.
>>I got a couple. Go for it.
And, and may. And I hope none
of them have already been
asked. I had a little technical
glitch for my computer powered
down in the middle
of this Q and A. So my
apologies in advance if this is
duplicative,
but couple questions. So, you
know, one of the discussions
was negotiations and
negotiations for the terms of
this transfer and there was
discussion of Maryland State
Highways making some
improvements prior
to the transfer, but that would
extend the required time
to make the transfer. And I
know we don't have a cost
estimate
for our desired improvements.
We've got a concept design,
but you know, we kind of know
about how much a linear foot of
sidewalk costs or how much it
takes to put
in a street light or something
like that. Was it ever broached
with Maryland State Highways to
rather than make the
improvements to transfer the
land and transfer along
with the land, some
of the amount
of those anticipations,
anticipated improvements was
that asked of Maryland State
Highways and did they respond
to that?
>>At one juncture we had talked
about that, but it, it was
at the very beginning when we,
we were looking at working with
our consultant and doing a
concept plan at this point.
It's not
on the table and it's.
>>Not on the table
at this point. Oh, go ahead.
>>I'm hoping to add
to that. I, I think I recall,
Leslie, when that was a part
of the conversation. One
of the, the trip hazards on
that is that that will require
an appropriation also from,
from the General assembly,
which was something that we had
not worked
on previously and hadn't.
Hasn't been any
of our legislative requests
since that time period.
>>That is correct.
>>And, and on a reimbursable
basis that they were not
interested in doing at the time
because it was not a very high
priority for them.
>>Well, you know, although I
think we could manage the road
better and it sounds like
in a lot of ways we already are
managing the road. It doesn't
really feel
like we're getting, you know,
we're taking this long term
maintenance responsibility for
a road that you already
described as kind
of an afterthought to them that
something they'd probably
rather not be responsible
for and we're taking it over
without really anything
from them other than giving it
to us. And it just,
it just feels like there could
have been opportunities there
for a better, a better bargain
for the city. But you said
those negotiations that, that
ship has sailed. I can't
remember exactly what words you
used, but you said there were
some early deliberations
to those ends,
but nothing recent. And could
you elaborate a little bit more
on those monetary discussions?
>>Certainly.
>>I mean this was again,
this has been in negotiations
for me for years. We did meet
with state highway a number of
times and there was talk about,
you know, they're assisting or
giving us money or financing.
And at this juncture they said
we're going
to give it you as is.
Certainly we could go back
to them, but I think that the
state is probably not
in the best positions
to allocate money
to this stretch of roadway
because it's so small, pal.
>>Yeah, I did want
to add one item
to that as well,
is that this goes back
to a frequent discussion we
have with things highway is
that they through. And I'll be
honest, I don't remember which,
which state law it is. But by
state law they require the city
to perform maintenance
on the sidewalks
on state roads in the city.
And if they consider it a
maintenance activity,
they're not going to pay
for it regardless of whether we
own the road or take it
from them. And it's a,
it's a frequent issue we have
with them because we feel
like there's, there's
like sections
of sidewalk where it needs
to be reconstructed. And to us
that's not a maintenance
activity,
that's a construction activity.
And there's no clear guidance
in the state law or the,
or MDOT's policies
of what the definition
of maintenance versus, you
know, reconstruction is. So
that's, I think where we kind
of end up here is that, you
know, if they consider all this
a maintenance activity,
they're, they're not going
to give us anything. Anything
for that.
>>Okay. Yeah. You know,
I don't know how I'll vote
on this. I like the idea
of us getting it,
but I do feel like it's not
necessarily a great deal
for us, you know, and that
in assuming this long term,
you know, although it's
in good shape now,
that asphalt is going to need
to be repaved, we are assuming
longer term costs for,
for doing this. And we already
know the reason we want it is
because the road isn't really
in the condition we want it
to be in. And so we're
anticipating making
infrastructure improvements and
also the long term maintenance,
but we haven't got them
to give us anything
but the road, which is in their
financial interest and no
longer want
to maintain anyways. So I do
have, I do have just kind
of some concerns about that.
The. So
about the intersection.
There's three, you know,
three or four roads. It's a
standard four way intersection.
And
of those four roads that
connect at that intersection,
we own three of them
at this point,
is my understanding.
But we're not taking ownership
of the signal. And is that
because we didn't want it or
they wouldn't give it to us?
Or could you elaborate further
on that?
>>They own the third leg of 38
and we don't manage signals and
they wouldn't give it to us.
So that's pretty much it.
>>So we asked them and they
said, sorry,
we won't give you that. I mean,
is there a protocol for that if
we own three quarters of that
intersection?
>>One thing I can add to that
is currently we only own two
legs of that road. We would own
three if, if you agree
to take this on.
>>Right, right, understood.
>>Generally, municipalities
don't own traffic signals.
Again, I believe there is a.
It's been a while
since I looked this up, but I
believe there's a state law
that requires them to be owned
by either the county or the
state. I don't believe hardly
any municipalities
like ours own a traffic signal.
You know, Baltimore City does,
and the counties generally do,
but I don't believe any Other
municipalities own them. So we
wouldn't,
they wouldn't give it
to us and,
and we wouldn't take it over
because we wouldn't have the
infrastructure to, to maintain
that.
>>And we didn't ask.
>>Okay. Because to Sam's point,
a lot
of the safety concerns are
right at that intersection.
The backups that are caused
by that intersection,
the blocking of roads,
driveways, the fact that it
doesn't give you a walk signal
when you want to cross,
you got
to push a button and wait
for a full rotation
to get a walk signal. They're
just. They don't give you that
automatic walk option when
you're waiting there. Various
things that I think the city
would be interested
in improving but.
But it sounds like a lot
of those things will be
off the table.
But my last comment,
and this goes to a lot
of the public comments,
I would have liked
to have seen a cost for the
improvements. I know we did a
study. It wasn't included
in the packet. There was public
comment related
to what the results
of that study were. We got a
concept plan. I don't know.
Did Pannoni deliver the full
package for that contract is
that we got. Because I asked
for it and all I got was one
single sheet.
>>That.
>>Had some lines on it.
But was there like a,
a broader deliverable to what
Panoni did for that?
>>I don't believe so. Hal.
Hal, you probably know the
answer to that. I don't believe
so. I think you all authorized
us to go up to 100k,
but I don't think we asked
for them
to go any further in, in
until we were able to determine
whether we were able
to obtain the road. So I don't
think we ever got anything
further than that. I. We did
not get caught cost estimates
at this point.
But there were things
from a safety perspective,
crosswalks that we've asked
them to do. We've walked this
road, probably Councilman
President Solomon, you may
remember, but I think we
started walking this road in
2017, pointing out all
of the things that needed
to be repaired and fixed. So
each, each time we do anything
on this road, we'd have
to bring it back to you all.
We have to do this within, you
know, within whatever what
we're able to,
financially able
to absorb each year. So it's
not like we'll take it
over and then go out and start
making all the repairs
immediately. We've got to do an
assessment and we will ask them
for cost estimates etc,
and then come back
to this body
with the repairs that we need
to have made. Hal, I don't want
to speak. Speak for you or
Leslie or, Or Taylor. Is that
accurate?
>>Yeah, yeah, that's. That's
accurate. The other piece
of this is, I mean,
you're looking
at not just the intersection
at 38th and Hamilton. You're
looking at the crosswalk. That
is a crosswalk with no, you
know, no flashing beacon,
no pedestrian safety,
which is right across
from the park and right across
from 3505. So, you know, we, we
realize that there'll be some
level of investment, but
with a concept plan,
I don't think either Hal or
Taylor, I want to put a number
on that because it would be,
you know, it again, concept
plan and a good number. I'm
not. And we are not willing
to do that until we have better
information.
>>The concept that we prepared
was to kind
of see what was feasible
for that section of road. And
then we, we did share that
with State highway because when
the negotiation started back
in like 2021, they. They did
give the option and they looked
at all three options of them
making improvements and keeping
the road, them making
improvements and giving the
road to the city and them just
giving the road to the city
with no improvements. So that's
what the concept was developed
for, was to kind
of give them a sense of what we
think could happen there and
what we would like to see, but
it's not a concept that's ready
to go
to engineering design yet. We
would have to re. Review it.
We'd have to look
at what's changed
in the last four or five years
since it was developed. We
would have to have some
community meetings and get some
input on what some of the
safety features are and where
they're located. So it's not
ready to have an estimate
at this time. It's just this is
what we think could. Could. We
could do to make these safety
improvements,
but it wasn't close to being a
final design yet.
>>And I think the other piece
of this is we've waited
for years for the state
to get back to us. I mean,
Taylor was on, you know,
consistently reaching out
to the state, consistently
saying, do you have something?
Oh, no, it's with it's
with our real estate people.
So when we finally got this
offer back and it's like, okay,
well, let's discuss this
with council, let's bring it
to action. Let's, you know,
do what we believe is the right
thing, I think,
for our residents and the
safety of people,
pedestrians. I mean,
the state's not going
to do this. That's just it.
>>My final question is related
to like the biggest issue,
and we've heard about this,
it's in our traffic study and
other things is the
discontinuous sidewalks,
sidewalks broken,
breakup and all along there.
And it's a,
it's a popular route to get
to the metro is. Did we
determine whether we have the
right of way
to build those if we want
to make contiguous sidewalks
along both sides
of the road there, or do we.
Are we unclear whether that
right away will come
with this transfer?
>>I mean,
I think we have ample right
of way. It's a fairly wide
street, so even if we have
to come into the
around private property and
into the existing street, we
have more than ample clearance.
But how.
>>Yeah, there, as Lizzie
mentioned, there is generally
very wide right of way.
There's only one location where
there's two houses
near the intersection
with 36th Avenue, basically the
edge of the asphalt. So that
would be the only, you know,
kind of difficult connection
for us to make. We have
to look
at what's available space wise.
Panoni did include that
in their concept, but, you
know, we'd have to look
at that final, you know,
once we kind of get that,
we get the survey from State
highway and they give us the
final plats
to see exactly what would fit.
But generally the rest
of the areas, there is room
for us to, to finish those,
those sidewalk segments. It's
just that 1, 1, 2 property area
that's a little,
little challenging
for us.
>>Okay, thank you.
>>Thank you, Mr. Shelby. Mr.
Solomon.
>>I, I was just going
to assist staff
with providing some responses.
The first thing is just on,
on the cost. I think that. Do
you know, do we have. We don't.
Do we have estimates for any.
For cost
on any parcels that we don't
own in the city of
Hinesville, Any projects
on land that we don't own? Do
we have any estimates?
>>No.
>>Exactly. And so I think that
the request to,
to have an estimate
at this point is just outside
of the scope
of work that we assign
to our staff members, which is,
you know,
we can't estimate a project
until we have something
to do that estimate.
On the second portion
of the estimate Is, well,
what would it cost
to rebuild the roadway? Well,
the roadway was. Was rebuilt
and so we wouldn't have a cost
estimate on what it costs
to rebuild again
until we start to determine
that it's deteriorated
to a point that we would need
to rebuild it. As staff
mentioned, four years ago, when
this road did have significant
issues and we were struggling
with how to convince State
highway to rebuild this road,
they told us that this was such
a low priority
on their list that even
in that awful condition,
it still would be 10 to 20
years before they got around
to it. And luckily,
I think we had the assistance
of then County Councilwoman
Tavares who was able to get
over to WSSC and say, hey,
what do you guys. What can you
guys do? And they decided that
they had to do some work
on that street. And that's the
only way that it got
to a point now. But the point
that it is now it's rebuilt.
So you wouldn't have an
estimate on a rebuilt road
until it starts
to deteriorate again. And then
you need to go in and look at
it and correct me if I'm wrong,
but I imagine this is how the
process goes, then you need
to go look at it and see how
much that costs. Right now we
can say that maybe eight years
down the road, but who knows,
maybe the roadways are done so
well that, you know,
we don't have a problem until
10 years down the road.
But it wouldn't be until we got
closer that we saw the roads
had deteriorated
to a point that we needed
to investigate how much
of a cost to do the
replacements that we would have
an estimate on that. So I.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
>>You good?
>>Yep.
>>Thank you, Mr. Solomon.
Okay, so we got another comment
and then we're going to. I'm
going to have
to ask a question
on this one, Mr. Hava.
>>Thank you, Mayor. I just
wanted to thank staff
for bringing this forward and
for seeing this one through.
I'm happy and glad that we
finally get in there and that
council will approve this. I
think, yes, there are going
to be costs associated
with this,
but the bottom line, for me,
it's a quality
of life and a safety issue
for those residents who live
around there. For people who
patronize the park,
for people who work
through and from the Metro, the
intersection at Hamilton and
38, I think it's relatively
safe. At least there is a
traffic signal there that you
can use.
>>Yes.
>>There is no dedicated turn
signal, but
with us taking over,
I think it's going
to facilitate that conversation
with state highway
to tell them hey, could we
improve this signalization here
to have that dedicated turn.
But
at least if they don't do it,
we can make the, you know,
hard on the ground improvement
that we can. I think this is
just. We should be happy
about this and I'm glad
to see that we finally taken
over what should have been done
a long time and that those
residents along the corridor
will receive the same services
that we receive
in our neighborhood road. So
that's all I had to say
in terms of comment on this.
And I hope that we can also get
the remaining segment Queen
Chapel to Eder because there's
work to be done there as well.
>>Thank you.
>>Thank you, Mr. Har.
Colleagues. It's been,
it's been moved and seconded.
All in favor?
>>Aye.
>>Any opposed? Are there any
extensions? Okay, the ayes have
it. Mr. Solomon.
>>Resolution 2025 02,
Dedication of Parcel 5, a
recreational facility
of landing property
to the city of Heightsville for
public use. I move that the
mayor and the city council
adopt Resolution 2025 02,
formally dedicating Parcel 5, a
20447 AC parcel of which
includes a recreational
facility and a. Oh, I'm sorry,
I read that 86 acre woodland.
>>I think you're drinking that
same pain.
>>Got weird. To be used and
maintained as a public
recreational park. So
for the record,
that should say a 2.0447 acre
parcel playground.
>>Is there a second
for this?
>>Second?
>>Okay, it's been moved
in second. Mr. Ulysse. Good
evening Mayor, Council,
Council, thank you for
to discuss this today. I want
to also thank council member
Wozik and council member
Redmond for their facilitation
of conversation regarding this
of this park as well as the
other council members who I'm
sure feel the questions
regarding the dedication
of this park was before the
council and this body December
2nd of last year to provide the
council refresher. This project
has been a long time in the
making. I believe this project
received planning board
approval back in 2018. And at
that point the project itself
was split into two phases.
This project included the
construction of 331 single
family attached townhouses.
And that project within the
first phase included
construction of 200 units as
well as the parcel V. So I'll
correct council president
Solomon actually is council
parcel V as opposed
to parcel five
within that parcel it includes,
as mentioned in motion, 0.86
acre of an acre preservation
area as well as on site
recreational infrastructure
which includes master plan
multi use trail, a straight
Shaded overlook structure
with amphitheater seating,
essentially two shaded
structures play area which
includes preschool equipment as
well as three bike racks,
two pet waste stations, 16
benches distributed throughout
the entire parcel and
vegetative landscaping as well.
We initially had essentially as
a result of the December 2
council meeting and discussion
on this,
we conducted a first inspection
on January 30.
In that inspection we were able
to produce short punch list of
items which include central
remediation of deadwood within
the woodland preservation area,
repair replace
of a playground spinner, looks
like they had some loose pieces
and maybe some broken pieces
at the bottom of it as well as
repair and replace a mirror
panel also
on the playground looks
like it had small imperfections
on there that needs
to be replaced as well. Result
of the December meeting also
allowed me
to provide presentation
to our Youth Advisory
committee. This project itself
is adjacent to Northwestern
High School where we've had a
lot of discussions regarding
how the high school and
students as well as community
can collaborate and work
together throughout the school
year. So we were able
to provide the youth Advisory
Committee with a presentation
regarding the dedication of
this park parcel. I'll
reiterate as well,
this parcel as a result of this
development project is not an
obligation or the council has
no obligation to accept. But it
was discussed and I believe
there is a certain desire
to move forward
with the acceptance
of this.
>>The Youth Advisory Council
provides comments as.
>>Well where
in general they are in support
in support of accepting this
parcel and playground. They
provided comments
on conditions that they would
like
to see such as a four foot
fence around the perimeter
of the playground equipment,
continued conversations
with the PG County Public
school system regarding a
pedestrian pathway and
essentially some reinforced
fencing
around the parcel area as well.
Through our review and
through the initial after the
initial inspection and punch
list items which are amenable
by the developer and has agreed
to provide either replace and
or repair the broken material
infrastructure as well as
to take care of and complete
the remedial work associated
with the woodland preservation
area. So we have come to a
point now where we've produced
a punch list item punch list of
items that the developer has
agreed to to complete. So it's
before the council now to.
>>See if there's a desire
to move.
>>Forward with dedication
through and via resolution.
Thank you. Ms. Riddle, do you
want
to add anything?
>>Thank you Mayor Crosline.
Thank you Jeff. We staff is
in support of this. I think it
provides an amenity
on that side of the city of
Hyattsville that we do not
have. It's a well constructed
Park. We have done multiple
inspections. I think we've
accommodated
for the upcoming budget
for this park,
so we've done that again,
I think this is a very well
constructed, lovely amenity
for this area of the city of
Hyattsville.
>>Thank you, colleagues. Any
questions? Comments? Going
once, Going twice. Thank you so
much. Okay, it's been moved.
It's been seconded. All
in favor? Aye. Aye.
>>Aye.
>>Opposed? Abstentions? Seeing
none. The ayes have it. Okay,
we are down
to council dialogue. Anyone
have anything they want
to want to address or say
to the community,
this is the time. Raise your
hand. Mr. Dennis. Thank you,
Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to
remind everyone that the most
dangerous thing we do
on a daily basis is get
behind a car, get
behind a wheel and drive a car.
While we're doing that,
we should avoid engaging in
activities that would otherwise
distract us from the very real
responsibility that we need
to take, that we take
by getting behind the wheel and
operating a vehicle. And I just
really stress that it's much
better to arrive somewhere a
little bit late than to take a
call or use your phone while
driving. It's an unnecessary
risk, and it still boggles my
mind that people. People
continue to take that risk,
put themselves, their loved
ones, and other people
on the street
at risk regularly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dennis. Mr.
Redmond. Thank you, sir.
For those. I think, you know,
we're entering the budget
season, and thank you
in advance for residents
for speaking out, out, getting
engaged, asking questions. One
of the things that we. I was
always trained at work was if
you offer feedback, think three
things.
>>That makes it useful,
making it timely.
>>Making it actionable,
making it accurate. As we
engage
in these conversations. As a
community, I invite and I.
>>Even challenge residents when
offering feedback.
>>You know, help us, help us
better.
>>Understand what it is you
want to see more
of or less of. Saying cut the
budget or making it balanced,
sure. We will work towards
that.
>>If there's something you want
to see.
>>More or less of, tell us
that,
too.
>>I think that's the piece
that, you.
>>Know, will really be helpful
as we move forward.
>>If there are programs you
want us.
>>To reinvest in or invest
more, that's great.
>>We want to hear it.
Obviously, if there are
programs you feel.
>>Aren'T you necessarily as
useful? We
like that feedback as well. So
I invite residents,
when giving this.
>>Feedback to us, tell us a
little more than just cut the
budget or make it balanced.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Van. Mr. Shadley?
>>Yes, thank you. A couple
of comments. I'll go. I'll lead
with budget because that's what
was just brought up. You know,
there are a lot of concerns
with budget and we do,
there are there is cause
for concern with budget. I do
think that it's good that we
are setting up this audit
committee. I do think that will
be kind of inject some kind
of closer attention
into the matter.
But I think the you know,
I've said this on the dais
before and I've said it to city
administrator and city
treasurer and really everybody,
that one of our big problems
in my estimate with the budget
is that we never come close
to spending what we budget.
And so we're projecting
expenditures that exceed
revenues by significant amounts
and that doesn't materialize.
And I think a consequence of
that is that we don't have a
real accurate budget or idea
of what we're really going
to spend. And it strikes me
that other jurisdictions may be
more accurate in forecasting
what they're spending
in a given year. So our
treasurer has said that he's
going to work on maybe giving
us a more accurate and maybe
this comes down
to all department heads, too,
and what that budget looks
like,
but a more accurate reflection
of what our expenditures will
be at the time that we're
in the budget cycle. The other
point or the other announcement
I wanted to make March 1, 4
to 6pm at the Mennonite
Hyattsville Mennonite Church.
We're going to be screening a
documentary film on the push
for rent stabilization
at the county level. And then
we're going
to have a discussion
with panelists, including
myself, on rent stabilization
in Hyattsville and next steps
to Knyatville. So of course,
council members, city staff,
you all be getting an invite
from me. If you hadn't heard
about it,
you're hearing it now. You'll
probably hear more
about it. I encourage you
to come. It'll be shared,
probably community table and.
>>It'Ll be.
>>East West Highway, 4 to 6pm
March 1.
>>Thank you. Ms. Wasa.
>>Yeah, Mr. Shively fell off.
Okay. So I wanted to ask if we
could focus a little bit more
on the upcoming council meeting
that is
about budget priorities. And I
know this is normally council
dialogue when council talks,
but I wondered if I could ask
either our city administrator
or deputy city administrator to
describe again the format that
that meeting will take
to encourage residents
to attend,
because we've been getting a
lot of inquiries
in our email and live
on the street when we go out
grocery shopping and such
asking us about budget. So I
wondered if you could just
Tell us again,
what will that meeting look
like if a resident were
to show up?
>>Well, to be honest
with you, Ms. Walsack, this is
council dialogue. I'll allow
Ms. Douglas, if she. If she
wants to give us the answer to
that.
>>Yes. I don't know if Laura is
still on. She has. Who is going
to speak. Speak each night. So
I don't have that in front
of me, but essentially this
will be similar to the format
that we did last time,
which is a roundtable format.
The feedback that we got from
the council was that it was too
much in one night. So,
for instance, you spend time
with DPW and then you spend
time with police, Community
Services, and it was just
taking too long to try
to ask all the questions,
particularly as we had a lot
of new people
at that first one that we did,
new council members. So this
time we're dividing the staff
up so that DPW and police will
be on two separate nights and
they'll be at a table. And so
they will just talk
about the priorities, the
things that they are currently
working on,
the things that are projected
to be or projected for FY26,
and the goals and objectives
of the department. So it's just
an opportunity
to ask a little more,
a few more questions up,
up close and personal
for the council. If residents
attend that meeting,
typically they are observing,
so they're not in the position
to ask the questions, but they
can sit and observe and take
notes. Laura, I don't recall
the dates and who's
on which date. I know Laura is
working those details.
>>Yeah. So we have two budget
roundtable meetings. So the
first will be on Monday,
February 24, and the way that
we've split it up that night,
we will have dpw,
but DPW focused
on operations. So we're
actually splitting DPW
on two different nights,
operations one night and then
projects the other night, just
to allow ample time
for conversation there. So that
Monday we'll have DPW
Operations, Community
Services, Clerk Election and
Council Communications,
Finance and Parking. So there
will be the director for each
of those departments, along
with one or two
of their employees able
to speak to, you know,
what they're planning for, the
budget,
the projects that they have
on their plate, all
of that kind of stuff. And then
on Wednesday, February 26, we
have the DPW projects
on that night, the Police
Department, Community Business
and Economic Development, HR
and the Administration
Department.
>>Thanks, Laura. So would it be
possible for you
to add those departments to the
page that's called
hyattsville.org 922finance so
that people can look
on there and kind
of see which departments are on
which night so that they can
decide if they have to come
to just one of those,
which night they would like to
come.
>>We sure can.
>>Thank you very much. Yeah,
and I'm just looking forward to
seeing people there because
again, like council member
Redmond said,
it would be great to hear
specifically what people are
interested in prioritizing
because as we know, a budget is
a priority setting document.
It's a strategic plan
with numbers in it. So we
really need
to know what people want us
to focus on and what people do
not want us
to focus on. I also wanted to
acknowledge the young people
who are working with waba,
the Washington association of
Bicyclists, to advocate
for bike racks at
Northwestern. The Youth
Advisory Council is really
interested in working
with the WABA youth to try
to get bike racks at
Northwestern. If you can
believe it,
we have a high school
with no bike racks. So there
are high schoolers who are
bravely riding their bikes
for school and locking them
to fence posts, poles and
fences,
and they don't feel very secure
about where they're parking
their bikes. So they would
really like if the adults could
get together and find a way,
you know, from the city, pgcps,
Northwestern, the county, and
any community organizations
that are interested
in getting some bike racks put
at the high school. So I just
wanted to acknowledge Dan
Barron, a resident who brought
this to our attention because
he heard the young people
talking about it. And I wanted
to acknowledge the Youth
Advisory Council members
for kind
of putting an exclamation point
at the end of that request.
They do, in fact, see a need
for safer,
more secure bike parking. They
do see a need for that parking
to be in a centrally
conveniently located spot or
spots on campus so that they
can get quickly to class. And
in addition to that,
I know we talked a lot about
road maintenance and road
projects tonight. They would
like to see better bike
infrastructure near their
school and a better speed limit
similar to what they have over
by the College Park Academy.
If you have not been
over there in Riverdale park,
please take some time
to walk, bike or drive over
by College Park Academy and see
the incredible walking and
biking infrastructure and the
livable speed limit that they
have set over there. It really
is encouraging young people
to walk and bike
to school.
>>Thanks, Ms. Wasa. You know,
it might be an interesting
thing that when the, when the
committee comes together and
they have have thoughts
like this, that they can
actually make a presentation
to the council
at some point.
>>Yes, that would be great.
>>Mr. Salman, thank you.
>>I just, I wanted to. I didn't
get a chance
to say thank you to. To
Officer Hernandez. Her
accomplishments were mentioned
earlier. I. I felt
like we should
at least recognize her
on the dayas. But also I want
to say thank you to Lisa
Walker, Hap and the Girl
Scouts who dropped off.
>>You got your cookies. We
can't see it.
>>Yes, there we go. I gotta
shake it up. It's AI.
>>It goes.
>>Google campaign.
>>They dropped off Valentine's
treats for the council
at the city building. So if you
haven't stopped by
to get yours, I'd say get it.
This was my dinner tonight as I
sat
through the council meeting,
so it did go to great use.
But thank you for thinking
of us this Valentine's day.
>>Very good, Ms. Drop.
>>Thank you. So I wanted
to thank all
of the residents who reached
out to inquire or to apply
to the audit committee. So
hopefully those applications
are rolling in. I can't wait
to read all
of them.
>>So.
>>Gotten a lot
of calls and emails. So
hopefully we'll be getting that
committee off the ground soon
since that term 2023 audit is
imminent.
>>So I don't think I've ever
been so excited for such a big
document.
>>That I had to read with so
many numbers.
>>But there, there we are.
>>That's my boring midlife
right now. But anyway, so,
yeah, thank you everybody for,
for being so involved and I do
really hope that we get
residents coming
to those sessions at,
on the 24th and the 26th
at 7pm to, you know,
to help us through this, this
budget process.
>>So that's all.
>>Thank you.
>>Thank you, Ms. Treb. Mr.
Harbor.
>>Yes, thank you. I'm going
to start
by saying the same thing
Consul Member Salman said
earlier. Thank you, Ms.
Walker. And the Girl Scout for
the cookies. I have not pick up
mine yet,
but don't eat cookies
for dinner. Okay, you can have
them for this. So
on a serious note,
I heard a lot of comments
about budget. Yes, we need
to work on that. We need
to be realistic. The one thing
I can say, you know,
probably I heard Council
Member Shabli's comment. I
wouldn't say that it's the
Treasury's fault that we don't
get the numbers accurate
because most of the time what
the treasurer is doing is
plugging in things. So what I
will do here is just kind of
like invite our department
to really focus
on what they can chew on
because I have the feeling that
sometimes we plan for a lot of
projects and we don't have the
manpower
to execute those projects. So
be realistic as you identify
your priorities. And that also
goes to us council members.
Let's be honest
with our proposal,
with things that we want staff
to work on and really see. Can
all of these be accomplished
within the next 12 months?
Considering existing projects
that are already there,
maybe this could be the year
to kind of like have a freeze
on new project and just try
to see what we can do
to clear the existing backlog
of project. Let's think
about that. Aside from that,
let's continue to stand with
our neighbors who might be
experiencing difficult times,
job related,
immigration status related. We
are a caring community. Let's
make sure that everything,
everyone is welcome here and
then we stand with them. Thank
you.
>>Thank you, Mr. Harbour. And I
would like to thank all
of you and especially our staff
for the amazing work that you
do day in and day out
for our city. And I want
to just like Ms. Strapp just
mentioned, encourage everyone
to come on the 20, 24th and the
26th to hear how their money
has actually been being spent
and what the projects are that
they're being spent on. And
like Mr. Harbour just
mentioned, you know,
there are. We have some tough
things going on
in our country right now,
and we're going to probably
experience some tough times
in the near future. So it's a
time for us understanding,
but not grandstanding. Okay?
So let's all just do what we
can to understand how things go
and understand how each other
think. And we work together
with our community. So thank
you very much. Can I get a
motion to adjourn, please?
>>Don't move.
>>Second.
>>It's been moved. It's been
seconded. All in favor?
Anybody opposed to this? Are
there any extensions? Okay.
Good night. Hyattsville.