[0:02] Good evening, Rockville. Today
[0:06] is SEPTEMBER 8th, 2025, and
[0:06] we
[0:07] re convening meeting 21-25.
[0:08] Let
[0:09] s begin with the Pledge of
[0:09] Allegiance. Please join us you
[0:27] are able. I snesia. On your
[0:37] back. Welcome everyone. We are
[0:38] officially uh back from recess,
[0:40] and it it was a short recess.
[0:43] One, I move over to our gender
[0:44] review, as MISS Sarah Taylor
[0:46] Ferrell, do we have any changes?
[0:47] MADAM Mayor and council members,
[0:49] there are no changes for this
[0:49] evening
[0:50] s agenda. Excellent.
[0:51] Thank you very much. I will now
[0:52] move on to the city manager
[0:53] s
[0:55] report. Welcome Jeff Mahali.
[0:56] Mayor Ashton, members of City
[0:57] council, ladies and gentlemen,
[0:59] good evening. I have 4 things
[0:59] tonight. It
[1:00] s all really good
[1:03] news. First of all, we learned
[1:06] this week that we received the
[1:08] government finance Officers
[1:08] Association distinguished Budge
[1:10] Presentation Award. I think for
[1:11] the 16th year in a row or 20th
[1:13] year in a row or something like
[1:14] that. So, it
[1:15] s really cool. The
[1:17] people who did did the
[1:19] assessment, um, of the award
[1:21] said that our budget process
[1:23] was excellent, that they were
[1:24] impressed that we included such
[1:25] a robust capital improvements
[1:26] plan, and, and this is the part
[1:28] that should be really um
[1:29] interesting to council that
[1:29] there
[1:32] s such a strong
[1:33] connection between strategic
[1:34] initiatives identified by city
[1:36] council and the budget process.
[1:36] So we
[1:37] re really excited about
[1:38] it. I just want to say congrats
[1:41] to our budget and finance teams
[1:42] and city council for that
[1:44] distinguished honor. Also,
[1:46] hopefully everybody noticed the
[1:48] brand new beautiful signage
[1:50] over the Route 55 pedestrian
[1:51] bridge that says town center
[1:52] with our brand new logo on what
[1:54] you guys think of it, but
[1:55] during the day, it looks cool,
[1:57] and at night it looks even
[1:58] better. And again, that
[1:58] s just
[2:00] to create more and more um
[2:01] placemaking in and around the
[2:02] town center, so we
[2:03] re excited
[2:04] about having that partnership
[2:06] with Wamata. Also, hopefully
[2:08] people have noticed all the
[2:09] beautiful purple lights all
[2:11] over the city outside here at
[2:12] City Hall, even for the first
[2:14] time, some of our street lights,
[2:16] that is our Rockville goes
[2:17] purple program. It
[2:18] s part of
[2:19] national recovery Month, and
[2:19] it
[2:21] s for people to understand
[2:22] and appreciate that recovery is
[2:24] a struggle and everybody needs
[2:25] help, and we should be thinking
[2:27] about it to support people
[2:28] going through that struggle.
[2:30] And then I also want to note
[2:33] that we are keeping open the um
[2:34] swim and fitness center,
[2:36] extending that for a couple
[2:37] weekends. The outside elements
[2:39] of the swimming fitness center
[2:41] will be open through till 6
[2:43] P.M. On Sunday, SEPTEMBER 14th,
[2:44] I think we
[2:46] re all excited about
[2:46] those new outdoor elements, and
[2:49] we might as well enjoy it for a
[2:49] couple more weekends. That
[2:49] s
[2:50] all I have to report, Mayor.
[2:52] Thank you so much. Thank you
[2:53] for the excellent report. I
[2:54] just want to say
[2:55] congratulations to the entire
[2:57] team and to this body. I know
[2:59] that it takes a lot of work to
[3:00] make sure that we
[3:01] re on budget
[3:02] and the award-winning work
[3:02] they
[3:04] re doing has kept us aaa
[3:05] bond rating, which is the
[3:07] highest level of bond rating
[3:08] for a municipal government. I
[3:11] also just wanted to thank, uh,
[3:13] Wamata for the partnership, uh,
[3:13] the town center branding is
[3:16] something that we all worked on
[3:17] and uh it
[3:17] s designed to bring
[3:18] visibility, but it
[3:19] s done with
[3:20] care so that it
[3:21] s transparent
[3:23] and protects pedestrian safe ty
[3:23] and uh thank you for all the
[3:24] work in the swimming Fitness
[3:26] Center. I just wanted to say it
[3:27] on the uh International
[3:29] Overdose data that the county
[3:31] helped plan with uh some mccpt
[3:33] members and Laura Laura
[3:34] Mitchell. Uh, it was fantastic,
[3:36] but I wanted to pause and say,
[3:38] uh, that we do have Narcan at
[3:40] our, uh, Rockville City Police
[3:42] Department. Uh there is Narcan
[3:42] training that
[3:43] s coming up
[3:45] during Octoberfest, and it can
[3:46] save lives. We need to reduce
[3:48] the stigma. We need to help
[3:49] people and just want to be on
[3:50] record. I know we
[3:51] ll do some
[3:52] proclamations coming up. I just
[3:52] wanted to make sure I noted
[3:56] that Doctor Miles Thank you,
[3:58] MADAM Mayor, would echo your
[3:59] thanks to the city management
[4:01] and staff for all the great
[4:03] work and thanks again for the
[4:04] our participation, the opioid
[4:05] Awareness Day. I was able to
[4:07] come to the beginning, but
[4:08] Daddy Duty took me away from
[4:09] the from the proclamation
[4:11] reading later that day, but
[4:13] just thank everybody for coming
[4:13] out remembering those who we
[4:13] ve
[4:16] lost. And to remember to
[4:18] redouble our efforts moving
[4:20] forward. Uh, the other piece is,
[4:21] uh, thanks to the police
[4:23] department for an awesome open
[4:25] house, um, we had a great time.
[4:26] I got my little kid energy out,
[4:29] though I did not get in the
[4:30] bounce house, so don
[4:30] t arrest
[4:31] me. But great times. Thanks to
[4:32] the police department for that.
[4:32] That
[4:34] s all. There
[4:36] s always next
[4:37] year. Councilorre. Oh, I was
[4:38] just going to echo what DR.
[4:40] Miles said. Congratulation to
[4:42] the police department, and
[4:43] absolutely successful open
[4:44] house, um, hundreds of people
[4:47] came through, um, not only to
[4:49] enjoy, um, the fabulous events
[4:51] of food for kids, but tours of
[4:52] the entire police department,
[4:53] and all aspects of it. So huge
[4:54] congratulations to the police
[4:56] department. Thank you. And
[4:57] since we
[4:57] re talking about
[4:59] police, uh, the, uh, final
[5:01] positions, at least at the
[5:03] patrol and officer level were
[5:05] filled. Uh, so we had a lot of
[5:07] interest and uh fantastic
[5:09] members of the team and
[5:12] increasing diversity of our
[5:13] police uh leaders. COUNCILMAN
[5:16] Valeri. Um, I
[5:16] ll echo what
[5:18] everyone else said as well, but
[5:19] um I also wanted to recognize
[5:21] even though I know that we have
[5:24] proclamations that another uh
[5:26] future meeting date that um
[5:29] this month is also a suicide
[5:30] prevention awareness month. Um,
[5:33] and one of the, uh, members of
[5:35] the community, um, in Twinbrook
[5:37] invited me to the celebration
[5:40] of, of life, remembrance of a a
[5:42] young man, um, who died by
[5:44] suicide, and it
[5:44] s always been
[5:46] in the forefront of my mind,
[5:48] but I appreciate that. We have
[5:50] a month where we can think
[5:51] about those we have lost, as
[5:52] well as those who continue to
[5:58] struggle. Thank you Well, now
[5:58] it
[5:59] s time to hear from our
[6:00] community. Uh, we
[6:01] ll move on to
[6:03] community forum. All persons
[6:04] shall address the mayor in
[6:05] council. Please speak in a
[6:07] civil and courteous manner.
[6:08] Members of the audience should
[6:10] also be respectful of others.
[6:11] Each person will be allowed 3
[6:13] minutes. There is a time clock
[6:15] in front of you, and please
[6:16] state your name and if you live
[6:18] in Rockville for the record.
[6:18] I
[6:20] m going to call up the first
[6:28] person, uh, Jamie n. Welcome.
[6:29] My name is Jamie and I live in
[6:32] Rockville. Council members, the
[6:33] majority of you enjoyed a
[6:35] council trip to our sister city
[6:36] of Pinneberg, Germany last
[6:37] month. While you were there,
[6:39] did the topic of rent caps come
[6:42] up? Because our sister city has
[6:43] regulations that prevent a
[6:45] landlord from increasing rent
[6:47] by more than 20% over 3 years.
[6:47] Why won
[6:48] t you let Rockville
[6:50] have something like that. I
[6:50] understand that you don
[6:51] t want
[6:52] to talk about rent
[6:53] stabilization anymore, hence
[6:54] why you
[6:56] ve banned further city
[6:56] council member initiatives
[6:58] about it for the next 2 years,
[7:00] but not having rent caps in
[7:02] Rockville will hurt people
[7:03] every single day for the next 2
[7:05] years, and I will not let you
[7:07] suppress this issue. I
[7:09] understand the majority of you
[7:10] cite concerns that having any
[7:12] rent caps in Rockville will
[7:13] dissuade future real estate
[7:16] developers from building here.
[7:17] A developer that specifically
[7:20] looks to build in areas without
[7:21] rent stabilization in order to
[7:22] maximize their profits is
[7:24] predatory. Per Rockville
[7:25] s own
[7:26] definitions and research, the
[7:27] majority of renters here are
[7:31] cost burdened by their rent. So
[7:31] instead of creating legislation
[7:34] that is a compromise like
[7:34] Montgomery County
[7:36] s 6% cap plus
[7:37] inflation or Pinneberg
[7:37] s 20%
[7:39] cap over three years. You give
[7:41] us nothing, no protection, and
[7:43] make Rockville a target for
[7:43] predatory real estate
[7:45] capitalists. You
[7:46] re inviting
[7:46] predatory businesses to
[7:48] Rockville for an all you can
[7:50] eat buffet where the income of
[7:52] your constituents is the feast,
[7:53] where emaciated, we don
[7:53] t have
[7:56] any more to give. You are
[7:56] permitting predatory leasing
[7:58] companies to make people choose
[8:00] between paying their rent or
[8:02] feeding themselves. You cannot
[8:03] be surprised when those same
[8:04] hungry eyes turn and look at
[8:07] you with fear and resentment.
[8:10] Your opportunity for to receive
[8:11] pleasantries from your
[8:13] constituents has passed. There
[8:13] are more pressing issues that
[8:16] need to be addressed.
[8:18] Homelessness, poverty, and
[8:20] hunger are not naturally
[8:21] occurring in a well-functioning
[8:23] society. They are policy
[8:25] failures, and the majority of
[8:26] you on this council are failing
[8:27] the people you are supposed to
[8:30] work for. The progressive train
[8:33] towards a more equitable and
[8:34] humanity-focused future, not
[8:36] profit-focused, and is is
[8:37] inevitable, and the majority of
[8:38] you are standing on the wrong
[8:42] side of the tracks. This train
[8:43] is unstoppable, and you either
[8:45] need to get on board or get out
[8:47] of the way or we are
[8:48] metaphorically going to run you
[8:51] over. In the words of activist
[8:55] Wael Ghonem. The power of the
[8:58] people The power of the people
[8:59] is stronger than the people in
[9:05] power. Thank you Welcome, Anika
[9:11] Halota. Hi Oh, so it worked.
[9:13] Hello? Hey, so I moved here
[9:15] last year and the city of
[9:15] Rockville Gazette showed up and
[9:17] it said that we have leaf
[9:18] sweeping, where you vacuum up
[9:19] the leaves, and I was like, oh
[9:21] great, good service. Um, so I
[9:23] did that, took all my leaves
[9:25] from my backyard, out onto the
[9:26] curb, and about 2 weeks later,
[9:28] I started reading about
[9:29] fireflies and realized I had
[9:31] messed up and I was supposed to
[9:33] leave the leaves on my property
[9:36] to support them. And so, in
[9:37] order to prevent anyone else
[9:38] from making that same mistake
[9:40] by accident, I would like to
[9:41] suggest that in the Rockville
[9:42] Gazette at any online
[9:45] publications, we just include a
[9:47] little blurb informing people
[9:48] that uh you might want to leave
[9:49] some. So I
[9:50] ve written one up,
[9:52] um, I guess I can just read it.
[9:55] Welcome to Take It verbatim. So
[9:58] my suggested text is want to
[9:59] help fireflies thrive. Consider
[10:00] leaving some leaf litter on
[10:01] your property instead of
[10:03] sending it to the curb. Firefly
[10:05] larva live and hunt in moistly
[10:07] flares through fall and winter,
[10:09] relying on that natural habitat
[10:10] to survive and emerge as
[10:11] glowing adults the following
[10:13] summer By keeping leaves in
[10:15] garden beds or under trees,
[10:15] you
[10:16] re creating a small but
[10:18] powerful sanctuary for these
[10:19] magical insects. No extra work
[10:22] required. With just one season
[10:24] of leafy shelter, you MAY start
[10:25] seeing more fireflies next
[10:27] summer, and even more each year
[10:29] as their habitat improves.
[10:32] Learn more about supporting
[10:32] fireflies at
[10:35] circe.Org/fireflies. Um, that
[10:35] s
[10:41] all. Thanks. Thank you Welcome,
[10:45] Simi merchant. What
[10:45] s up,
[10:49] counsel? Hope you MISS Me. Look
[10:51] at all these studies on why
[10:52] rent stabilization is so great.
[10:53] And you can tell, I
[10:54] m being
[10:55] sarcastic. And this is just a
[10:57] physics textbook, by the way.
[10:58] Adam, I hope you
[10:59] re laughing.
[11:02] That joke was for you. As I
[11:02] ve
[11:03] spoken to more of my community
[11:05] members and have gone to more
[11:05] community events. I
[11:06] ve grown to
[11:08] love the Rockville community.
[11:08] I
[11:09] ve grown, truthfully, I come
[11:10] from a town that lacked
[11:12] diversity. And in my early
[11:14] years, I lacked friendships
[11:15] because of it. I got bullied
[11:16] because I didn
[11:17] t look like my
[11:18] classmates. And I didn
[11:18] t speak
[11:21] like them. In contrast to my
[11:24] hometown, I found everyone here
[11:24] so welcoming. I
[11:25] m not sure if
[11:25] you
[11:27] ve gone to the salsa event
[11:28] at the town center, but that
[11:29] was a blast. I had a lot of fun,
[11:29] even though I
[11:30] m quite a bad
[11:33] dancer The diver that diversity
[11:35] will perish your friend
[11:36] stabilization is not passed.
[11:38] Rent hikes will push out many
[11:39] different minority groups out
[11:41] of the county. And truthfully,
[11:43] this is why I fight. I don
[11:43] t
[11:44] want the city to be like the
[11:44] town I
[11:46] m from. Only white
[11:47] people being constantly shunned
[11:49] for being different. I want to
[11:50] tell my kids who will probably
[11:52] go to the schools in Brockville
[11:54] that I prevented your childhood
[11:55] from being like mine. I don
[11:55] t
[11:56] want him to go through him or
[11:58] her to go through the same
[11:59] thing of people looking at you
[12:00] differently or thinking that,
[12:01] oh, I
[12:03] m annoyed or get this,
[12:03] I
[12:04] m an Indian giver, right? So
[12:05] I want to protect this
[12:06] community and I truly don
[12:07] t
[12:09] expect any of you who voted
[12:10] against rent stabilization to
[12:12] do anything. Uh, I mean,
[12:13] seriously, Adam, um, is a
[12:15] corporate lawyer who probably
[12:15] evicts single mothers for fun.
[12:17] I mean, there has to be a lot
[12:19] of conflicts of interest right
[12:20] there. But nevertheless, I
[12:20] m
[12:21] calling for something even
[12:23] stronger than a rent
[12:24] stabilization in Montgomery
[12:25] County. I
[12:26] m calling for the
[12:28] rent freeze of any dwelling
[12:29] unit older than 23 years. In
[12:30] addition, I want the Montgomery
[12:33] County Rent Stabilization bill
[12:33] implemented in Rockville, but
[12:36] it applies for units older than
[12:38] 15 years. Truthfully, this bill,
[12:39] the bill is really good. It
[12:39] s,
[12:40] it
[12:40] s, don
[12:40] t get me wrong, and
[12:40] I
[12:42] m not gonna hit on it, but I
[12:43] like to fight for a better
[12:45] tomorrow. Where it
[12:46] s ensured
[12:46] that there
[12:47] s truly no child who
[12:49] feels lonely in this county.
[12:54] Thank you. Thank you. Welcome,
[13:05] Milton Helen. Good evening, uh,
[13:06] MADAM Mayor and counsel. Thank
[13:09] you for having us here. Um, I
[13:09] m
[13:11] here tonight to speak about
[13:12] rank choice voting. It
[13:12] s my
[13:15] understanding that you have a
[13:16] proposal coming forward, um,
[13:17] and I hope you
[13:18] re going to
[13:19] support it. I also think it
[13:21] would be great if you can
[13:23] implement it for the 2027
[13:25] election. Um, I
[13:25] ve seen some
[13:26] talk that maybe it will be
[13:29] pushed back later, but I think
[13:31] the sooner the better. Racho as
[13:35] voting is a great way to
[13:36] moderate our politics generally,
[13:41] uh, because. It means that when
[13:43] you have a really bad candidate,
[13:45] everyone can kind of see that
[13:48] and, and push them push them
[13:51] out to a bit. Push them last,
[13:52] um, and I think that that
[13:52] s a
[13:54] great thing if we don
[13:55] t have
[13:55] two sides of politics
[13:57] constantly. Fighting with each
[14:01] other going at each other. They
[14:02] have to work together because
[14:02] that
[14:05] s what the people. Want
[14:05] That
[14:07] s what the people have
[14:09] spoken for. So I hope you can
[14:13] see yourself too. Passing this
[14:14] bill or or legislation that you
[14:20] have before you. And we can do
[14:22] it here and let it spread to
[14:23] other areas of the county. I
[14:24] live in Frederick County myself.
[14:24] I
[14:28] m hoping to have, you know.
[14:29] Do something good in one place,
[14:31] we can bring it to another, so,
[14:31] uh, we don
[14:33] t have any pending
[14:34] legislation in Frederick County
[14:36] for ran choice voting, but I
[14:38] think if Rockville leads the
[14:41] way in Maryland or joins the
[14:41] other municipalities in
[14:43] Maryland that have it already.
[14:45] Um, it can be something that
[14:46] can, that can be an example for
[14:49] the rest of the state, um, to
[14:52] go forward with, so, uh. Yeah,
[14:56] thank you. Thank you. Welcome,
[15:00] Tyler McLean. Hey everybody, uh,
[15:00] I
[15:02] m Tyler, uh, live in
[15:03] Rockville, West End resident.
[15:04] If you don
[15:05] t remember, uh, Vice
[15:06] PRESIDENT Of my daughter
[15:07] s pta
[15:08] over at Maryvale, active in the
[15:10] Friends of Rockville Civic
[15:12] Ballet, and I have a plot at
[15:14] the Wootton Mill Community
[15:15] Garden Park. Uh, and I just
[15:17] mentioned all that to, to
[15:19] signify that I love Rockville.
[15:20] I also volunteer through the
[15:21] senior neighbor. Shoveling
[15:23] program that you all run. Um,
[15:23] and today I
[15:24] m here to advocate
[15:28] for a government that is
[15:29] proactive rather than reactive,
[15:31] and one that earns decorum
[15:34] rather than demands it. If
[15:34] Rockville
[15:36] s housing policies
[15:38] only react to capitalistic
[15:39] market market forces, then we
[15:42] will always putting be putting
[15:43] band-aids on capitalistic
[15:45] induced exploitation. This
[15:45] evening, you
[15:47] re going to review
[15:47] Community Development block
[15:49] grants. Your own reporting on
[15:52] those grants states that over
[15:54] 55% of Rockwell renters are
[15:56] either cost or severely cost
[15:58] burdened. Among those renters,
[15:59] a disproportionate number are
[16:01] people of color, and these
[16:02] challenges are only expected to
[16:04] grow through 2040. Using these
[16:06] grants to maintain, beautify,
[16:08] or even purchase a small number
[16:11] of units does not change the
[16:13] fundamental market forces that
[16:15] exploit and harm your residents.
[16:15] It
[16:17] s like if someone was
[16:19] getting whipped, and you just
[16:20] kept giving them stitches,
[16:21] instead of stopping the person
[16:21] who
[16:22] s actually doing the
[16:25] whipping. By refusing to
[16:27] regulate the housing market and
[16:30] excuse me, and now even discuss
[16:32] it through policies like rent
[16:33] stabilization, you are reacting
[16:36] to a market that was designed
[16:38] and will always cause harm,
[16:40] particularly to our most
[16:41] vulnerable residents. You are
[16:44] choosing to let the whipping
[16:45] continue, and now not even talk
[16:47] about it. This brings me to my
[16:48] second point, and please bear
[16:51] with me for a bit. For purposes
[16:52] of this format, this is a
[16:54] rhetorical question. If you
[16:55] were getting whipped or beat up
[16:56] or drowned, would you continue
[16:59] to be calm? Would you continue
[17:01] to have an orderly, respectful
[17:05] conversation with your abuser,
[17:07] speaking for myself, once the
[17:08] fighting begins, decorum has
[17:10] gone out the window and now at
[17:13] a minimum, I can act in
[17:15] self-defense. Decorum in
[17:16] America has always functioned
[17:19] as a tool of the oppressor.
[17:20] Even in extremely recent
[17:23] history, like insurance
[17:24] companies denying justifiable
[17:27] medical claims or the federal
[17:27] government kidnapping its own
[17:30] citizens off the streets.
[17:31] Decorum in these situations
[17:33] only serves to embolden those
[17:34] in power to keep doing what
[17:35] they
[17:36] re doing and let the
[17:38] exploitation continue. Please
[17:40] note that myself and a growing
[17:42] number of my friends are tired
[17:43] of being hurt, and we
[17:43] re going
[17:45] to start fighting back If this
[17:46] feels like some big shadowy
[17:48] force that some of you
[17:49] mentioned at the last meeting
[17:50] on the 21st. Let me lift the
[17:51] veil for you with your own
[17:56] reporting Between 2020 and 2040,
[17:56] Rockville
[17:58] s population is
[17:59] expected to increase 37%.
[18:01] Without regulating the housing
[18:02] market, more people are going
[18:04] to be pushed into poverty, and
[18:06] we will have no choice but to
[18:08] make friends and build
[18:09] solidarity with those folks. So
[18:09] it
[18:11] s not a shadowy force, it is
[18:13] the people that you are pushing
[18:14] into poverty that are going to
[18:15] come to these hearings that are
[18:17] going to run against you. If
[18:19] you would like to keep the
[18:20] conversation going and maybe
[18:21] even become one of those
[18:23] friends, and maybe earn decorum.
[18:25] I would love to find a time to
[18:27] meet with you and discuss
[18:29] designing government that is
[18:31] proactive rather than reactive.
[18:32] A government that heals rather
[18:33] than harms. Thank you. Thank
[18:38] you Welcome, uh, I apologize, I
[18:38] can
[18:41] t see the full name. Norma?
[18:42] Ok, MISS Norma, uh, I believe p.
[18:55] Welcome My name is No
[18:58] Brailsford. And, um, I got
[19:00] scared coming here because the
[19:02] little light out there, I
[19:04] pushed the button and the car
[19:05] almost hit me, so I
[19:05] m a nervous
[19:08] wreck. But I
[19:09] m here because i
[19:09] m
[19:11] in my 80s. I came from
[19:14] Montgomery County. The county
[19:17] was very active county. I find
[19:18] that when this county does
[19:19] absolutely, there
[19:21] s no activity,
[19:21] there
[19:23] s nothing to do here.
[19:23] We
[19:25] re trying to get bocce ball
[19:27] on courts set up. So if we can
[19:29] get that, perhaps that will
[19:31] help. I know many people like
[19:34] to play that game, so. That
[19:34] s
[19:35] what I
[19:36] m all about. If I could
[19:39] see more, if we could see more
[19:42] activities. We have a lot of
[19:46] seniors in the area, and at my
[19:47] age, I
[19:48] ve learned that you
[19:48] don
[19:50] t put seniors in corners
[19:50] because they
[19:52] re gonna end up
[19:55] dying. We have to give them
[19:57] something to do. And so my
[20:01] thing is we just need more
[20:07] activity. Thank you. Thank you
[20:10] Welcome, Nancy Wallace. And
[20:10] while she
[20:11] s coming up just ask
[20:12] MR. Mihali if someone on staff
[20:14] can give one of the books as
[20:15] well as the grant program.
[20:18] Thank you. But I
[20:18] d appreciate
[20:20] seeing my Narcan that I carry
[20:23] in my purse. Thank you. My name
[20:25] is Nancy Wallace. I live in
[20:26] North Bethesda, and I
[20:27] m
[20:28] testifying tonight on behalf of
[20:29] the Montgomery County Green
[20:30] Party. I
[20:31] m also running for
[20:33] Congress, us House of
[20:35] Representatives, cda just for
[20:36] the purposes of disclosure, not
[20:38] relevant to tonight. I
[20:38] m
[20:41] testifying on behalf of the 150
[20:43] registered Green Party voters
[20:44] in Rockville, multiplied by the
[20:46] 8 times by which we normally
[20:48] get our vote counts. We have
[20:49] the actual absolute opposite of
[20:51] the two major parties. We have
[20:52] far more people voting for our
[20:54] candidates than we do
[20:55] registered. So that looks like
[20:59] a total of 1100 voters for
[21:00] Rockville. We request rank
[21:02] Choice voting for the 2027
[21:05] election. The consultant, we
[21:06] understand, says that you can
[21:06] t
[21:10] do this in 26 months. Rank
[21:13] Choice Voting Maryland, our
[21:14] state nonprofit expert group
[21:15] has provided significant
[21:17] resources to the consultant on
[21:20] how to implement rcv, which is
[21:22] not included in the report. I
[21:22] don
[21:24] t know if the Democratic
[21:25] Party has contacted any of you
[21:27] or the consultant or the city
[21:30] staff, but uh this is doable.
[21:31] Democratic leadership in
[21:33] Annapolis, you MAY know, has
[21:34] killed the bill 5 times in a
[21:36] row, including just the very
[21:37] small pilot from Montgomery
[21:38] County. They do what they call,
[21:39] put it in the drawer. Where
[21:40] they don
[21:41] t even allow a
[21:42] subcommittee hearing. It
[21:43] s very
[21:45] clear that the larger partisan
[21:46] forces here in Maryland right
[21:46] now don
[21:49] t quite get the message
[21:51] that rank Choice voting
[21:52] enhances voting for everybody
[21:54] and in fact would probably keep
[21:57] Democrats in office in the
[21:59] longer term because the um
[22:02] wider points of view are
[22:03] externalized. You moved very
[22:05] quickly on covid, and we
[22:05] re
[22:06] it
[22:08] s very clear for any
[22:08] government activity, if there
[22:09] is a will, there
[22:11] s a way. We do
[22:13] not think the consultant is
[22:14] presenting objective fact-based
[22:15] information to you. I do not
[22:17] want you to be portrayed as
[22:18] incapable of implementing a
[22:22] small change in the marketing
[22:24] and calculation of ballots in
[22:26] more than 2 years. We, the
[22:28] Green Party offered to help you
[22:30] as stakeholders in the design
[22:33] process, testers, trainers, and
[22:35] advertisers for free. To make
[22:37] democracy work as it was
[22:38] intended with true majority
[22:43] voting. Thank you. Thank you
[22:49] Welcome, Ashley Houghton.
[22:50] Followed by Michelle Whittaker.
[22:51] Brilliant. Michelle is unable
[22:52] to make it as she is in green
[22:54] belt, um, but I also have her
[22:54] comments if that
[22:56] s helpful.
[22:58] Hello, my name is Ashley
[22:58] Houghton. I
[22:59] m the chief program
[23:01] officer at FairVote, a national
[23:02] organization, and I appreciate
[23:04] the opportunity to speak
[23:04] tonight. I don
[23:05] t live in
[23:06] Rockville anymore, but I
[23:07] m also
[23:09] a Rockville native. I am so
[23:11] lucky and proud to have grown
[23:13] up in this community. My first
[23:15] date was at the Regal Cinema,
[23:18] and I fully plan to call out
[23:19] teenagers after this meeting
[23:22] and the generational cycle
[23:24] would continue. Fair vote is a
[23:25] national nonpartisan
[23:26] organization that researches
[23:27] and advances voting reforms
[23:29] that make democracy more
[23:30] functional and representative
[23:32] for every American. From this
[23:34] lens, I want to encourage you
[23:36] to bring ranked choice voting
[23:38] to Rockville voters by 2027, if
[23:41] at all possible. I
[23:42] m watching
[23:43] firsthand the power of this
[23:45] reform is is having for voters
[23:47] and for candidates across the
[23:48] country. At a time when there
[23:51] is so much that we are fighting
[23:53] against so much harm being done
[23:55] to communities and to our
[23:56] cities. It
[23:57] s fundamentally
[23:58] important to fight for
[24:01] something and to pass things
[24:02] proactively through solutions.
[24:05] Too often, our elections
[24:05] incentivize mud slinging
[24:08] campaigns, and a race to the
[24:09] bottom as you know, rather than
[24:11] the problem solving that
[24:12] emerges in ranked choice voting
[24:13] systems. I
[24:14] m not saying it
[24:14] s a
[24:16] cure for everything. But when
[24:18] many of us feel like we spend
[24:20] our time opposing the threats
[24:22] to democracy, proactively
[24:23] making our democracy better is
[24:26] proof that we can still do
[24:27] extraordinary things together.
[24:28] And there
[24:30] s no better place for
[24:32] that than Rockville. Despite a
[24:33] sizable Asian-American
[24:35] community, Rockville has never
[24:36] managed to elect an
[24:37] Asian-American candidate to
[24:40] city council. This is a capital
[24:42] adjacent city that can model an
[24:43] effective democracy at a time
[24:46] where it needs our modeling.
[24:47] Nationally, we
[24:48] re facing a
[24:49] representation crisis that
[24:51] needs the leadership of cities
[24:52] that understand what is at
[24:53] stake, and I want Rockville to
[24:55] lead the nation in improving
[24:58] our democracy for all voters. I
[24:58] know you
[24:59] re grappling with how
[25:00] we might implement it, and I
[25:00] d
[25:03] like to ask the council to uh
[25:06] implement a rank choice voting,
[25:09] um, uh, without, uh, a
[25:11] referendum through a resolution.
[25:13] The diversity and this and the
[25:14] population of this
[25:17] extraordinary city is growing.
[25:18] Delaying implementation is
[25:20] delaying fair representation
[25:21] for Rockville voters. We are
[25:22] watching more people run for
[25:24] office than ever before, and we
[25:26] should be encouraged by that,
[25:28] not dismayed by it. Thank you
[25:29] for your consideration and if
[25:29] you
[25:29] d like to find me after
[25:31] this meeting, I will be asking
[25:33] teenagers by the Regal Theater
[25:34] if they are registered to vote.
[25:39] Thank you Welcome, Adam Wise.
[25:42] Followed by Kristen k. Adam
[25:49] Wise first. Thank you. MADAM
[25:50] Mayor and members of the
[25:52] council, my name is Adam Wise.
[25:54] I am a resident of Rockville
[25:55] and a representative of the
[25:58] Maryland Ford Party. We are, we
[25:59] are concerned with repairing
[26:01] and improving the democratic
[26:03] process across the state. Our
[26:04] current voting system awards
[26:05] the position to the candidate
[26:08] who gets the most votes. While
[26:09] this MAY appear logical. In
[26:10] reality, the winner of any race,
[26:12] with more than 2 potential
[26:14] candidates is often elected by
[26:16] a minority of voters. Voters
[26:18] who might be happy with several
[26:19] potential candidates are forced
[26:21] to choose only one. This
[26:22] disregard for the 2nd and 3
[26:24] choices means that it is
[26:26] possible for candidates to win
[26:28] with only 40, 30, or 20%
[26:31] support, not a majority.
[26:33] Marilyn Ford identifies rank
[26:35] choice voting rcv as our
[26:36] primary voting procedure reform,
[26:38] one of our best hopes for
[26:39] improving the democratic
[26:42] process. Without naming names,
[26:43] there is strong evidence across
[26:45] multiple elections that some of
[26:47] the most problematic divisive
[26:48] politicians would never have
[26:49] won their elections if rank
[26:51] choice voting were in place. We
[26:52] understand that the powers that
[26:54] be at the Maryland level are
[26:55] going to take their cues from
[26:57] what happens at the city level
[26:59] on this issue, and that in turn
[27:00] will influence the national
[27:02] debate. So I would encourage
[27:04] the city to use rank choice
[27:06] voting for our elections to
[27:07] give voters more power and more
[27:10] choice. Thank you. Thank you
[27:11] Welcome, Kristen k, followed by
[27:14] Ellen Bach. Do we have a
[27:20] Kristen k here? Ok. Ellen b?
[27:26] Welcome. Hi, City council and
[27:29] mayor. Uh, my name is Ellen. I
[27:31] am a resident of Rockville, and
[27:34] I would like our city to join
[27:35] the number of cities using
[27:38] ranked choice voting to focus
[27:40] local elections on local issues.
[27:41] I would like the citizens of
[27:43] Rockville to have the
[27:45] opportunity to have substantive
[27:47] policy debates and not just get
[27:49] turned off from voting and
[27:51] democracy by watching
[27:53] corporately funded attack ads
[27:55] based on national parties. I
[27:57] loved seeing the actual policy
[27:57] debates that we
[27:58] re going on in
[28:00] the cities that have introduced
[28:02] ranked choice voting that have
[28:04] new ideas and get people
[28:06] excited about the possibility
[28:07] of government. So to echo
[28:09] everything that has been said
[28:10] before, anything you can do to
[28:12] get ranked choice voting to the
[28:14] citizens of Rockville as soon
[28:15] as possible, would, would be
[28:19] wonderful. Thanks. Very much.
[28:22] Um, welcome, Aurora Bristol,
[28:26] followed by Drava Diego Kumar.
[28:26] I
[28:27] m Aura Brister Aura Aura
[28:28] Brister. I am a Rockville City
[28:30] resident and it is, I agree, a
[28:32] completely wonderful city. Um,
[28:34] I am totally tickled pink and
[28:35] pleased every time I see that
[28:36] we get awards for being one of
[28:37] the most diverse places in the
[28:39] entire country. Um, and it
[28:40] s
[28:41] sort of painful to be when I go
[28:43] out and visit my sister-in-law
[28:43] in Montana, and it
[28:45] s not. Um,
[28:46] but I think that as somebody
[28:48] else said before, that
[28:49] diversity is really supported
[28:50] by something like rank Choice
[28:53] voting, where you get to reach
[28:54] in deep to the community and
[28:56] get their voice, get their
[28:58] opinions, rather than just
[29:00] choosing for the, the candidate
[29:01] that maybe seems like it
[29:01] s most
[29:02] likely to win against the
[29:04] person that you hate most.
[29:05] Right? With Rahooting, you
[29:07] actually get to display your
[29:10] full swath of opinion, and that
[29:11] gets to provide diversity,
[29:12] bring really good conversations
[29:15] to the table. And Brett tamped
[29:17] down some of the divisions. I
[29:18] think a lot of what
[29:19] s going on
[29:21] right now nationally and even
[29:22] just the tension that that
[29:24] brings in our own homes, the
[29:25] amount of layoffs that we have
[29:28] in our local area. A lot of
[29:30] that is coming from the
[29:30] escalating one-upmanship in the
[29:34] divisions. Right? Um, I know
[29:35] that Congressman Raskin is
[29:36] supporting ranked choice voting
[29:38] at the national level. He
[29:38] s
[29:40] supporting our local area. I
[29:42] think that we can support it
[29:44] more specifically for our
[29:45] constituents by bringing it
[29:46] here. And I absolutely think
[29:48] that we can make this change in
[29:52] 26 months. We are a capable
[29:53] place and you have a lot of
[29:54] support being offered to you.
[29:55] So please bring it to us as
[29:58] soon as you can. Thank you
[30:09] Welcome driver Diego Kumar All
[30:11] right. Hi, I
[30:12] m not really um
[30:14] prepared for this. It
[30:14] s very
[30:15] emotional for me. I
[30:16] m flustered.
[30:17] I
[30:17] ve been coming here to meet
[30:20] with all of you for many months.
[30:20] You
[30:21] ve been kind enough to meet
[30:23] me in person. I appreciate it,
[30:24] but you haven
[30:25] t done anything
[30:27] for my problem. I, uh, wanna
[30:30] tell you, I pledge allegiance
[30:33] to British America, not Latin
[30:38] America, not um. Um black
[30:39] nationalist militant America. I
[30:41] believe we have a lot of black
[30:43] nationalist militants, even
[30:44] some sitting over here. These
[30:46] are real problems in the county
[30:49] and in the country. I
[30:49] ve become
[30:51] a trumper and I also plan on
[30:54] running for office. I wanna run
[30:58] for United States Congress. MS.
[31:01] Wallace, um, we have a real
[31:04] hate group, white supremacist,
[31:06] religious, ethnic, and jealous
[31:08] hate, and that includes black
[31:10] nationalists, black militants.
[31:11] You all feel you built this
[31:13] country, you have not, or not
[31:17] on your own. We, from India,
[31:18] America have always been a part
[31:21] of the wealth. Everything
[31:23] related to us, Europe,
[31:24] everything. This is something
[31:26] we were not taught in my home
[31:28] country to talk about
[31:30] colonization, and we, we don
[31:30] t,
[31:32] even though the many young ones
[31:34] that come here today in the
[31:37] software, uh, industry, they
[31:37] don
[31:38] t talk about colonization.
[31:41] There is a culture here
[31:43] Everywhere I go, Black people
[31:46] who have benefited from
[31:47] affirmative action or teaching
[31:48] their kids to discriminate
[31:50] against people like us. I
[31:50] ve
[31:53] grown up in a very good
[31:54] multicultural environment with
[31:55] a lot of good black culture and
[31:57] you as a black woman, I want to
[31:58] emphasize this, we
[31:58] ve grown up
[31:59] with a lot of this. I
[32:00] ve I
[32:00] ve
[32:03] lived in New York City. I
[32:03] ve
[32:06] lived in uh Wheaton here in
[32:07] this county, and you all are
[32:08] not doing anything. You
[32:09] re a
[32:11] part of it. We had to, my mom
[32:12] and I, who
[32:13] s in her early 80s,
[32:16] we had to leave our home during
[32:17] your recess. I think you guys
[32:17] think it
[32:18] s funny. I
[32:19] ve even
[32:20] written to you about the
[32:21] three-year idea. It was my idea
[32:24] that I came up with after I saw
[32:25] with this sat down with all
[32:27] these nice people here fighting
[32:28] for rent stabilization. I told
[32:31] them at the end of the meeting,
[32:31] you
[32:33] re fighting for 6% annual.
[32:34] You should also fight for a cap
[32:36] for 3 years. I told you that,
[32:38] and I met with you again a few
[32:39] weeks ago at County Jawando
[32:40] s,
[32:43] uh, councilmember Joeandos, um,
[32:44] fund raising event. You spoke
[32:45] to me, but you haven
[32:45] t replied
[32:46] to my email. It
[32:47] s been over 2
[32:49] weeks. I think you
[32:50] re part of
[32:51] black militant nationalism
[32:52] along with people like David
[32:54] Miles, and I hope you, MISS
[32:55] Ashton, are Mayor Ashton, you
[32:58] seem to have a higher level of
[32:59] integrity that you don
[32:59] t
[33:01] participate in this. I think
[33:01] you don
[33:02] t need to sit down with
[33:04] me. I have a list, 1000 things
[33:06] that I want to go over with you
[33:08] and talk to you about how to
[33:10] make our community better. How
[33:12] to make it safer, and you have
[33:14] not doing it. Even MISTER
[33:14] Mahali hasn
[33:15] t you directed me
[33:17] to meet you for your time. I
[33:19] appreciate it. I know that you
[33:19] have your comments. We
[33:20] appreciate it. I do want to
[33:21] make sure that we don
[33:22] t comment
[33:23] on the race of our colleagues
[33:25] in a derogatory fashion. It
[33:25] s
[33:27] factual, not derogatory. There
[33:30] is a black militant nationalist
[33:31] problem along with white racism.
[33:37] Thank you. All right, is there
[33:38] anyone else who would like to
[33:51] speak? MR. Russo, please join.
[33:52] Good evening. Welcome, welcome
[33:54] back, Mayor and council. My
[33:56] name is Vincent Russo. I
[33:56] m a
[33:58] resident of the city of
[34:00] Rockville and uh I want to
[34:02] comment tonight on the um the
[34:04] election report. I, I read the
[34:07] report and wanted to share some
[34:09] reflections and observations
[34:12] about it. Um, first, I thought
[34:15] it was, uh, wonderful that it
[34:16] acknowledged the many things
[34:18] that Rockville does right, uh,
[34:20] in terms of the city
[34:20] s
[34:21] processes and procedures that
[34:24] the city cleric and Board of
[34:25] Supervisors of Elections follow,
[34:27] and I think this is a
[34:29] reflection or reflects that uh
[34:32] in, in the previous election,
[34:34] we successfully implemented um
[34:36] Bo by mail, the first in the
[34:39] state, and uh. So I think it
[34:39] s
[34:41] good that the report
[34:41] acknowledges what
[34:43] s right. The,
[34:45] the report though is silent
[34:46] about how rank choice voting
[34:49] would work in in the city, um,
[34:53] I, I. Do not understand quite
[34:57] well how it would work for a
[34:58] multi-seat election and uh like
[35:01] we have for our city council,
[35:02] perhaps there
[35:03] s some logic to
[35:05] applying it to the mayoral
[35:06] election, where it
[35:08] s uh a
[35:11] single seat, but, um, applying
[35:13] it uh for the council just uh
[35:13] doesn
[35:15] t seem to make much sense
[35:18] to me where we already, uh, the
[35:19] outcome already reflects the
[35:24] top 6. Vote getters And I do
[35:25] not oppose rank choice voting
[35:27] in principle, but just don
[35:27] t
[35:32] see how it would apply here.
[35:35] The timeline and the, and the
[35:37] uh next steps is very
[35:38] aggressive, uh, and by, you
[35:39] know, there
[35:40] s 26 months left
[35:43] and, and for all, uh, practical
[35:47] purposes, the election code and
[35:49] practices need to be settled on.
[35:51] Well, well over a year in
[35:56] advance, so, um, my uh, urging
[35:58] is to for you to carefully
[36:00] consider what mandate and
[36:02] direction you give tonight,
[36:03] given that time frame and to
[36:07] focus on the priorities that
[36:07] are known known deficiencies in,
[36:11] in, in our current code,
[36:12] particularly around addressing
[36:14] enforcement and the complaint
[36:15] process and uh filing
[36:17] requirements and deadlines, the
[36:18] obligations of organizations
[36:20] that are outside of the city to
[36:22] report in the city. And in
[36:25] terms of the process going
[36:27] forward, does the city
[36:27] attorney
[36:29] s office have the
[36:30] necessary expertise to write
[36:33] the write the election code, um,
[36:34] in the timeline that
[36:34] s
[36:36] presented here, there is
[36:39] nothing about. Um, public input
[36:42] either. So I would ask that you
[36:44] consider what the role for
[36:46] public review and comment is in,
[36:48] in this process. So, um, just
[36:49] wanted to share those, those
[36:51] thoughts. Thank you. Thank you
[36:52] very much. Is there anyone else
[36:53] who would like to speak?
[37:00] Welcome. Hello, Mayor and
[37:02] council, um, sadly, last JULY I
[37:05] was sick and I was unable to
[37:05] attend the rent stabilization
[37:07] meeting that you guys had. So,
[37:08] can you just state your name? I
[37:09] apologize. Oh, sorry. My name
[37:09] s
[37:10] Christopher Maddon. Um, I
[37:11] m a
[37:12] Rockville resident. I
[37:12] m a
[37:13] member of Rockville Runners
[37:15] United and the PRESIDENT Of the
[37:19] Huntington Tenant Association.
[37:21] Watching from on from the live
[37:23] stream. I was very upset by the
[37:26] hypocrisy that I saw. The fact
[37:29] that I saw city council members
[37:31] call who say that they stand
[37:34] against ice and want to fight
[37:36] for immigrant rights, calling
[37:37] out organizations like casa who
[37:40] have been helping on the front
[37:43] lines every single day against
[37:45] ice. Casa is an amazing
[37:46] organization that does really
[37:49] good work for here, especially
[37:50] now, especially with the
[37:52] national divisiveness that we
[37:53] have and the threat that we are
[37:55] under. I
[37:56] m also upset that
[38:00] while many of you want to
[38:02] Germany while people here in
[38:03] Rockville are suffering. People
[38:04] here in Rockwell are getting
[38:05] evicted. We
[38:06] re in an
[38:07] affordability crisis. People
[38:09] cannot pay for their groceries,
[38:09] and we
[38:11] re spending taxpayer
[38:13] money going to Germany and
[38:14] other places that have our
[38:16] sister cities both have rent
[38:18] stabilization. They both have
[38:20] security, that those tenants
[38:21] have security in those cities.
[38:25] So I would like, what one of
[38:27] the other hypocrisies I was
[38:29] very upset about was civility.
[38:31] One thing that does not have
[38:34] civility is an eviction. Why I
[38:35] would recommend everybody on
[38:36] this council please go follow
[38:38] the sheriff and go watch an
[38:40] eviction process. It is a
[38:42] brutal thing to watch. Watching
[38:43] someone
[38:43] s belongings being
[38:45] taken out of their home,
[38:47] watching it being ripped apart
[38:48] from their home and then
[38:49] watching all of their
[38:51] belongings being on a sidewalk
[38:52] and having strangers pick
[38:54] through them like they
[38:54] re
[38:54] garbage. It
[38:56] s not civil. It
[38:56] s
[38:59] not right. Thank you. Please
[38:59] don
[39:00] t interrupt another speaker.
[39:01] Thank you, counsel. Thank you
[39:03] very much for your time. Uh, MR.
[39:15] Becker welcome. I
[39:16] m here to
[39:18] talk about a number of uh
[39:19] topics tonight. Um, my name is
[39:21] John Becker. I live at
[39:22] Americana Center, which is
[39:24] across the street from the
[39:27] Rockville Metro station. Um,
[39:29] this past Tuesday, on the 2nd,
[39:31] I believe there was a
[39:33] swearing-in ceremony of for two
[39:34] officers, not knowing their
[39:36] titles, but I just wanted to
[39:39] say I was a very good event. At
[39:41] that point, at that, uh,
[39:44] ceremony, the chief mentioned
[39:45] some chain additions, some good
[39:45] work that
[39:47] s come in place for
[39:48] the police department and
[39:49] funding and staffing, I guess
[39:51] is what I should say, and I
[39:51] m
[39:53] looking forward to it. I guess
[39:53] that
[39:54] s the beginning of the
[39:56] beginning, so hopefully the
[39:58] things will really change as
[39:59] far as my neighborhood, uh, by
[40:02] the end of the year. Um, I
[40:05] would also like to thank, um,
[40:08] the, um I guess what I wanna
[40:10] say is that the the it
[40:11] s uh
[40:12] Vision Zero report tonight. I
[40:13] read it and there
[40:13] s I have to
[40:15] go back and read it again. It
[40:15] s
[40:16] quite lengthy. And I just
[40:18] wanted to congratulate the
[40:20] staff and uh the department for
[40:21] the what the work they
[40:22] re doing.
[40:23] My only concern I
[40:24] m gonna
[40:25] mention again is the lack of
[40:28] response from our state dot
[40:29] which I will follow up with
[40:31] them on the letter they sent to
[40:32] me which basically didn
[40:32] t say
[40:34] anything and that was the one I
[40:36] received back in FEBRUARY. And
[40:36] this is regarding the safety of
[40:38] the sidewalk and walking and
[40:40] speed limits in town center.
[40:41] And that
[40:42] s Rockville Pike Beers
[40:44] Mill Road, and East Jefferson.
[40:49] Um the bse consultant report uh
[40:52] is gonna be made tonight and I
[40:53] have nothing strong to add
[40:54] other than I was hoping that
[40:58] the consideration of setting up
[40:59] election districts be
[41:01] considered, but that
[41:02] s gonna
[41:03] come again when the next
[41:05] election comes up and I look
[41:06] forward to supporting that
[41:09] effort, especially for us in
[41:11] town center who are not really
[41:12] represented sometimes in city
[41:14] government. Um, the other thing
[41:15] as far as the report, a couple
[41:17] of things. One, it
[41:17] s TikTok,
[41:18] TikTok. There
[41:19] s not much time
[41:21] left to do a lot of things.
[41:23] Good luck And the other thing I
[41:25] wanted to add, this is all uh
[41:26] not original thought for me,
[41:29] but. As far as enforcement and
[41:31] protecting the board of
[41:32] supervisor of elections, I
[41:32] m
[41:34] going to be looking at that and
[41:34] I
[41:34] m, I
[41:35] m quite sure there
[41:35] s a
[41:37] number of other citizens who
[41:39] will also to make sure that the
[41:42] board of supervisors of
[41:43] elections is an independent
[41:45] body per the city charter and
[41:46] any other kind of regulations
[41:50] that are out there. Um, last, I
[41:52] want to say that uh in case has
[41:54] not been mentioned on um
[42:00] Thursday. Um, on the 11th is um
[42:02] 9/11 Memorial Day. And there
[42:02] ll
[42:04] be a ceremony that takes place
[42:05] in the park there across from
[42:07] the courthouse. And I would
[42:10] like to urge anybody who can. I
[42:13] know as time goes on, the
[42:15] attendance drops off because
[42:15] it
[42:18] s about 24 years ago, but I
[42:19] encourage anyone who can spend
[42:21] the time to attend the event
[42:24] and I have those. Who were
[42:25] killed at that event 24 years
[42:28] ago. Thank you very much Thank
[42:32] you That concludes the list of
[42:33] speakers. Is there anyone else
[42:37] who would like to speak? Ok.
[42:38] That you
[42:40] d like them to be.
[42:41] Could you submit them? Ok,
[42:42] perfect. And I was in touch
[42:45] with her today as well. Thank
[42:46] you. We
[42:47] ll now be moving on to
[42:50] the consent agenda. We have
[42:52] MADAM Mayor, we have one on
[42:53] virtual, let
[42:54] s go. Um, MISS
[42:56] Sarah Telfrell, can you just
[43:00] share the name? MADAM Mayor, we
[43:02] have a Chris Hughes on the line.
[43:06] Ok, perfect. Thank you. Hi, can
[43:10] you hear me ok? We can. I, um,
[43:10] sorry for my voice. I
[43:11] m getting
[43:12] over a cold, so I
[43:12] ve been
[43:15] coughing a lot. Um, hope it
[43:15] s
[43:16] understandable. Uh, my name is
[43:17] Chris Hughes, and I
[43:17] m the
[43:19] senior director of policy at
[43:21] the ranks Choice Voting
[43:23] Resource Center. The Rangers
[43:24] Voting Resource Center is a
[43:26] nonpartisan nonprofit. We
[43:27] re a
[43:28] 501c3 that studies and advises
[43:29] on rank to voting elections
[43:30] across the country. I know
[43:30] you
[43:31] ve heard this spiel for me
[43:34] just a month ago, so, uh, this
[43:36] MAY sound familiar. Um we, uh,
[43:38] I wanted to come today, one,
[43:40] just to follow up on some of
[43:42] the written testimony we
[43:44] submitted last week, uh,
[43:45] touching on the implementation
[43:47] timeline for ranked choice
[43:49] voting that folks have spoken
[43:50] about about tonight. I think
[43:50] it
[43:51] s important to keep in mind
[43:54] that in most jurisdictions that
[43:55] have implemented ranked choice
[43:57] voting in the last 10 or 15
[43:58] years. They
[44:00] ve done so within 2
[44:04] years of the adoption. Um, so,
[44:06] for example, Alaska adopted
[44:07] ranked choice voting in their
[44:08] NOVEMBER 2020 election, then
[44:10] implemented it for the first
[44:12] time in actually AUGUST of 2022,
[44:14] it was a bit faster than
[44:16] expected due to a required
[44:17] special election, the regular
[44:19] timeline would have had them
[44:21] implementing it in NOVEMBER of
[44:24] 2022. Um, and what we tend to
[44:27] see in places doing this is
[44:29] that two-year timeline means
[44:31] the energy stays up, means
[44:33] people stay more engaged with
[44:34] the implementation of range
[44:37] choice voting, then if you have
[44:37] a longer implementation
[44:39] timeline. The longer an
[44:41] implementation timeline is if
[44:43] you put it out 4 or 6 years. It
[44:46] can be very challenging to
[44:46] maintain momentum for
[44:48] implementation and to keep
[44:50] community members engaged in
[44:51] the implementation process. I
[44:53] mentioned community members in
[44:53] particular because voter
[44:56] education is a core part of a
[44:57] ranked choice voting
[44:58] implementation and having
[44:59] community partners who are
[45:02] engaged and out speaking to
[45:03] their constituents about what
[45:04] rank choice voting is and how
[45:06] it works. Make sure that voters
[45:08] participating in that rank
[45:10] choice voting election feel
[45:12] empowered and understand the
[45:13] voting method. So, I just
[45:15] wanted to hop on quickly to say
[45:16] that we do recommend if and
[45:17] when you
[45:17] re implementing Rang
[45:19] Choice phone you to do to try
[45:21] and do so within 2 years,
[45:23] because that keeps momentum up
[45:26] and makes it more feasible for
[45:27] community education to go
[45:29] smoothly and for your community
[45:30] to feel bought in on that
[45:31] implementation. I
[45:31] ll also note
[45:34] that we as an organization do
[45:35] provide implementation support
[45:37] to jurisdictions that are
[45:38] implementing rank choice voting.
[45:38] So we
[45:40] re happy to work with the
[45:42] council and with the board of
[45:44] elections on any implementation
[45:46] questions you all MAY have,
[45:47] whether it
[45:48] s related to legal
[45:49] implementation language like
[45:51] was mentioned in some earlier
[45:53] testimony, working with boating
[45:55] equipment, programming voting
[45:56] equipment, designing ballots,
[45:57] displaying results, any number
[45:59] of issues that MAY need to be
[46:00] resolved in the Rahoice funding
[46:00] implementation process. We
[46:01] re
[46:02] happy to advise on and support
[46:05] so that that two-year timeline
[46:06] is also feasible because we
[46:09] know especially smaller
[46:10] jurisdictions like Rockville
[46:12] might need a bit more support.
[46:15] Rather than a state like Alaska
[46:16] that MAY have more resources to
[46:18] draw upon. So thank you again
[46:19] for your time, uh, and have a
[46:23] good night. Thank you very much
[46:23] We
[46:26] ll now move on to consent
[46:27] agenda item number 9a, ratify
[46:29] and improve the city manager
[46:29] s
[46:31] early execution of a Chesapeake
[46:32] Conservation and Climate core
[46:33] program host agreement,
[46:35] Chesapeake Bay Trust for the
[46:36] Environmental Management
[46:37] Division to host the
[46:39] Conservation and Climate Corps
[46:40] member, and b, authorize the
[46:41] city manager to execute
[46:42] Amendment number 1 between the
[46:44] city of Rockville and the state
[46:46] of Maryland, Maryland Energy
[46:48] Administration to provide a
[46:52] no-cost extension contract 24
[46:53] 2024-16520 s1 to Septemb er
[46:57] 30th, 2026. Colleagues, do we
[46:57] have any questions or can we
[47:02] entertain emotion? All right?
[47:03] No questions. Who would like to,
[47:06] right? All right. COUNCILMAN
[47:07] Vanra. MADAM Mayor, I move to
[47:09] approve consent agenda items a
[47:10] and b. Thank you. Do we have a
[47:14] second? Councilor m Jackson.
[47:15] Second, all those in favor,
[47:16] please raise your hand and say
[47:19] aye. Excellent. Thank you very
[47:25] much Uh, so next, uh, we
[47:25] re
[47:26] moving on to our public hearing.
[47:31] Uh, on community needs fy 2027.
[47:34] This is item number 10. Uh
[47:35] develop community development
[47:36] block grant funding. This is a
[47:39] public hearing. And, uh, MISS
[47:40] Sarah Taylor Pharrell has just
[47:44] been properly noticed. MADAM
[47:45] Mayor and councilmember, it was
[47:47] properly noticed in the
[47:50] Washington Post on AUGUST 28th
[47:51] and SEPTEMBER 4th, and also on
[47:51] the city
[47:54] s website. Thank you.
[47:54] And now I
[47:56] ll turn it over to
[47:57] Sarah Maisel to uh introduce
[48:02] this item. Welcome. Thank you.
[48:04] Um, MADAM Mayor and council
[48:04] members, I hope you
[48:06] re having a
[48:09] good evening. Um, this program,
[48:11] we uh received from the county
[48:15] as a sub-grantee, um, and it is
[48:20] a purpose to help the lower to
[48:21] moderate income population
[48:25] within, um, Rockville, um, and
[48:27] we split it into multi-family
[48:29] projects as well as single
[48:33] family, so nonprofits that are
[48:38] looking to provide safe and
[48:39] environmentally sanitary
[48:40] renovations to providing
[48:42] housing, um, and shelter
[48:44] services, as well as single
[48:45] family projects, which are
[48:47] individuals who are doing the
[48:48] same for their own homes that
[48:51] they MAY not be able to um
[48:54] afford otherwise. And so we are
[48:58] doing it for fy 27, um, and I
[48:58] think that
[49:03] s it. Thank you. Is
[49:04] there anyone who would like to
[49:05] speak about open this public
[49:12] hearing? All right. Uh, MR.
[49:15] Mihala, I did ask a brief
[49:17] question about um the cdbd
[49:18] grants and just making sure
[49:20] that um I believe it was rhg
[49:22] had applied for ACs. Ac support,
[49:24] and I just, the, the question
[49:26] for me is sometimes people
[49:28] apply for cdbg funding and we
[49:28] can
[49:29] t fund the whole thing, uh,
[49:31] but I just wanted to make sure
[49:31] that we
[49:32] re keeping in mind if
[49:32] there
[49:34] s going to be a public
[49:37] safety issue given climate
[49:38] change and hot summer. So
[49:38] that
[49:39] s just one of the things I
[49:40] wanted to make sure we
[49:40] re
[49:41] thinking through. We are
[49:42] thinking through that, Mayor.
[49:44] Thank you. Ok. And if we could
[49:45] get the response on those
[49:46] questions, that
[49:47] ll be helpful.
[49:49] Happy to. Excellent. Thank you.
[49:52] All right MISS MISS Maisel, do
[49:53] we need to keep this public
[49:54] hearing open, or can we close
[50:01] it? Um, we can keep it, um I
[50:01] m
[50:03] sorry, we can close it. Ok,
[50:04] thank you very much for your
[50:07] time. Really appreciate it. All
[50:07] right, we
[50:09] ll now move on to
[50:11] agenda item 11a. Accept the
[50:11] consultant
[50:12] s final report on
[50:15] the election code update. And I
[50:17] know MR. Mihalik is gonna
[50:18] introduce this item followed by
[50:22] MR. Jason Ganz. Mayor and
[50:23] members of council. Good
[50:25] evening. Just wanted to kind of
[50:27] frame uh this topic, um, where
[50:27] we
[50:28] re headed this evening,
[50:28] where we
[50:29] ve been, and then what
[50:31] are the next steps, um, because
[50:31] it
[50:31] s, it
[50:32] s been quite a process
[50:32] and it, it
[50:34] ll continue. So as
[50:35] the American council knows, we
[50:38] hired the, the gang group a
[50:40] number of months ago, um, to
[50:41] develop a series of
[50:43] recommendations to us on how we
[50:45] might update our election
[50:47] process and more specifically
[50:49] our election code. Mayor
[50:50] council had um two work
[50:52] sessions over the over the
[50:53] summer, and we actually had
[50:55] quite a bit of citizen
[50:57] engagement and events out in
[50:58] the community for people to
[51:00] provide their input on the
[51:00] grant. So tonight you
[51:01] re going
[51:03] to hear from Jason Gant, owner
[51:05] of the g ant Group, on his
[51:07] recommendations on the final
[51:08] report. Let me stress to you
[51:09] that tonight we
[51:10] re asking you
[51:12] to simply um accept the report,
[51:13] and that doesn
[51:13] t mean adopt it
[51:15] and what it means by accepting
[51:17] the report is that MR. Gann is
[51:19] coming up with a number of
[51:20] different recommendations and
[51:21] different options. You guys
[51:21] don
[51:22] t have to make those
[51:23] decisions this evening exactly
[51:25] what you want to do. You
[51:25] re
[51:26] really accepting it. You
[51:26] re
[51:28] thanking him for his work, and
[51:28] then we
[51:29] re moving on to the
[51:31] next step of the process, which
[51:33] is really turning it over to
[51:33] the city attorney
[51:33] s office to
[51:35] begin begin the drafting
[51:36] process, to begin drafting the
[51:39] code itself. Um, there MAY be
[51:40] some areas where we still still
[51:41] need a little bit more feedback
[51:43] from mayor and council. So as
[51:45] we develop that code in-house
[51:47] and we have some, I guess,
[51:49] divergent points. We MAY
[51:50] develop a simple survey or some
[51:51] a questionnaire for each of you
[51:52] to fill out to make sure we
[51:53] re
[51:54] on the right path and then
[51:54] we
[51:55] ll have a work session or
[51:56] two to make sure that we
[51:56] re on
[51:58] the right path, um, as, uh, the
[51:59] city attorney
[52:00] s Office for
[52:00] prepares the code, and then
[52:01] we
[52:02] ll ask for that to be
[52:04] adopted in the near future. I
[52:05] think everybody has stressed
[52:06] over the past couple of months
[52:07] that we need to get moving on
[52:08] this. I think we
[52:12] re making good
[52:14] code to have additional public
[52:15] engagement so we can have a
[52:17] great election in the very near
[52:18] future. So without I turn over
[52:19] to the chasing camp from the
[52:20] gang group, and he
[52:21] s gonna walk
[52:23] you through a very brief report
[52:23] and then I
[52:24] ll ask, entertain
[52:25] any questions. Thank you, Mayor.
[52:27] Thank you very much. Welcome,
[52:30] MR. Gant. Thank you. It
[52:31] s great
[52:34] to be here again and um uh it
[52:34] s
[52:36] amazing how fast the past few
[52:37] months have gone with this
[52:41] process. Um, but I believe that
[52:41] uh we
[52:43] ve uh attacked almost
[52:46] every object and every uh idea
[52:49] that has come across, um, some
[52:52] ideas have an in-depth review
[52:53] and in-depth analysis, um,
[52:55] other areas are more, uh
[52:57] top-level, um, with just some
[53:01] ideas and some of the uh uh
[53:01] possibilities for what the
[53:06] future could hold. So some of
[53:09] our background, we had the work
[53:10] sessions together. We had
[53:12] community engagements and then
[53:15] meeting with the bse, um, and
[53:16] other appointed officials
[53:23] numerous times. In the report,
[53:26] I give a number of
[53:30] recommendations, um, to start
[53:32] we overviewed the election laws,
[53:34] which, um, it was very clear in
[53:35] the scope of work that you
[53:35] didn
[53:37] t want me to rewrite it,
[53:39] but you wanted me to provide
[53:42] some ideas and some areas that
[53:45] needed uh to be um analyzed and
[53:46] reviewed and determined whether
[53:47] or not they should be changed
[53:50] or whether they could uh
[53:53] continue as is, and as you go
[53:54] through um the report starting
[53:56] on page 5 there with election
[53:59] laws, um, the city code, the ch
[54:01] ar ter uh, there
[54:02] s so many
[54:03] different sections to where
[54:05] this is, um, with all of the
[54:07] ideas and changes that we need
[54:08] to implement. You can see how
[54:09] that
[54:10] s going to be uh quite a
[54:11] challenge over the next few
[54:13] months to put together the new
[54:19] code, uh, for those areas, um
[54:20] election process and procedures
[54:24] which begins on 8, went through
[54:24] the standard operating
[54:27] procedures, uh, from the
[54:27] clerk
[54:29] s office and wonderful
[54:30] start on what is there and how
[54:32] elections are to be
[54:34] administered, um, so very
[54:36] pleased with how all of that
[54:37] turned out. Um, obviously, when
[54:39] you have a third party taking a
[54:39] look at things, um, there
[54:40] s
[54:42] always going to be a few little
[54:44] ideas here and there, um, and,
[54:47] and I put those uh
[54:48] recommendations within uh each
[54:52] of those various areas. Um.
[54:52] Whether it
[54:54] s pre-election,
[54:55] election day, post-election, um,
[54:56] one of the things I wanted to
[54:58] point out in the post-election
[55:01] was considering of an audit, um,
[55:05] so many times we have uh uh
[55:07] certain individuals who think
[55:07] that there
[55:08] s something wrong
[55:10] with the election process. Well,
[55:12] by conducting an audit after
[55:14] all the official uh votes are
[55:15] counted and everything is
[55:18] certified to go through one
[55:21] more process of verifying that
[55:22] everything with the counting
[55:25] machines. It just gives you one
[55:26] more opportunity to let the
[55:29] public know that we have done
[55:30] everything we believe is
[55:32] necessary to make sure that we
[55:35] run a fair and free election.
[55:37] Campaign finance begins on page
[55:39] 16, and that
[55:40] s where uh we
[55:40] ve
[55:43] definitely have a lot of new
[55:47] ideas, um, many, many
[55:48] recommendations on political
[55:50] committees defining the various
[55:52] types of political committees,
[55:53] uh, the different candidate
[55:55] committees, the Slate
[55:56] committees, independent
[55:58] expenditure reporting, um,
[55:58] that
[55:59] s definitely something
[56:00] that we want to clear up in the
[56:03] code in the future to make it
[56:04] rock solid on what is and is
[56:07] not allowed and then have the
[56:09] enforcement uh portion with
[56:11] that as well. Uh, defining of
[56:14] what those campaign activities
[56:16] are determining um how
[56:19] enforcement is going to be uh
[56:21] processed in the future. Uh,
[56:23] the board of supervisors of
[56:25] elections starting on page 21,
[56:27] they definitely have a
[56:28] tremendous amount of
[56:29] responsibilities, uh, whether
[56:29] it
[56:30] s set out in the charter or
[56:32] in the code. I think it
[56:32] s
[56:33] important to read through all
[56:35] of those to understand what
[56:35] you
[56:37] re asking of this board to
[56:40] do, uh, in preparation during
[56:42] and after each election every 4
[56:45] years. Going through all of
[56:46] their roles and
[56:48] responsibilities, their
[56:50] enforcement authority, um, and
[56:52] then getting to ballot measures
[56:55] from 2023, starting on page 24
[56:58] with the voting age and term
[56:59] limits and representative
[57:02] districts, uh, additional ideas,
[57:03] rank choice voting was the top
[57:05] there, which we obviously heard
[57:07] a lot about, um, over the last
[57:08] few meetings and tonight as
[57:10] well. Um, so there
[57:11] s some
[57:15] options there. Um uh, public
[57:16] financing, democracy vouchers,
[57:19] plans for the future, a lot of
[57:21] different areas that uh uh took
[57:25] some general comments. And then
[57:28] we get to page 29, which is the
[57:29] final recommendations, and
[57:30] those are with the election
[57:33] laws, um, that we definitely
[57:37] need um for your sake, for the
[57:37] bse
[57:37] s sake, for staff
[57:38] s sake,
[57:39] for the public
[57:40] s sake, clearing
[57:43] up the election code by having
[57:45] election administration as one
[57:46] area, campaign finance as
[57:49] another, um, campaign finance,
[57:49] there
[57:50] s just too much
[57:53] information that is compiled
[57:54] into that main election code
[57:56] that if you start separating
[57:56] that out, you
[57:58] re gonna make it
[57:59] much easier for everyone
[58:00] involved to understand what the
[58:02] rules are, what the
[58:05] expectations are, and uh how to
[58:07] enforce those regulations. Um,
[58:08] the election process and
[58:09] procedures, um, like we had
[58:10] talked about at one of the
[58:12] meetings was creating the
[58:14] master handbook and sorting it
[58:15] into those pre-election
[58:17] election day and post-election
[58:20] activities, um, there
[58:21] s a
[58:22] fantastic uh process in place,
[58:23] uh, that the clerk
[58:24] s office has
[58:25] put together, um, so it
[58:26] s just
[58:30] kind of tidying that up and and
[58:32] uh implementing a few various
[58:33] uh changes there. A campaign
[58:34] finance like we talked about
[58:37] creating that. Its own section
[58:39] would definitely make things
[58:41] easier for everyone. Um, the
[58:44] bse, they should conti continue
[58:45] with their current
[58:46] responsibilities, um, but they
[58:48] should probably have more
[58:51] authority and that additional
[58:53] authority is clearer
[58:54] enforcement guidelines, um,
[58:55] putting together that within
[58:57] the code so that when
[58:58] complaints are received, no
[59:00] matter what type of complaint
[59:01] it is that there
[59:02] s a clear set
[59:03] of rules that they need to
[59:04] follow. So there isn
[59:05] t
[59:06] confusion from their stand.
[59:08] From their standpoint or from
[59:14] the public standpoint. And then
[59:16] lastly was the ballot measures
[59:18] from 2023, um, implementing the
[59:20] 16 and 17 year olds. Um, it was
[59:22] definitely agreed that, uh,
[59:23] from an administration
[59:25] standpoint, that could be
[59:27] implemented, um, that would be
[59:29] an easy thing to do with the
[59:32] state and the county, so there
[59:32] wouldn
[59:35] t be um any type of
[59:36] issues with admini with
[59:39] creating that. New process for
[59:39] younger voters to start the
[59:43] process. Lastly, on page 30
[59:45] where the next steps, um, I
[59:46] m
[59:46] recommending creating a
[59:47] committee, uh, that would
[59:49] include at least the city clerk,
[59:51] a bsc member, and an election
[59:54] law attorney to start going
[59:56] through these recommendations
[59:58] as well as um the bse has
[1:00:00] submitted recommendations from
[1:00:01] back from the 2023 election. Um,
[1:00:04] I think there were also
[1:00:05] recommendations from 2019, so
[1:00:07] you have a lot of
[1:00:08] recommendations there of
[1:00:09] concerns that have come up in
[1:00:11] the past. You can use those in
[1:00:13] addition to my report. And
[1:00:16] begin that process. Um, I
[1:00:16] m
[1:00:18] recommending that uh you start
[1:00:19] with one area, don
[1:00:19] t try and
[1:00:21] tackle the whole thing at once,
[1:00:24] um. Start with that, bring it
[1:00:27] to the council, keep everyone
[1:00:29] apprised, um, obviously these
[1:00:30] would be public meetings, so
[1:00:31] the public would have an
[1:00:34] opportunity to visit there, but
[1:00:34] it
[1:00:37] s starting that process and
[1:00:38] then not finalizing anything
[1:00:40] until the whole process has
[1:00:43] completed because as you are
[1:00:43] starting with the election
[1:00:45] administration, and then you
[1:00:46] get to some campaign finance
[1:00:49] issues, you MAY see some
[1:00:51] crossover back and forth, so it
[1:00:52] wouldn
[1:00:53] t be advisable to app ro
[1:00:55] ve an election administration
[1:00:57] section before you approved the
[1:00:57] campaign finance. You need to
[1:00:59] do it all at once because there
[1:01:01] are things that go back and
[1:01:03] forth and you wanna, especially
[1:01:04] the definitions, you want to
[1:01:06] make sure that those are all
[1:01:08] clear, whether it
[1:01:09] s election
[1:01:09] administration talk or campaign
[1:01:11] finance. Um, it
[1:01:12] s definitely an
[1:01:16] aggressive timeline, um 2027,
[1:01:16] seems like it
[1:01:17] s far away, but
[1:01:17] it
[1:01:19] s definitely right around
[1:01:20] the corner, and you
[1:01:20] re gonna
[1:01:22] wanna be able to give city
[1:01:24] staff enough time. To implement
[1:01:27] all of the changes, uh, but I
[1:01:28] definitely believe that you can
[1:01:31] do it, and, uh, it could get
[1:01:33] done by early next summer in
[1:01:34] preparation for the fall of 207.
[1:01:37] So I want to thank you very
[1:01:39] much for the opportunity uh to
[1:01:40] put together this review. Uh,
[1:01:41] it
[1:01:42] s been fun getting to know
[1:01:45] the staff and the bsc and um a
[1:01:46] number of members from the
[1:01:47] public at the different uh
[1:01:49] events that have took place. I
[1:01:51] definitely have learned a lot
[1:01:51] more about rent stabilization
[1:01:53] than I ever thought I would,
[1:01:55] but, um, um, it
[1:01:55] s been great
[1:01:56] and I appreciate the
[1:01:57] opportunity and I would
[1:02:00] definitely, uh, entertain any
[1:02:00] questions or anything that you
[1:02:04] MAY have. Thank you. Uh, I have,
[1:02:05] uh, just want to say thank you
[1:02:06] for this report. Uh, I wanted
[1:02:08] to note we are, uh, making a
[1:02:10] decision whether to accept the
[1:02:11] report or not, but we
[1:02:11] re not
[1:02:12] necessarily going fine tooth
[1:02:13] comb because this is your
[1:02:14] report to us. It doesn
[1:02:15] t mean
[1:02:16] that we are saying yes to
[1:02:17] everything in it. So I just
[1:02:20] wanted to, uh, state that for
[1:02:21] the listening public, um, also
[1:02:23] just wanna, uh, thank you for
[1:02:24] being on this journey with us.
[1:02:24] We
[1:02:25] re trying to do some
[1:02:26] ambitious things to make sure
[1:02:28] that we are updating our
[1:02:29] election code, looking at what
[1:02:30] could have happened better. We
[1:02:31] have to get the fundamentals
[1:02:34] done while also looking at new
[1:02:37] initiatives to advance. So, um,
[1:02:38] I appreciate the, uh, all of
[1:02:39] our appointeds, the city
[1:02:39] manager
[1:02:40] s office, the city
[1:02:40] attorney
[1:02:41] s office, city cleric,
[1:02:43] as well as you for helping to
[1:02:44] guide us and the many residents
[1:02:46] who have testified and weighed
[1:02:48] in on a variety of topics all
[1:02:50] throughout, um, as we take
[1:02:52] questions on this. I wanted to
[1:02:54] ask one broader question. We
[1:02:57] have had multiple sessions on,
[1:02:59] uh, our election code and we
[1:02:59] ve
[1:03:01] also, uh, you know, done straw
[1:03:02] polling and weighed in, uh, and
[1:03:03] looked at where we had a
[1:03:06] majority. Um, is there a list
[1:03:08] of the actions that we have
[1:03:08] already taken so that we don
[1:03:09] t
[1:03:10] feel like we have to repeat
[1:03:11] them here today. So I just want
[1:03:13] to confirm whether the mayor
[1:03:15] and council can receive that
[1:03:16] list. Mayor, I have a very
[1:03:17] detailed list. In fact, I
[1:03:17] m
[1:03:18] looking at it in case you
[1:03:19] brought it up and I
[1:03:19] m happy to
[1:03:20] share it with all of you. Thank
[1:03:22] you. If that could be emailed
[1:03:23] to us and just in case we see
[1:03:25] anything that we want to
[1:03:27] clarify. Excellent. And then as
[1:03:29] the city attorney moves through,
[1:03:31] um, looking at the high-level
[1:03:32] comments wanting to dig in deep
[1:03:33] with us if there are questions
[1:03:35] that you all you have before
[1:03:36] writing code or during, we
[1:03:38] would welcome them as well. All
[1:03:40] right, I want to turn to my
[1:03:42] colleagues, Doctor Miles. Thank
[1:03:43] you, MADAM Mayor. I just wanted
[1:03:46] to be clear about what we
[1:03:46] re
[1:03:46] doing. We
[1:03:47] re so we
[1:03:47] re just
[1:03:49] listening, and even if we have
[1:03:53] points. With which we don
[1:03:53] t
[1:03:55] necessarily agree, we would
[1:03:57] handle that at a subsequent
[1:03:58] meeting or what do you, what
[1:04:00] are your thoughts? So I we are
[1:04:04] in this together Um, I will say
[1:04:04] that, uh, we don
[1:04:05] t have to
[1:04:06] repeat everything we
[1:04:06] ve said
[1:04:07] previously because we
[1:04:07] ve
[1:04:08] weighed in, but if there
[1:04:08] s
[1:04:09] something that you wanted to
[1:04:11] put a finer tooth comb on or
[1:04:12] just wanted to make a comment
[1:04:14] about or ask a further question
[1:04:15] about the report. We, we
[1:04:15] d
[1:04:16] welcome that. Ok, I mean, I
[1:04:18] just have one quick comment,
[1:04:19] but I, I
[1:04:20] m just not sure if
[1:04:21] this is an appropriate form or
[1:04:24] not. If so, I can it
[1:04:25] s a
[1:04:25] comment didn
[1:04:26] t even necessarily
[1:04:27] need a, need a reply, but i
[1:04:29] just wanted to put it out there.
[1:04:31] The only, um, and again, I echo
[1:04:32] the thanks, MADAM Mayor, that
[1:04:34] you have to, to you, sir, for,
[1:04:35] for your help in, in working
[1:04:37] with us. This is a long time in
[1:04:39] making, as well as the public
[1:04:39] who
[1:04:40] s participated in this
[1:04:43] process. The only point I
[1:04:43] ll
[1:04:46] make is um there was a a
[1:04:47] recommendation, I think it
[1:04:48] s on
[1:04:50] page 78 that the board of
[1:04:51] supervisors of elections should
[1:04:53] be able to independently, I
[1:04:54] believe, issue penalties and
[1:04:55] hold hearings without either
[1:04:57] approval of the city clerk or
[1:04:58] city attorneys. That
[1:04:58] s the only
[1:05:01] part I would uh want to think
[1:05:03] about some more before we move
[1:05:03] forward. That
[1:05:03] s, that
[1:05:03] s all I
[1:05:05] have to say. Thank you very
[1:05:09] much, Doctor Miles Welcome, uh,
[1:05:10] COUNCILMAN Vanreg. Um, I guess
[1:05:13] this is a note to, uh, I guess
[1:05:15] staff because, I mean, I
[1:05:16] appreciate um the electric
[1:05:16] consultant for putting this
[1:05:18] through. I know there
[1:05:18] s some
[1:05:20] issues here that had some
[1:05:21] slight slight conflict with
[1:05:22] some of the things that we
[1:05:23] talked about. I know just as
[1:05:24] the mayor said, there was a
[1:05:26] number of straw polls,
[1:05:27] including ranked er voting that
[1:05:30] we talked about. I wanna make
[1:05:32] sure if possible to have some
[1:05:35] type of guidance or list of
[1:05:36] what is anticipated to be put
[1:05:40] in the the draft code before we
[1:05:41] get too far along, cause what
[1:05:42] i
[1:05:43] d not like to have happen is
[1:05:45] that we have a draft code that
[1:05:49] we have a month to approve
[1:05:51] without clarifying an insurance
[1:05:52] that the substance of that
[1:05:54] draft comports to what the
[1:05:56] mayor and council is desires,
[1:05:58] the majority of it, to see, is
[1:06:01] there some way in which we can
[1:06:03] understand what is the content
[1:06:05] to be put in there prior to
[1:06:06] actually having the drafting
[1:06:08] occur. So what I
[1:06:08] d recommend is
[1:06:09] I
[1:06:09] ll, I
[1:06:11] ll work with, um, all
[1:06:13] three appointed, uh, appointees
[1:06:14] will get together. Um, perhaps
[1:06:14] we
[1:06:15] ll develop an outline of
[1:06:16] what we think that coal might
[1:06:17] look like. Share that with the
[1:06:18] council and make sure we
[1:06:18] re on
[1:06:19] the right path before we have
[1:06:20] our first work session, because
[1:06:20] you
[1:06:21] re right, the last one we
[1:06:23] want to do is to have the city
[1:06:24] attorney
[1:06:25] s office spend all
[1:06:26] kinds of work on something you
[1:06:28] guys are not looking for, but
[1:06:28] we
[1:06:30] ll use the basis of the
[1:06:30] consultant
[1:06:31] s report, the
[1:06:32] summary that I just emailed to
[1:06:33] all of you, which is all of
[1:06:35] your comments, the straw polls,
[1:06:36] etc. And then we
[1:06:36] ll come up
[1:06:38] with an outline and think where
[1:06:38] we
[1:06:40] re headed before we put pen
[1:06:41] to paper, we meaning City
[1:06:41] attorney
[1:06:42] s office to get a
[1:06:43] detailed report. Hopefully that
[1:06:45] works for everybody. And, and
[1:06:46] just to clarify, that
[1:06:47] s not
[1:06:48] necessarily going directly to
[1:06:48] what
[1:06:49] s here, but also
[1:06:50] encompassing all of what we
[1:06:50] ve
[1:06:51] been talking about during our
[1:06:52] multiple work session. Correct.
[1:06:53] We took detailed notes.
[1:06:56] Excellent. Thank you very much.
[1:06:58] Thank you. And I
[1:06:58] ll just
[1:07:00] continue adding on this theme,
[1:07:01] uh, so I thank you for setting
[1:07:02] the summary. We
[1:07:02] ll take a look
[1:07:04] at that and see if we have any
[1:07:05] questions. I know we need time
[1:07:08] to review it, um, and you
[1:07:08] ll
[1:07:09] get the, you know, an outline
[1:07:11] to the marri council of what
[1:07:12] the key components of the code
[1:07:14] are, um, the, the other piece I
[1:07:17] think is important is to map
[1:07:17] out a timeline because we do
[1:07:19] have to think about as, you
[1:07:21] know, the public input process,
[1:07:23] a time for revisions, looking
[1:07:25] at mapping things out on our
[1:07:26] calendar so we can schedule
[1:07:27] those in before they get filled.
[1:07:30] Um, I do take the point of we
[1:07:31] should have things developed
[1:07:34] and, you know, approved way in
[1:07:35] advance of the actual election.
[1:07:36] I understand that it
[1:07:37] s not just
[1:07:38] a code, but then the city clerk
[1:07:41] has to help work on the
[1:07:42] election guide and training
[1:07:43] materials and anyone who
[1:07:44] s new
[1:07:46] to office deserves that
[1:07:48] information, um, or even
[1:07:48] running again, um, I just want
[1:07:50] to make sure that we
[1:07:50] re, we
[1:07:51] re
[1:07:52] not changing things midcourse
[1:07:53] and everyone has a chance to
[1:07:55] learn about what our policies
[1:07:56] are, and that residents have a
[1:07:57] chance to see how we
[1:07:57] re
[1:08:01] operating the election. Uh, so
[1:08:02] what, when are you thinking
[1:08:03] about sending out, I know
[1:08:03] you
[1:08:04] re gonna meet with your,
[1:08:06] your appointees, but if you
[1:08:07] could just get back to us on a
[1:08:08] proposed timeline. There is
[1:08:10] something in the report. I know
[1:08:11] MR. Gant said it
[1:08:12] s ambitious,
[1:08:12] uh, but I don
[1:08:13] t, so I don
[1:08:13] t, I
[1:08:14] don
[1:08:15] t know if that
[1:08:15] s the
[1:08:16] approved timeline by you all or
[1:08:17] if you
[1:08:18] re gonna give us
[1:08:19] something different. Yeah, give
[1:08:19] us 30 days. We
[1:08:21] ll come up with,
[1:08:23] um, an overall timeline
[1:08:23] including a community
[1:08:24] engagement plan. I
[1:08:24] m gonna make
[1:08:25] sure the city attorney
[1:08:26] s office,
[1:08:26] city clerk
[1:08:27] s office, my office,
[1:08:27] we
[1:08:28] re all on the same page on
[1:08:30] this, Mayor. Thank you. Thank
[1:08:32] you very much Thank you,
[1:08:35] Councilor Marshaw I just want
[1:08:37] to echo my colleagues and, and
[1:08:39] share, uh, thanks and
[1:08:40] appreciation for the report. I
[1:08:44] know we had a lot of um
[1:08:45] conversations and a lot of
[1:08:47] different thoughts, and so I
[1:08:48] appreciate uh you putting the
[1:08:50] report together as well as
[1:08:53] staff, um, compiling our um a
[1:08:55] summary of our remarks. Um, I,
[1:09:01] I, I also just wanted to add um
[1:09:03] uh, if it is possible to have
[1:09:06] Jedi staff also just review
[1:09:07] this summary, um, just to have
[1:09:09] a, a lens, Jedi are our justice,
[1:09:13] equity, diversity and inclusion
[1:09:14] staff review um the direction
[1:09:16] we shared, um, moving forward,
[1:09:19] it will just help to make our
[1:09:20] elections more equitable. Yeah,
[1:09:20] we
[1:09:20] re happy to do that as part
[1:09:25] of the next steps. Thank you.
[1:09:29] COUNCILMAN Valeri I
[1:09:30] ll ditto
[1:09:30] everyone
[1:09:32] s, uh, kudos and
[1:09:33] thanks so that we can keep
[1:09:35] things moving, but everybody
[1:09:37] said pretty much what has been
[1:09:38] in my head. Um, I know how
[1:09:41] tough it is. Um to pull these
[1:09:42] kind of reports together and
[1:09:45] especially when you are
[1:09:47] combining um 7 elected
[1:09:47] officials
[1:09:48] ideas, uh, it
[1:09:49] s,
[1:09:49] it
[1:09:51] s never easy because we
[1:09:53] probably have 7 different ideas.
[1:09:56] Um, I will say that I just
[1:09:57] skimmed through, uh, thank you,
[1:10:00] MR. City Manager for uh what
[1:10:03] you emailed. Um, I, I would
[1:10:06] probably expand a little bit on
[1:10:09] the summary, um, because it, it
[1:10:11] needs a little bit more
[1:10:14] granularity to it. So even put
[1:10:15] like categorizing um the longer
[1:10:17] list would be helpful instead
[1:10:19] of just summarizing, um, so
[1:10:20] that we can basically, so we
[1:10:23] can create a, a checklist of
[1:10:25] perhaps items that we do need
[1:10:27] to strap hold on to say, you
[1:10:29] know, the majority, um feel
[1:10:31] this way on that, etc. Blah
[1:10:32] blah blah. Um, because I think
[1:10:32] that
[1:10:33] s where I was struggling.
[1:10:36] I was reading the report and I,
[1:10:39] you know, did not have the, the
[1:10:40] benefit of time to rewatch all
[1:10:42] of our election work sessions
[1:10:44] to see whether or not we had
[1:10:46] actually straw voted on it
[1:10:49] strawold, voted on that or not.
[1:10:50] Um, I do want to highlight
[1:10:52] there are a lot of things um,
[1:10:54] of course, that I could say
[1:10:56] about um the draft report, but
[1:10:58] it actually dovetails a little
[1:11:00] bit with what um council member
[1:11:02] shot just said and I noted um
[1:11:06] in a couple of sections that
[1:11:11] things like um, accepting, um,
[1:11:12] electronic signatures for
[1:11:14] candidate petitions was not um
[1:11:17] was not found to be, um, uh,
[1:11:18] should not be done. There
[1:11:19] s no
[1:11:20] big benefit. It, there is a
[1:11:22] huge benefit when it comes to
[1:11:23] accessibility, um, when it
[1:11:26] comes to people with low vision
[1:11:28] or mobility impairments or
[1:11:30] folks who, um, uh just need
[1:11:32] that, that little bit of extra.
[1:11:35] I felt personally, um, during
[1:11:36] the candidate petition process.
[1:11:38] I was frankly really
[1:11:40] embarrassed to ask people um
[1:11:41] with vision impairments to sign
[1:11:43] a thing where the box was like
[1:11:46] this small, um, and I think, um,
[1:11:48] looking through all of this
[1:11:49] through that lens of how can we
[1:11:53] make our election process the
[1:11:55] most accessible, um, and err on
[1:11:57] the side of going above and
[1:11:58] beyond, rather than like the
[1:12:00] bare minimum. Um, I think, I
[1:12:02] think would be great. Um,
[1:12:03] another one that I noted, um,
[1:12:06] and I think just across the
[1:12:08] board noting this issue, making
[1:12:12] things, um. Making things like
[1:12:14] the candidate handbook, making
[1:12:15] it more easily read by screen
[1:12:17] readers. There were a lot of
[1:12:18] things that were available
[1:12:20] online, but um really just need
[1:12:23] to have a pass-through of, of
[1:12:24] overall digital accessibility.
[1:12:26] Um, I think would be, would be
[1:12:28] really helpful, but um I
[1:12:28] ll
[1:12:29] reserve the rest of mine, but I
[1:12:31] just really wanted to put a, a
[1:12:32] pin on those because I think
[1:12:33] it
[1:12:33] s something that is not
[1:12:37] really addressed. Thank you,
[1:12:39] Councilor Jackson. Oh, thank
[1:12:41] you, Mayor. Uh, I won
[1:12:42] t repeat
[1:12:43] what everybody else has said. I,
[1:12:45] I agree with much of it. Uh,
[1:12:48] first, thank you for a very
[1:12:49] comprehensive report. Um, I
[1:12:50] think you get rid us a lot to
[1:12:52] think about. Um, you
[1:12:52] ve done a
[1:12:54] good job, uh, looking at the
[1:12:56] issues, bringing them out, uh,
[1:12:58] both as administrative and uh
[1:12:59] with the campaign finance
[1:13:02] reform, as well as uh what um
[1:13:05] what could add, um, I think
[1:13:06] there
[1:13:07] s some work that we can
[1:13:09] do in the coming weeks, uh, to
[1:13:11] flesh us out a little bit. And
[1:13:15] this, this, um, some lack of
[1:13:17] clarity in the report, which is,
[1:13:18] is fine because it
[1:13:20] s a really
[1:13:23] detailed report and uh with
[1:13:24] many different components and
[1:13:27] some of them don
[1:13:28] t necessarily
[1:13:30] um uh align. Um, there
[1:13:31] s uh one
[1:13:33] part where you said that the
[1:13:36] border seizure pro advisors of
[1:13:37] elections should investigate.
[1:13:39] And then another part you say
[1:13:41] where the uh uh clerk
[1:13:41] s office
[1:13:42] should investigate. And so
[1:13:43] those, those are the kind of
[1:13:44] things that I think we need to
[1:13:47] flesh out more, uh, moving
[1:13:48] forward. I did want to ask one
[1:13:51] question though, um, uh, just
[1:13:52] the specifics, but it
[1:13:53] s to
[1:13:54] illustrate a point. You, you
[1:13:58] say 12 months, um, we shouldn
[1:13:59] t,
[1:14:00] um, adopt anything new for the
[1:14:02] election. What do you mean by
[1:14:05] that? 1, 12 months. When, when
[1:14:06] does the election start in your,
[1:14:10] your view? 12 months would be
[1:14:10] 12 months, so it
[1:14:11] d be NOVEMBER
[1:14:14] of 26, I think, see, and I
[1:14:16] would say that it should start
[1:14:20] 12 months from, uh, when
[1:14:20] candidates are approved or
[1:14:23] announced. Sure, yeah, you
[1:14:25] could say 18 months from
[1:14:26] election day as well. Um, the,
[1:14:29] the biggest thing with that is
[1:14:30] the administrative side because
[1:14:31] anytime you would make a change
[1:14:34] to the code that er that close
[1:14:35] to an election, puts the onus
[1:14:36] then on the city clerk
[1:14:37] s office
[1:14:38] to try and update whatever that
[1:14:40] is. Like if you said you were
[1:14:42] changing the number of
[1:14:43] signatures from 50 to 1000 or
[1:14:45] something. The city clerk is
[1:14:47] going to need time to update
[1:14:50] all of the reports and the, so
[1:14:52] giving them thinking. Of the
[1:14:54] entire process, not just of
[1:14:56] wanting to change something.
[1:14:56] There
[1:14:57] s so many ripples to that.
[1:14:58] No, and I think we
[1:14:59] re in
[1:15:01] agreement on that, but it
[1:15:02] s the
[1:15:02] Pacific
[1:15:04] s, uh, that I
[1:15:05] m just
[1:15:05] concerned about because unless
[1:15:09] we kind of nail it down, uh, 12
[1:15:11] months from this side or from
[1:15:13] the election can mean different
[1:15:15] things to different people. And
[1:15:18] so, I, I have other questions,
[1:15:18] but I
[1:15:19] ll save them for another
[1:15:21] time, but thank you very much
[1:15:21] for your work. I know it
[1:15:22] s s a
[1:15:24] lot of work and I know um it
[1:15:24] s
[1:15:27] difficult, uh, taking all these
[1:15:30] different um opinions into
[1:15:32] account both residents and the
[1:15:34] bse and uh uh staff and, and,
[1:15:35] and the council. So, so thank
[1:15:38] you very much. Look at my
[1:15:40] colleagues to see. All right.
[1:15:41] Um, I have a couple quick
[1:15:43] things that I wanted to flag.
[1:15:45] One is, uh, just looking
[1:15:47] briefly through the list of uh
[1:15:49] the discussion. I think that it
[1:15:51] would be helpful to um maybe
[1:15:53] add a little bit more detail.
[1:15:53] There
[1:15:54] s some things in there
[1:15:55] that I don
[1:15:56] t think that the
[1:15:58] city attorney will look at and
[1:15:59] say, I know what to do with
[1:16:02] that. Um, so I just
[1:16:02] respectfully request, I don
[1:16:03] t
[1:16:03] know if that would be you,
[1:16:04] cause I think the notes were
[1:16:07] you as MR. Gant, um, or I
[1:16:09] believe so or between I said
[1:16:11] scant at the top, but whoever
[1:16:13] does it, we need greater
[1:16:14] clarity because this is serious
[1:16:14] business, we
[1:16:15] ll make sure we
[1:16:16] get it right, um, and there are
[1:16:18] a couple of things that I
[1:16:19] looked at that is very, it
[1:16:20] s a
[1:16:21] kind of ambivalent and you
[1:16:21] don
[1:16:23] t know the direction, um,
[1:16:25] you know, my colleague
[1:16:26] mentioned accessibility, I
[1:16:28] noted before, and I looked at
[1:16:29] the previous election where the
[1:16:31] candidate book was not could
[1:16:33] not be read read by someone
[1:16:36] with low vision. Um. That
[1:16:36] should not exclude anyone from
[1:16:37] voting. I mean, if I
[1:16:38] m, if I
[1:16:38] m
[1:16:40] trying to be an elected
[1:16:41] official, and we know that
[1:16:43] there have been mayors in
[1:16:44] Maryland who are legally blind.
[1:16:47] So I just, it doesn
[1:16:48] t say what
[1:16:49] ada compliant means, and so I
[1:16:49] just want to make sure it
[1:16:50] s not
[1:16:52] just a ballot, but it
[1:16:52] s the
[1:16:55] entire process and and and
[1:16:56] including candidates. Um, it
[1:16:59] also notes, uh, elections in
[1:16:59] presidential years. I don
[1:17:00] t
[1:17:02] recall that was a straw poll,
[1:17:03] um, but I know that that
[1:17:03] s a,
[1:17:04] that
[1:17:04] s a hotly debated topic,
[1:17:05] and I don
[1:17:06] t think this
[1:17:09] council weighed in to to change
[1:17:10] that unless I didn
[1:17:11] t hear that.
[1:17:13] Ok, so, um, I just, so I wanna
[1:17:14] make sure that just because
[1:17:14] it
[1:17:15] s in there doesn
[1:17:16] t mean that
[1:17:17] was a direction. So I, I think
[1:17:19] that needs to be greater
[1:17:21] clarity on a bullet item in
[1:17:22] there versus what was direction
[1:17:28] from the mayor and council. Is
[1:17:30] that fair Understood. Thank you.
[1:17:36] Ok. Thank you. Ok. Um, the last
[1:17:37] thing I, I don
[1:17:38] t think we spent
[1:17:39] too much time talking about,
[1:17:41] but I just want to flag for our
[1:17:43] city attorney. Um, we have a
[1:17:45] detailed process for a vacancy
[1:17:47] for mayor, uh, but we don
[1:17:47] t
[1:17:48] necessarily have a detailed
[1:17:49] process for vacancy for a
[1:17:51] council member. It has happened.
[1:17:53] Um, we had a COUNCILMAN Who run
[1:17:56] for office, um, and there is a,
[1:17:59] a process by which that, that
[1:18:00] position gets refilled and it
[1:18:00] s,
[1:18:01] you know, it
[1:18:01] s very clear under
[1:18:04] the mayor, but not necessarily
[1:18:04] clear under the council. So I
[1:18:06] just wanted to flag that as
[1:18:07] something that we should be
[1:18:10] prepared for, um, so that as
[1:18:11] the new council, there
[1:18:11] s a
[1:18:12] period by which there will be
[1:18:13] an election, but after the
[1:18:15] election, how does the mayor
[1:18:17] and council go about appointing,
[1:18:18] um, the, uh, there, there
[1:18:18] s
[1:18:19] detail for the mayor but not
[1:18:20] for the council. So I just want
[1:18:22] to see if that could be added.
[1:18:24] MR. I think there
[1:18:25] s a section
[1:18:27] in the charter now that deals
[1:18:28] with, with council members as
[1:18:30] well as the mayor, but I, I
[1:18:31] will double check. It does, but
[1:18:31] it doesn
[1:18:32] t say how the council
[1:18:33] would fill the seat when the
[1:18:35] mayors actually goes to the
[1:18:36] highest vote getter and there
[1:18:36] s
[1:18:38] this detail for the mayor, not
[1:18:39] necessarily the same level of
[1:18:40] detail for the council. So, all
[1:18:44] right. Council member Valeri,
[1:18:45] just super quickly on this
[1:18:48] point, um, and council memberhi,
[1:18:50] I could probably follow up on
[1:18:52] this too. Um, in the charter
[1:18:53] Review Commission report is a
[1:18:55] section where we looked at
[1:18:57] resign to run, um, which we
[1:19:00] never did get the um anything
[1:19:01] from the state
[1:19:01] s attorney
[1:19:02] office who was supposed to be
[1:19:05] giving us an opinion on that,
[1:19:06] um, so we kind of tabled it, uh,
[1:19:07] since we didn
[1:19:09] t have that clear
[1:19:11] direction, but um I think that
[1:19:12] that would be um also
[1:19:15] interesting to see if basically
[1:19:17] no jurisdiction has resigned to
[1:19:19] run, and my understanding is
[1:19:20] that it is not a legal process.
[1:19:23] So I know that um and council
[1:19:25] members shot, uh, correct me if
[1:19:25] I
[1:19:27] m wrong, we did talk about
[1:19:29] just that and not any other
[1:19:32] options for similar situations
[1:19:32] I don
[1:19:36] t think that we did ok
[1:19:38] Councilor Marsha I
[1:19:40] m like, I
[1:19:40] couldn
[1:19:41] t remember. I remember
[1:19:42] we, we briefly touched on that,
[1:19:45] but I think there were, were
[1:19:47] some legal barriers um with
[1:19:48] implementing that, but it was a
[1:19:50] few years ago, so we
[1:19:51] re so much
[1:19:52] older now. Thank you. Councilor
[1:19:54] Jackson, was out of hand? Oh no.
[1:19:57] Ok. All right. Anyone else have
[1:20:00] other questions? Uh, the staff
[1:20:01] have any questions or anything
[1:20:03] that you want to ask us. We do
[1:20:08] not. Ok All right. So, um I
[1:20:10] think that uh. There, there
[1:20:12] were a couple of things that,
[1:20:13] uh, said, you know, what are
[1:20:14] the options? I, I, if there
[1:20:14] s
[1:20:15] any background on how to do
[1:20:16] this as we go through the
[1:20:18] process, I think that our team
[1:20:19] probably would appreciate it.
[1:20:21] Um, I was just looking at, for
[1:20:22] example, the complaints
[1:20:26] timeline, um perhaps could be
[1:20:27] more fleshed out, but I, I
[1:20:28] appreciate this so much to
[1:20:30] cover, and you could probably
[1:20:31] write 1000 pages on this topic
[1:20:35] alone. Um, with that said, uh,
[1:20:37] if my colleagues have no other
[1:20:39] comments, Councilor Mal. Just
[1:20:41] to build on councilmember
[1:20:42] Valeri
[1:20:44] s point, um, I, I
[1:20:45] believe Gaithersburg has, uh,
[1:20:48] this year, uh, electronic
[1:20:51] petitions, and it would be
[1:20:53] interesting and informing if if
[1:20:55] we could uh explore that, uh,
[1:20:57] and look at the system, maybe
[1:21:00] look at the cost, um, because I,
[1:21:02] I do think there are a lot of
[1:21:04] benefits to having that and
[1:21:05] making it more accessible. Yeah,
[1:21:07] I agree, and, uh, that
[1:21:07] s
[1:21:09] something we talked about, um,
[1:21:11] during the uh last session, and
[1:21:11] it
[1:21:13] s on your list, so I know
[1:21:13] that you
[1:21:15] ll be exploring that.
[1:21:17] Uh, so with that said, uh, we
[1:21:19] have a, a report to decide to
[1:21:21] accept or not. Um, one thing I
[1:21:23] will add is if for the final
[1:21:24] report, if it gets posted, just
[1:21:26] noting that this is the
[1:21:26] consultant
[1:21:27] s report. It doesn
[1:21:27] t
[1:21:29] represent, uh, you know, all
[1:21:30] items being approved or the
[1:21:31] views of the mayor and council.
[1:21:33] Is that possible? We can note
[1:21:35] that, yes. Ok. All right.
[1:21:37] Colleagues, uh, any comments?
[1:21:43] Do you want to make a motion?
[1:21:45] You could say I vote to accept
[1:21:48] that mayor and council accept a
[1:21:49] right, COUNCILMAN Marshaw, make
[1:21:52] a motion to accept. I move to
[1:21:53] accept the consultant
[1:21:53] s final
[1:21:54] report on city election code
[1:21:59] update. Do we have a second
[1:22:00] Councilmember Vanrack 2nd, all
[1:22:01] those in favor, please raise
[1:22:03] your hand and say aye. Hi.
[1:22:05] Excellent Thank you, colleagues.
[1:22:06] Thank you, MR. Gant, and thank
[1:22:07] you to our appointed. I know
[1:22:10] that this is the passing of the
[1:22:11] baton and uh a lot of work lies
[1:22:12] ahead. Thank you to all our
[1:22:13] residents who came out and
[1:22:19] spoke as well. Ok We
[1:22:20] ll now
[1:22:23] move on to uh agenda item 12.
[1:22:23] It
[1:22:25] s a work session, Vision
[1:22:27] Zerore update, uh, the city of
[1:22:28] Rockville and let
[1:22:28] s buying time
[1:22:30] for MR. Brian Barnette Woods to
[1:22:32] come online as he uh gonna be,
[1:22:32] he
[1:22:33] s coming in person. All
[1:22:33] right, well, I
[1:22:34] ll give him some
[1:22:36] preamble. Uh, this is one of
[1:22:38] our initiatives, uh, that we
[1:22:42] have a full plan on and uh MR.
[1:22:43] Brian Barnett Woods and Ahmad
[1:22:45] al-Shaifi will come and share
[1:22:46] information about how we
[1:22:46] re
[1:22:48] making progress on those areas.
[1:22:48] It
[1:22:49] s not enough to have plans,
[1:22:50] but we must implement what we
[1:22:51] said we were going to do. And
[1:22:53] so, uh, I appreciate the report
[1:22:55] that you have for us, and I
[1:22:57] also want to know what people
[1:23:00] are listening, that we have, uh,
[1:23:02] a results Rockville, uh, online
[1:23:04] dashboard so you can actually
[1:23:05] see what we
[1:23:05] re doing, what
[1:23:06] we
[1:23:07] re still in progress on and
[1:23:08] making sure that we
[1:23:09] re, um,
[1:23:10] being accountable for the work
[1:23:43] that we said we do. Right you
[1:23:45] Hi, good evening, everyone. Um,
[1:23:46] I
[1:23:47] m Brian Barnett Woods, a
[1:23:48] principal transportation
[1:23:49] planner for the city and the
[1:23:51] public works department. Um,
[1:23:51] I
[1:23:52] m joined by Amal Shafi, chief
[1:23:54] of the traffic and
[1:23:55] Transportation division, and
[1:23:56] Craig Simeno, director of
[1:23:58] Public Works. Uh tonight we are
[1:24:00] going to discuss, uh, the
[1:24:01] Vision Zero action plan. Uh,
[1:24:02] thank you, Mayor Ashton, for
[1:24:16] the introduction. Um, oh maybe
[1:24:17] um. So here
[1:24:18] s a quick agenda
[1:24:19] for the evening. Uh, we
[1:24:19] ll do a
[1:24:20] quick refresher on Vision Zero.
[1:24:21] I know this group, it
[1:24:21] s, it
[1:24:22] s
[1:24:23] old hat for many people here.
[1:24:25] Um, some of the activities and
[1:24:25] projects that we
[1:24:26] ve been
[1:24:28] working on, um, a quick update
[1:24:29] on the neighborhood access and
[1:24:30] equity project and some
[1:24:31] discussion of, of the work that
[1:24:33] we do with the state and the
[1:24:34] county. Um, and then, and then
[1:24:38] uh some, some q&a afterwards.
[1:24:43] Um All right, so what is Vision
[1:24:45] Zero? Um, Vision Zero is a
[1:24:47] roadway safety program. Um,
[1:24:47] it
[1:24:50] s primary goal is to
[1:24:52] eliminate roadway crashes that
[1:24:54] result in fatalities or serious
[1:24:54] injuries. Um, it
[1:24:55] s a, a
[1:24:56] multimodal program, uh, and
[1:24:58] that means it is for people who
[1:25:00] drive, people who ride their
[1:25:01] bike, people who walk, people
[1:25:02] who take the bus, people who
[1:25:03] use transit, people using
[1:25:04] scooters. It
[1:25:05] s, it
[1:25:05] s for
[1:25:07] everyone. Um, additionally,
[1:25:07] it
[1:25:08] s a multidisciplinary. Um,
[1:25:10] so we take a comprehensive
[1:25:13] approach, and we work with the
[1:25:13] Rockville City Police
[1:25:15] Department, the recreation and
[1:25:17] Parks department, uh,
[1:25:18] Montgomery County dot, the
[1:25:19] Maryland Department of
[1:25:20] Transportation State Highway
[1:25:22] Administration, um, our
[1:25:24] community, uh, community or
[1:25:25] communication and community
[1:25:26] engagement office. Um, we work
[1:25:27] with everyone, and we also kind
[1:25:29] of work under four broad
[1:25:32] categories, uh, engineering,
[1:25:33] enforcement, engagement, excuse
[1:25:36] me, and policy or uh education
[1:25:38] not engagement. Uh, excuse me.
[1:25:39] Um, and so we try and cover all
[1:25:41] of our bases. We try to make
[1:25:42] roads safer for, for everyone
[1:25:44] to travel. Um, the mayor
[1:25:46] council adopted a resolution in
[1:25:48] 2018, a supporting Vision Zero,
[1:25:51] and the Vision Zero action plan
[1:25:53] was approved in 2020. Um, this
[1:25:55] action plan is kind of the, the
[1:25:56] guide for, for our work program.
[1:26:01] So the first thing we
[1:26:02] ll look
[1:26:04] at is crash data. Uh, this
[1:26:05] chart shows crashes that
[1:26:06] happened over the past decade,
[1:26:07] but only between JANUARY and
[1:26:09] JUNE because we want to compare
[1:26:11] it with this year. Um, so
[1:26:12] looking at the first half of
[1:26:14] each year on average, uh, there
[1:26:17] was 7.2 fatal or serious injury
[1:26:19] crashes since 2015. In 2025, uh,
[1:26:20] there have been eight crashes
[1:26:22] during this time. Um, if we
[1:26:23] look at all of the crashes, so
[1:26:25] not this chart, but meaning
[1:26:27] crashes of all severities. In
[1:26:29] the 1st 6 months there were on
[1:26:31] average 409 crashes in this
[1:26:34] time period. Um, and in 2025,
[1:26:34] we
[1:26:36] re at 402 crashes. Um, so
[1:26:37] slightly below average there.
[1:26:40] Um if we look at only the, you
[1:26:42] know, killed and serious injury
[1:26:44] crashes for the whole year. Um,
[1:26:46] it averages about 17 per year.
[1:26:46] And so right now we
[1:26:50] re at 8. Uh,
[1:26:52] the high injury network, um,
[1:26:54] this kind of highlights where
[1:26:55] serious injury and failed
[1:26:56] crashes are happening
[1:26:59] frequently. Um, during the last
[1:27:00] mayor and council meeting, uh,
[1:27:02] we were requested to update the
[1:27:03] high injury network to use
[1:27:05] crash data, uh, that
[1:27:05] s more
[1:27:06] current. Um and so this high
[1:27:09] injury network uses data from
[1:27:11] 2020 to 2024. Um, and a segment
[1:27:13] is added to the high injury
[1:27:15] network. If over this five-year
[1:27:18] period, there are 4 or more
[1:27:19] serious and or fatal crashes.
[1:27:22] Um. Looking at the crash data,
[1:27:24] uh, the, the roads are listed
[1:27:26] here. Um, I point out they,
[1:27:27] they are all on state roadways.
[1:27:33] Um we also saw segments, uh,
[1:27:34] these segments were the same
[1:27:37] segments that were in the prior,
[1:27:37] uh, high injury network crash
[1:27:41] data. Um, one change,,, 00,
[1:27:41] here
[1:27:42] s a great picture. Uh, so
[1:27:44] you can see the green lines
[1:27:46] kind of represent those
[1:27:48] segments in the yellow and red
[1:27:49] dots are the serious injury and
[1:27:55] fatal crashes respectively. Um,
[1:27:58] one change, uh, from the, the
[1:28:00] old high injury networks of the
[1:28:01] current injury network is North
[1:28:03] Washington Street. This was
[1:28:04] included as a high injury
[1:28:06] network segment uh and using
[1:28:09] the older data. In 2023, we
[1:28:10] constructed a complete streets
[1:28:13] project. Um, part of that was a
[1:28:15] lower speed limit, uh, new
[1:28:16] on-street parking and new
[1:28:17] separated bike lanes that use
[1:28:20] the uh the concrete divider. Um,
[1:28:22] since its construction, there
[1:28:23] have been no serious injury or
[1:28:26] fatal cra sh es Um, only minor
[1:28:27] injury crashes or property
[1:28:30] damage crashes. Um, also, we
[1:28:31] re
[1:28:32] seeing fewer crashes overall,
[1:28:33] uh, throughout the year. Um,
[1:28:38] just to note that little chart,
[1:28:39] um, for 2025, it
[1:28:40] s only JANUARY
[1:28:42] to JUNE crashes. Um, so I kind
[1:28:44] of put in a little dotted box
[1:28:45] to say, oh, you know, for the
[1:28:47] rest of the year, but overall
[1:28:48] we
[1:28:49] re seeing less, fewer
[1:28:49] crashes on North Washington
[1:28:55] Street, which I think is great.
[1:28:57] Um, I also want to take a
[1:28:58] moment to discuss uh Veer
[1:28:59] s
[1:29:00] Mill Road in Atlantic Avenue.
[1:29:02] Uh, this is an intersection
[1:29:03] that unfortunately we have
[1:29:05] talked about before in the past.
[1:29:08] There was a recent serious
[1:29:09] injury uh pedestrian crash. Um,
[1:29:10] Rockville State Police
[1:29:12] Department is handling the
[1:29:12] investigation. It
[1:29:12] s ongoing. Um,
[1:29:16] a lot has happened at this
[1:29:18] intersection, um, 4 years ago,
[1:29:19] working with uh Maryland
[1:29:21] Department of Transportation
[1:29:22] State Highway Administration.
[1:29:23] Uh, we requested them to make
[1:29:26] improvements and to look at how
[1:29:27] other things could make this
[1:29:29] safer for people who are
[1:29:30] walking or bicycling and, and
[1:29:32] driving. Um, they increased the
[1:29:33] pedestrian crossing phase, so
[1:29:33] that
[1:29:34] s the amount of time it
[1:29:36] takes to cross, crossfire
[1:29:36] s
[1:29:38] Mill in 2023. Um, they also
[1:29:40] installed the leading
[1:29:41] pedestrian interval, new
[1:29:43] signage, hardened center lines,
[1:29:43] that
[1:29:45] s the yellow thing in the
[1:29:46] picture that kind of extends
[1:29:49] from the median. Uh, FlexPost
[1:29:50] curb extensions so that if
[1:29:50] you
[1:29:52] re in the right turn lane,
[1:29:52] you can
[1:29:53] t purposely drive
[1:29:55] through the intersection. Um,
[1:29:57] and then Hi is crosswalks, and
[1:29:57] that
[1:29:57] s the other continental
[1:30:01] style. Um, they took these down,
[1:30:02] uh, when they resurfaced the
[1:30:04] road last year. I mean after we
[1:30:06] requested it, they did uh
[1:30:07] reinstall them, and that
[1:30:07] happened a couple of months ago.
[1:30:11] Um even with these crashes,
[1:30:13] there still was a pedestrian
[1:30:14] crash or with these
[1:30:15] improvements, excuse me, there
[1:30:17] still was a pedestrian crash.
[1:30:19] Um, and last week we did meet
[1:30:20] with the Maryland Department of
[1:30:22] Transportation, State Highway
[1:30:23] Administration, um, and in
[1:30:25] light of that crash, we
[1:30:26] requested uh Maryland
[1:30:27] Department State Highway
[1:30:28] Administration to see what else
[1:30:30] they could do and to evaluate
[1:30:32] this intersection for
[1:30:32] additional improvements, uh,
[1:30:34] specifically, we asked them to
[1:30:36] look at how they could maybe
[1:30:39] restrict left, left turns, um,
[1:30:40] or prohibit u-turns or prohibit
[1:30:42] right turns on re ad during
[1:30:43] times of the day, during all
[1:30:45] the day, and have them kind of
[1:30:45] look into this and see what
[1:30:47] else can be done to make
[1:30:49] improvements. Um, they agreed
[1:30:50] to conduct the evaluation and
[1:30:51] then once they have their
[1:30:52] findings, they
[1:30:52] ll bring it back
[1:30:53] to us and then we can share it
[1:30:56] with this group. Um, also, uh,
[1:30:58] by the end of the year, the
[1:30:59] county and the state are
[1:31:02] working on a bus rapid transit
[1:31:04] project along this roadway. Um,
[1:31:04] and they
[1:31:06] ll start the utility
[1:31:07] relocation for the construction,
[1:31:08] and then they
[1:31:09] ll start kind of
[1:31:10] the proper construction next
[1:31:12] year. And we anticipate with
[1:31:14] the new brt or Bus rapid
[1:31:16] transit, uh, a, a traffic
[1:31:17] calming effect on this road as
[1:31:19] well. Um, so all in all, we
[1:31:19] re,
[1:31:19] we
[1:31:20] re hoping to see more
[1:31:25] improvements. Hm. All right. Um,
[1:31:27] some more work that we do is
[1:31:28] public can get oh oops, alright,
[1:31:30] some more work that we do is
[1:31:31] public engagement. Um it
[1:31:32] s a
[1:31:33] big part of how we try and not
[1:31:34] only spread the word about what
[1:31:35] activities are happening, but
[1:31:37] also to help educate the public
[1:31:39] on ways to walk and bike and
[1:31:41] drive more safely. Um. It
[1:31:41] s
[1:31:42] also also really great being
[1:31:45] out in the community. And so,
[1:31:45] uh, it
[1:31:47] s a good opportunity for,
[1:31:48] for staff, um, and for
[1:31:49] residents, I hope. Uh, this
[1:31:51] past weekend, we were at the
[1:31:52] Rockville City Police
[1:31:53] Department open house. Um, next
[1:31:54] weekend we
[1:31:55] ll be at the family
[1:31:56] Biking Festival, which is here
[1:31:57] in the Rockville Town Center.
[1:31:59] Uh, so I hope to see some of
[1:32:01] you there. Um, also kind of a
[1:32:04] quick plug, um, if any
[1:32:05] community group is interested
[1:32:06] in learning more about the
[1:32:07] Vision Zero program. They
[1:32:07] re
[1:32:10] able to just email us, um, and
[1:32:10] say, hey, you know, we have
[1:32:11] this community organization,
[1:32:11] we
[1:32:12] d love to learn more about
[1:32:13] Vision Zero, and then we
[1:32:13] ll do
[1:32:14] our best to kind of schedule
[1:32:16] time where we can attend one of
[1:32:17] their meetings or maybe just
[1:32:18] give them more information that
[1:32:19] we have available, or if
[1:32:19] they
[1:32:19] re just curious about what
[1:32:26] it is that we do. Hm Um,
[1:32:29] additionally, um, the, the
[1:32:31] public information or the
[1:32:32] communications and community
[1:32:34] engagement Office, uh post lots
[1:32:35] of really valuable Vision Zero
[1:32:37] information, and they do a
[1:32:40] great job of spreading the word
[1:32:40] and sharing not only safety
[1:32:42] tips, but, but projects that
[1:32:42] we
[1:32:43] re working on and things
[1:32:44] that are happening. Um, so the
[1:32:45] city
[1:32:46] s website has two Vision
[1:32:47] Zero pages. There
[1:32:48] s a general
[1:32:49] page and a project page. And
[1:32:52] between the two of those,
[1:32:52] there
[1:32:53] s been over 600 unique
[1:32:56] visits in the past 6 months. Um,
[1:32:58] also, there are 8 articles in
[1:33:00] Rockville Reports and 59 posts
[1:33:03] on social media uh that were
[1:33:05] seen by 766 people. Um, and
[1:33:06] lastly, as, as mentioned in the
[1:33:08] beginning, we are working with
[1:33:09] Dave Gozman and his team at the
[1:33:09] city manager
[1:33:11] s office, to link
[1:33:12] these web pages also with the
[1:33:13] public dashboard that was
[1:33:16] mentioned earlier. And so I
[1:33:17] have a preview for next time as
[1:33:23] well. Oh Um, the Rockville City
[1:33:24] Police Department does a great
[1:33:26] job as well with community
[1:33:28] engagement. Um and I really
[1:33:29] want to give them a call out
[1:33:30] and a shout out of the the
[1:33:32] excellent work that they
[1:33:32] re
[1:33:34] doing. Um, they hosted an on
[1:33:38] bike education effort at
[1:33:39] Maryville Maryvale Elementary
[1:33:41] School. Thank you. Um, with the
[1:33:42] Rockville Bike Hub and with the
[1:33:44] school staff, and it was a
[1:33:45] seven-week program uh where
[1:33:46] kids were learning how to ride
[1:33:48] bikes and how to check to make
[1:33:48] sure that they
[1:33:49] re doing the
[1:33:50] quick check with their brakes
[1:33:52] and tires and helmets. Um, they
[1:33:54] also had a ricothon, uh-huh,
[1:33:55] for nursery school students. Um,
[1:33:56] and then they had safety
[1:33:58] demonstrations at the main
[1:33:59] Street Rockville apartment
[1:34:00] Safety Day event, um, as well
[1:34:02] as their open house which just
[1:34:03] happened. Um, so lots of really
[1:34:04] great, uh, work being done by
[1:34:11] them. Mm Um, looking at some of
[1:34:12] the engineering efforts that
[1:34:12] we
[1:34:13] re doing. Um, there
[1:34:14] s a lot
[1:34:17] going on. Uh, this is a map of
[1:34:18] ongoing or recently completed
[1:34:19] projects. Uh, we had a question
[1:34:20] about whether this considered
[1:34:21] all projects, but this is
[1:34:22] really just things that are
[1:34:25] happening, uh, presently. Um,
[1:34:25] it doesn
[1:34:27] t have all of the
[1:34:27] projects that we
[1:34:29] ve done. Um,
[1:34:31] projects in Vision Zero follow
[1:34:32] crash data and identified
[1:34:33] safety issues of kind of where
[1:34:35] do we choose where projects go.
[1:34:38] Um, additionally, we have a
[1:34:39] sidewalk prioritization policy
[1:34:41] to help s elect sidewalk gaps
[1:34:43] to study and evaluate. Uh, we
[1:34:44] also have the bikeway and
[1:34:46] pedestrian master plans to help
[1:34:48] identify projects and then we
[1:34:50] also have additional complete
[1:34:53] street studies, um, which
[1:34:53] identify additional projects
[1:34:54] that are also recommended in
[1:34:56] these plans as well. And so a
[1:34:58] lot of the products come from
[1:34:59] different sources of how can we
[1:35:02] objectively try to make safety
[1:35:04] uh better in the city, kind of
[1:35:05] citywide. Um, here on this map,
[1:35:05] there
[1:35:08] s kind of a lot of points,
[1:35:09] um, blue lines are kind of like
[1:35:11] the sidewalk project s uh, the
[1:35:13] green lines are Complete
[1:35:14] Streets projects and complete
[1:35:15] streets are kind of multimodal
[1:35:17] projects, so it could be pet
[1:35:18] facilities, bike facilities,
[1:35:20] traffic calming, uh, generic
[1:35:21] safety improvements, transit
[1:35:24] enhancement. Um, the, the solid
[1:35:26] lines are ones that are
[1:35:27] complete, or are under
[1:35:30] construction. The, the dotted
[1:35:31] lines are planning and design.
[1:35:32] Uh, the pink, uh, pink lines
[1:35:34] are, are for bicycle facilities.
[1:35:37] Uh, and then we also have the
[1:35:38] little green dots for uh the
[1:35:39] fixit racks, which we
[1:35:39] ll talk
[1:35:42] about in a little bit. Um, and
[1:35:44] then the dark blue dots are for
[1:35:45] the intersection audits, and
[1:35:46] this is a program that we
[1:35:46] re
[1:35:47] doing under the Safe Streets
[1:35:49] and Roads for All program where
[1:35:49] we
[1:35:50] re looking at 30
[1:35:51] intersections in the city, uh,
[1:35:52] 20 of which are on a state
[1:35:58] roadway. Um, you want to talk a
[1:36:00] little bit about crosswalks, um,
[1:36:02] over the kind of the
[1:36:03] construction season in spring
[1:36:05] and summer. Um, we have been
[1:36:06] busy installing marked
[1:36:07] crosswalks, um, we
[1:36:08] ve been
[1:36:09] following the new Mark
[1:36:11] Crosswalk guidelines, which has
[1:36:13] resulted in more crosswalks
[1:36:14] when people request them, uh,
[1:36:15] than we were prior to the
[1:36:16] guidelines. Uh so I think
[1:36:17] they
[1:36:18] re really valuable for the
[1:36:21] city to have. Um, Crosswalks
[1:36:22] happen across the city, um, and
[1:36:22] we
[1:36:24] ll continue to respond to
[1:36:25] residents, um, as well as look
[1:36:27] for other opportunities to add
[1:36:29] Mark Crosswalks uh through our
[1:36:31] kind of regular work program.
[1:36:33] Um, the three listed on the
[1:36:35] bottom of this, this slide here
[1:36:36] at uh First Street and
[1:36:39] Edmonston and excuse me,
[1:36:40] Wootton Parkway, um, those are
[1:36:41] pending and those all those are
[1:36:43] coming up soon. Um, all of the
[1:36:45] crosswalks on this list, um,
[1:36:47] initiated as, as resident
[1:36:49] requests. Um, so just another
[1:36:50] plug if there
[1:36:51] s anyone watching
[1:36:52] and they
[1:36:53] re curious about
[1:36:54] crosswalks in their
[1:36:55] neighborhood, please reach out
[1:36:55] to us and we
[1:36:57] d be happy to
[1:36:58] evaluate those locations. Um,
[1:36:59] Crosswalks can always be placed
[1:37:00] everywhere, but we are always
[1:37:02] happy to look at and work with
[1:37:07] the community. I also want to
[1:37:09] talk a little bit more about
[1:37:11] crosswalks and kind of our
[1:37:11] process when we
[1:37:11] re thinking
[1:37:13] about where we put them. Um,
[1:37:14] another approach we use is to
[1:37:16] kind of look at the route more
[1:37:18] holistically. Uh, so this, uh,
[1:37:20] map here is part of the
[1:37:21] Twinbrook neighborhood and it
[1:37:21] s
[1:37:21] the section that
[1:37:22] s kind of in
[1:37:24] the north part between Vermill
[1:37:27] and Baltimore. Um, just on the
[1:37:29] right corner of this page is
[1:37:30] Meadowhall Elementary School.
[1:37:31] Um, so it
[1:37:33] s just off the screen,
[1:37:34] um, but residents had raised
[1:37:36] some requests and we started
[1:37:37] looking at adding crosswalks
[1:37:38] and how we, how do we create a
[1:37:41] route uh to help students go to
[1:37:42] and from school. Um, and so
[1:37:45] looking here you can see the,
[1:37:46] the orange lines and the green
[1:37:48] lines are places where
[1:37:49] crosswalks are, or there will
[1:37:51] be, um, in addition, we
[1:37:51] re
[1:37:53] looking at curb ramps, uh,
[1:37:53] because we don
[1:37:54] t want to put a
[1:37:55] crosswalk where, where there is
[1:37:57] no curb or the curb is no
[1:37:59] longer accessible. Uh, so
[1:38:00] sometimes adding a crosswalk
[1:38:00] isn
[1:38:02] t just mark pavement
[1:38:03] markings, it
[1:38:03] s also
[1:38:04] construction because we have to
[1:38:11] rebuild that uh curb ram. Hm.
[1:38:15] Um, kind of as a segue to, to
[1:38:16] curb ramps and accessibility.
[1:38:17] Um, the Department of Public
[1:38:19] Works has been very busy to
[1:38:20] improve Sidewalk says Billy,
[1:38:23] and to meet pro-wag standards.
[1:38:26] Uh, Pro wag is public right of
[1:38:27] way accessibility guidelines.
[1:38:30] Um, and this is fairly new.
[1:38:31] These were uh recently adopted
[1:38:33] by the federal government and
[1:38:33] they
[1:38:34] re to provide standards to
[1:38:36] help meet accessibility in the
[1:38:37] public right of way. Uh, before
[1:38:39] this, there was ada, but those
[1:38:41] were guidelines. These are
[1:38:43] standards that we look to meet
[1:38:43] when we
[1:38:44] re building our streets.
[1:38:46] And in response of this, uh,
[1:38:48] the Department of Public Works
[1:38:49] developed a system to kind of
[1:38:51] make these pro ag improvements
[1:38:54] uh throughout the city. And so,
[1:38:56] especially looking at uh curb
[1:38:58] ramps and driveway apenss. And
[1:39:00] so when roadways are resurfaced,
[1:39:02] um, we also check to make sure
[1:39:04] that the ramps and the driveway
[1:39:05] aprons are meeting
[1:39:06] accessibility standards with
[1:39:09] Proa. Um, up to date, I think
[1:39:10] since the last fall, uh, we
[1:39:13] have done 112 curb ramps and
[1:39:15] 303 driveway aprons. So we
[1:39:15] re
[1:39:16] making really good progress and
[1:39:18] we will continue to make these
[1:39:19] accessibility improvements
[1:39:27] moving forward. So. Um, I just
[1:39:28] want to take a little bit to
[1:39:30] talk about lights. Um, we are
[1:39:32] making progress replacing the
[1:39:33] city maintained lights with
[1:39:36] LEDs, um, which use less energy,
[1:39:37] um, and they increase
[1:39:38] visibility for people who are
[1:39:40] walking or driving or riding
[1:39:43] bikes. Um, so in, in addition
[1:39:44] to helping roadway safety,
[1:39:45] these lights are part of our
[1:39:47] climate action plan as well. Um,
[1:39:47] so it
[1:39:48] s a 2 for 1, it
[1:39:49] s great.
[1:39:49] Um, we
[1:39:50] ve completed our first
[1:39:51] phase, and we
[1:39:52] re just about 2/3
[1:39:55] done with the second phase. Um.
[1:39:55] Let
[1:39:56] s see, we have another
[1:39:57] picture of kind of a before and
[1:40:01] after. There it is. Um, we
[1:40:02] recognize that the color of the
[1:40:04] light is different, but people
[1:40:05] tend to get used to it after a
[1:40:06] little while. Um, it
[1:40:07] s
[1:40:08] important to note that these
[1:40:10] lights do meet via the clear
[1:40:13] sky standard, um, and so we
[1:40:13] re
[1:40:14] continuing on this project, I
[1:40:15] think, from a pedestrian
[1:40:17] standpoint, these really do
[1:40:19] help, uh, visibility not only
[1:40:20] for if I am a pedestrian and
[1:40:21] walking, so I can see
[1:40:23] everything around me, but also
[1:40:24] motorists who are driving or
[1:40:25] people in bicycles. They can
[1:40:29] see me better as well. All
[1:40:34] right. Um, I
[1:40:34] m very pleased to
[1:40:36] share that we are moving ahead
[1:40:36] on sidewalks and we
[1:40:37] re, we
[1:40:38] re
[1:40:40] seeing construction. Um, it is
[1:40:42] lovely to see new concrete on
[1:40:44] the ground. Um, there was a
[1:40:44] question about this, so I do
[1:40:45] want to take a moment to kind
[1:40:48] of dig in a little bit. So, uh,
[1:40:49] when we look at the missing
[1:40:51] sidewalk segments in the city.
[1:40:54] Uh, we have 50.17 miles of
[1:40:56] sidewalk gap in the city. Um,
[1:40:56] and sometimes that can be a
[1:40:58] street that has gaps on both
[1:40:58] sides, or it
[1:40:59] s a street that
[1:41:01] has a gap on one side, um, and
[1:41:02] the gap is the place where
[1:41:05] there is no sidewalk. Um, once
[1:41:06] the upcoming uh construction
[1:41:08] segments are completed, so that
[1:41:10] second group on this slide, um,
[1:41:12] will be at 49.7 miles of
[1:41:14] sidewalk gap uh remaining. Uh,
[1:41:17] this is composed of 448
[1:41:18] different segments. Um there
[1:41:18] s
[1:41:19] no good way to describe a
[1:41:21] segment. They run the gamut in
[1:41:25] size, so our smallest one is 19
[1:41:26] ft, um, and the largest one is
[1:41:28] a little over 1 mile. Um, and
[1:41:29] also a street could have many
[1:41:30] segments on it cause it goes
[1:41:31] kind of from block to block to
[1:41:36] block. Um, but we are working
[1:41:39] forward to uh continue to
[1:41:41] evaluate and design and
[1:41:42] construct sidewalks, um, and
[1:41:42] we
[1:41:43] re finally starting to see
[1:41:44] the sidewalks that we were
[1:41:45] looking at a couple of years
[1:41:46] ago, get to this point where
[1:41:47] they
[1:41:47] re being constructed now.
[1:41:48] So for instance, in this
[1:41:50] picture, Gaille Avenue, this
[1:41:51] was a sidewalk feasibility
[1:41:53] study that was looked at a year
[1:41:55] prior to this, um, Crawford
[1:41:58] Drive was done as part of the
[1:41:59] Twinbrook Transportation
[1:42:01] alternatives program, and that
[1:42:02] feasibility studies started in
[1:42:04] late 2023. And so we
[1:42:05] re finally
[1:42:06] kind of getting momentum and
[1:42:06] we
[1:42:07] re gonna keep it up and keep
[1:42:08] building sidewalks. So I
[1:42:08] m
[1:42:12] happy to see that happen. Um I
[1:42:13] have one more slide on
[1:42:15] sidewalks. Um. And I want to
[1:42:16] talk a little bit about this
[1:42:18] one specifically. This is
[1:42:19] Virginia Avenue. Um, and I
[1:42:19] m
[1:42:21] calling it out because this
[1:42:21] sidewalk wasn
[1:42:22] t part of our
[1:42:23] initial using the
[1:42:24] prioritization and coming up
[1:42:25] with it. This is something that
[1:42:26] residents came to us, um, and
[1:42:27] they said, hey, we really want
[1:42:29] to sidewalk on our neighborhood,
[1:42:30] and they, they did the, the
[1:42:32] outreach and the petition
[1:42:34] process and really helped make,
[1:42:35] make us or allow us to build
[1:42:36] this at a much quicker rate
[1:42:38] when we had that public support.
[1:42:39] So again, if there are
[1:42:41] residents out there who are
[1:42:42] looking outside and they, they
[1:42:43] want a sidewalk in front of
[1:42:44] their house. Um, please feel
[1:42:45] free to reach out to us. We
[1:42:45] d
[1:42:46] be happy to work with you to,
[1:42:48] to learn about that petition
[1:42:50] process and how we can move
[1:42:50] sidewalk projects forward at a
[1:43:00] quicker rate. Ok. Um So traffic
[1:43:02] calming projects um are roadway
[1:43:04] improvements that help
[1:43:05] motorists travel at the posted
[1:43:08] speed limit or below. Um, this
[1:43:10] results in a more comfortable
[1:43:12] crossing or walking or rolling
[1:43:14] for pedestrians, uh, parallel
[1:43:14] travel for bicycles
[1:43:14] s more
[1:43:16] comfortable as well. Uh, we
[1:43:17] recently completed and you can
[1:43:19] kind of see the picture here,
[1:43:20] the, the evolution of the
[1:43:22] improvement, um, a raised
[1:43:23] crossing and new pedestrian
[1:43:26] median, uh, with pavement
[1:43:27] markings that block um
[1:43:28] on-street parking at the
[1:43:30] intersection. At the Manichee
[1:43:31] and Smallwood Road intersection.
[1:43:33] Uh, this was the result of
[1:43:35] community engagement, um, and a
[1:43:36] complete street study on
[1:43:39] Manichee Street. Um, the city
[1:43:39] s
[1:43:41] also installed as part of that
[1:43:43] uh complete treat study, a
[1:43:44] pedestrian median at Henderson
[1:43:45] Circle, Anna Ray
[1:43:45] s Crossing at
[1:43:48] Carr Avenue. Um, we have a
[1:43:49] similar pedestrian median
[1:43:51] project, uh, to be constructed
[1:43:53] soon on Twinbrook Parkway at
[1:43:55] Meadowhall Lane, um, which was,
[1:43:57] uh, I think originally, excuse
[1:43:58] me, initially proposed or
[1:43:59] suggested that we look at
[1:44:01] improving safety at that
[1:44:01] intersection from the Twinbrook
[1:44:04] Community Association. Um and
[1:44:06] then we also installed a speed
[1:44:07] feedback sign on Rawlins Avenue.
[1:44:09] Uh, and this is just to point
[1:44:11] out that traffic calming
[1:44:12] projects look different. Um,
[1:44:13] and there
[1:44:15] s other ways to, to
[1:44:16] help reinforce the rules of the
[1:44:17] road. Um, you can actually see
[1:44:19] on the, the right side, that
[1:44:21] image there, that is the new um
[1:44:22] speed feedback sign that
[1:44:22] s on
[1:44:26] Rawlins Avenue. Um, other
[1:44:27] traffic calming that
[1:44:28] s upcoming,
[1:44:29] um, on SEPTEMBER 15th, we
[1:44:29] re
[1:44:31] carrying out a demonstration
[1:44:32] project, um, on Redland
[1:44:33] Boulevard, uh, where we
[1:44:33] re
[1:44:35] going to repurpose the outside
[1:44:37] traveling uh for a 24 hour
[1:44:39] parking, um, which we expect
[1:44:40] will help calm traffic, um,
[1:44:41] help calm some of the traffic
[1:44:44] speeds that happen on Redland.
[1:44:46] Um, we recently completed a
[1:44:47] study on congressional Road, um,
[1:44:49] which is going to result in
[1:44:50] raised crossings near the
[1:44:52] daycare and the park entrance,
[1:44:53] um, and separated bicycle lanes
[1:44:55] near the commercial areas and
[1:44:57] Rockle Pike. Um, and then
[1:44:58] lastly, for Rollins Avenue as
[1:45:00] well, we have an upcoming
[1:45:01] Complete Street study that
[1:45:02] ll
[1:45:03] begin in earnest in, in the
[1:45:11] fall. Right. Um, we
[1:45:12] re also
[1:45:13] moving forward on bicycle
[1:45:15] facilities, um, we have Fixit
[1:45:16] racks coming and a Fixitrack is
[1:45:19] a a rag that uh bicyclists can
[1:45:21] use. They can put their bike on
[1:45:24] it and if they need to, you
[1:45:26] know, quickly change a flat
[1:45:27] tire or maybe they need to
[1:45:29] adjust their brake or their
[1:45:31] seat. Um, it kind of provides
[1:45:33] tools and a space to do that,
[1:45:34] uh, to make it easier to fix
[1:45:35] those. And so we have 4 fixit
[1:45:37] racks that will be installed
[1:45:39] this year along sections near
[1:45:41] different trails in the city.
[1:45:42] Um, I mentioned earlier
[1:45:44] congressional lane, uh during
[1:45:46] the uh traffic calming, but
[1:45:46] we
[1:45:46] ll be adding a separated
[1:45:48] bike lanes on that section of
[1:45:49] congressional Lane near the
[1:45:51] commercial uses, um, kind of
[1:45:54] east of East Jeffer Street and
[1:45:55] then add shared roadway
[1:45:56] pavement markings on
[1:45:57] congressional Lane on the
[1:45:58] section west of East Jefferson
[1:46:00] Street. Uh, next year, we
[1:46:00] re
[1:46:01] adding bicycle facilities to
[1:46:02] Martin
[1:46:02] s Lane. Um, this was
[1:46:04] something that we looked at
[1:46:05] last year, um, and came with
[1:46:06] that improvement, um, but we
[1:46:07] want to make sure that we
[1:46:07] re
[1:46:10] doing this, uh, in sync with
[1:46:11] another ongoing public works
[1:46:12] project where I think we
[1:46:12] re
[1:46:13] fixing the water main
[1:46:15] underneath. Um, and so when
[1:46:16] that project is complete and
[1:46:16] we
[1:46:17] ve resurfaced the road, the
[1:46:19] bicycle facilities will be
[1:46:20] added afterwards. Um, also
[1:46:22] earlier today, I, I met with a
[1:46:24] teacher at Julius West Middle
[1:46:25] School about adding more bike
[1:46:27] parking at their school, um,
[1:46:28] and I was with him, we looked
[1:46:29] at all the students and their
[1:46:30] bike racks were completely full,
[1:46:36] which was great to see. Um
[1:46:36] let
[1:46:38] s see. Uh, the neighborhood
[1:46:40] access and Equity Project. Uh,
[1:46:42] this is the, the Twinbrook
[1:46:44] pedestrian and bicycle Bridge
[1:46:45] project. Um, unfortunately, we
[1:46:46] did learn earlier this summer
[1:46:48] that the federal government
[1:46:49] chose to rescind funding for
[1:46:51] the second phase of this
[1:46:54] project. Um, and that phase
[1:46:55] included a preliminary design
[1:46:57] of a preferred bridge
[1:46:59] alternative. Um, however, phase
[1:47:01] one is still funded. Um, and
[1:47:02] this includes the feasibility
[1:47:04] study, uh, to look at the four
[1:47:05] different crossing locations
[1:47:06] and make sure that the bridge
[1:47:07] or the tunnel, you know, the
[1:47:09] footings will fit and the
[1:47:11] location, the location will
[1:47:13] work out, um, looking at a cost
[1:47:15] benefit analysis for each of
[1:47:17] those locations and doing
[1:47:18] additional public outreach to
[1:47:19] make sure that we have
[1:47:21] community support and buying on
[1:47:21] what a preferred alternative
[1:47:24] MAY be. The deliverables of
[1:47:26] phase one are really important,
[1:47:27] and no matter how this project
[1:47:28] is done, we would need to get
[1:47:31] that done. Um, and so when we
[1:47:32] have those those deliverables
[1:47:33] and that outcome, um, we will
[1:47:35] move forward to advance this
[1:47:36] project uh based on kind of the
[1:47:39] findings of what that is.
[1:47:39] Currently, we
[1:47:40] re working with
[1:47:41] the city
[1:47:42] s procurement office,
[1:47:43] uh, to prepare the request for
[1:47:45] proposals so that we can
[1:47:46] identify and find a qualified
[1:47:48] consultant uh to work on us, to
[1:47:54] work on this with us. Hm. Uh,
[1:47:55] Lastly, I just want to discuss
[1:47:56] a little bit our coordination
[1:47:59] efforts with the state and the
[1:48:00] county. Um, I mentioned earlier
[1:48:03] in the meeting, we have a a a
[1:48:04] quarterly meeting with the,
[1:48:06] with mot, which is Maryland
[1:48:08] Department of Transportation,
[1:48:10] um, to talk about ongoing
[1:48:11] projects that they have,
[1:48:11] whether it
[1:48:12] s in the city or
[1:48:13] near the city. Um it
[1:48:14] s also an
[1:48:16] opportunity for us to ask them
[1:48:17] to look into additional
[1:48:20] projects or to see where things
[1:48:21] are opportunities for, for us
[1:48:22] to collaborate on making
[1:48:23] improvements. Um, we
[1:48:23] re working
[1:48:24] with them with our Safe Streets
[1:48:26] and Roads for all intersection
[1:48:27] audit project, uh, because we
[1:48:29] want to make sure that they
[1:48:29] re
[1:48:30] aware of what we
[1:48:31] re doing and
[1:48:31] how we
[1:48:32] re looking at the
[1:48:34] intersections and that if we
[1:48:36] have recommended improvements,
[1:48:38] those can be either implemented
[1:48:39] by the state or maybe we can
[1:48:40] work with them to find
[1:48:41] additional sources of funding
[1:48:44] for that. Um, we also asked
[1:48:45] them for, you know, just
[1:48:45] ongoing, hey, it
[1:48:46] d be great if
[1:48:48] you were to fix this or reduce
[1:48:49] the speed here. Um, we
[1:48:50] ve had
[1:48:51] pretty good success. Uh, we
[1:48:53] also recently asked them to,
[1:48:53] there
[1:48:54] s a sign that they need
[1:48:56] to take down that has the wrong
[1:48:57] speed limit on first, um, and
[1:48:59] they were aware of it and
[1:48:59] they
[1:49:00] ve uh they said, ok, we
[1:49:00] ll
[1:49:01] get to it. So that
[1:49:05] s great. Um
[1:49:06] the county, uh, we don
[1:49:07] t have
[1:49:08] any county roads in the city,
[1:49:08] uh, so it
[1:49:09] s a little bit
[1:49:10] different, but we do work with
[1:49:11] them to make sure that we
[1:49:11] re
[1:49:12] aware of what
[1:49:13] s going on with
[1:49:13] their vision er programs and
[1:49:15] their safe routes to street
[1:49:17] programs. Uh, this picture here
[1:49:20] is with uh mostly uh Maryland
[1:49:22] or not, Montgomery County
[1:49:22] Department of Transportation,
[1:49:24] uh, where we looked at the Carl
[1:49:26] Hen Millennium Trail, uh, but
[1:49:29] the section on East Guy that is
[1:49:30] on county-owned maintained
[1:49:31] right of way. Um, there are a
[1:49:32] lot of issues that are by
[1:49:33] communities brought to us and
[1:49:34] that we use this opportunity to
[1:49:35] say, hey, look, here
[1:49:35] s some
[1:49:37] issues that City of Rockville,
[1:49:38] you know, bicycle advisory
[1:49:40] Committee has said, how can we
[1:49:41] make this better and share that
[1:49:44] with them. Um, and so kind of
[1:49:45] this partnership and
[1:49:46] collaboration is an ongoing
[1:49:47] effort, um, and I
[1:49:48] m happy that
[1:49:49] we have them as, as partners on,
[1:49:54] on all levels. Um. And with
[1:49:55] that, and on behalf of the
[1:49:57] department and the traffic and
[1:49:58] transportation division, uh,
[1:49:59] thank you for your time. I was
[1:50:01] happy to, happy to share what
[1:50:01] we
[1:50:02] ve been doing and have you
[1:50:03] discussed any questions you MAY
[1:50:07] have? I just want to say a huge
[1:50:08] thank you, uh, on behalf of all
[1:50:09] of us. I know you
[1:50:09] ll hear from
[1:50:11] us, you know, individually as
[1:50:13] well, but, um, fantastic work
[1:50:16] to you in the department, uh,
[1:50:19] MR. Ahmad al-Shafi, MR. Simono,
[1:50:20] and Brian, um, also appreciate
[1:50:22] the work that you do with our
[1:50:24] community groups, uh. And
[1:50:26] associate and our board, you go
[1:50:28] across three of them, uh, which
[1:50:29] I think is maybe a record for
[1:50:30] some of our staff liaisons, but
[1:50:32] I just want to say thank you
[1:50:32] because it
[1:50:34] s so important as we
[1:50:35] are developing policy, you
[1:50:35] re
[1:50:37] talking to the people who um
[1:50:38] have that expertise, so I
[1:50:40] really appreciate it. I have a
[1:50:43] couple quick things. Um, so I
[1:50:45] was really happy to see that uh
[1:50:47] there have not been any more
[1:50:47] fatalities, and I
[1:50:49] m gonna hope
[1:50:51] that that stays that way on
[1:50:52] North Washington. Um, and I
[1:50:53] just wanted to make a statement
[1:50:55] on that. I know that was
[1:50:57] something that was hard. Uh, we
[1:51:00] got a lot of, um, commentary on
[1:51:02] do we need bike lanes in North
[1:51:03] Washington, and I think it
[1:51:04] speaks to the fact that it
[1:51:04] s
[1:51:06] not just the bike lanes, it
[1:51:07] s a
[1:51:09] complete street aspect of it,
[1:51:09] and it
[1:51:10] s been helping the
[1:51:10] entire community. We
[1:51:11] ve been
[1:51:13] able to save lives on that road,
[1:51:14] uh, and I just, you know,
[1:51:16] sometimes it looks like one
[1:51:17] thing, but it
[1:51:17] s actually many
[1:51:18] things we
[1:51:19] re trying to
[1:51:19] accomplish with these projects.
[1:51:21] So I just wanted to, to thank
[1:51:22] you for that and just to
[1:51:24] explain to the public why
[1:51:24] that
[1:51:25] s so important and why we
[1:51:27] moved to Ford on it. Um, in
[1:51:29] addition, on Maryland Avenue,
[1:51:31] when we did the bike lanes,
[1:51:33] again, not just the bike lanes,
[1:51:34] but which are important as well,
[1:51:35] right? Because we have, we need
[1:51:36] to have multimodal
[1:51:38] opportunities in the city, but
[1:51:42] it also created a buffer for um
[1:51:43] our walkers and pedestrians, uh,
[1:51:46] we have a lot of children who
[1:51:48] go along these roads, and we
[1:51:50] had uh teenagers get hit by a
[1:51:52] car, uh, so I just wanted to
[1:51:54] note that in that particular
[1:51:56] space, I think there was like a
[1:51:58] 70% reduction speed, speeding
[1:51:58] tickets at one point. So people
[1:52:00] are saving money, but we
[1:52:00] re
[1:52:02] also saving lives. Um, and I,
[1:52:03] you know, these projects are
[1:52:05] more than meets the eye, and I
[1:52:08] hope we can do more of them. I
[1:52:09] will also note that even if we
[1:52:10] do everything right, and I say
[1:52:14] this every time. Uh, the the
[1:52:15] work that we really need to get
[1:52:16] done is on the state highways,
[1:52:18] which we do not have full
[1:52:21] control over. Um, so I wanna
[1:52:22] thank you for um updating the
[1:52:24] high injury Network. My
[1:52:26] question to you is, um, how are
[1:52:27] we sharing that updated list
[1:52:32] with the state. Uh, so we met
[1:52:35] with them last week, um, and I
[1:52:37] shared with them the the the
[1:52:37] same slides and data that I
[1:52:40] share with you. So there, we
[1:52:41] let them know that we completed
[1:52:43] this new, this new network and
[1:52:45] that all of the roads that were
[1:52:48] in it were on state maintained
[1:52:49] highways and shared the the
[1:52:50] segments that um are in the
[1:52:52] report. Ok. And we have any
[1:52:53] commitments yet? Uh, I know
[1:52:53] it
[1:52:56] s too soon, but I, last time
[1:52:57] we shared our lesson, I think
[1:53:02] they were like the top 50 um
[1:53:02] serious crashes and fatalities.
[1:53:05] We, we kind of heat mapped them
[1:53:07] for them, um, and we were able
[1:53:09] to get some commitments to
[1:53:09] doing work on them. So I
[1:53:10] m
[1:53:10] hopeful that we
[1:53:10] ll have an
[1:53:14] update on that soon as well. I
[1:53:16] know it takes time. Um, I just
[1:53:18] also want to say thank you for
[1:53:20] the work on Manichee. You
[1:53:20] ve
[1:53:22] helped Wooten, uh, in our high
[1:53:24] school students, um, all across
[1:53:25] East Rockville, there were
[1:53:27] several new sidewalks that went
[1:53:29] there. We talked about North
[1:53:31] Washington, um, Redlin and
[1:53:31] Rawlins and Martin
[1:53:32] s Lane, and
[1:53:33] even going to the f. Scottish
[1:53:33] show, I
[1:53:35] ve just seen many more
[1:53:37] things happening to improve
[1:53:38] safety and as a result, you see
[1:53:40] more people walking, you see
[1:53:42] children riding bikes, and it
[1:53:43] just also creates a sense of
[1:53:45] place in the community. Um, I
[1:53:46] also wouldn
[1:53:48] t acknowledge that,
[1:53:48] uh, it
[1:53:49] s an equity issue. Uh,
[1:53:52] we know that um we wanna make
[1:53:53] sure that not everyone has a
[1:53:55] car and should be able to get
[1:53:56] to work and school, wherever
[1:53:56] they
[1:53:58] re going safely. Uh, with
[1:53:58] that said, I
[1:53:59] ll make my other
[1:54:02] comment, which is that, um, and
[1:54:03] I have personally walked some
[1:54:05] of these paths that we still
[1:54:08] have bus stops at a mid-block.
[1:54:10] And I have seen and tried to,
[1:54:11] you know, see what I have, what
[1:54:13] i would encounter as an
[1:54:13] everyday person on that street
[1:54:15] and try to go to different
[1:54:15] people
[1:54:15] s streets, and I walk
[1:54:18] about 4 miles a day. Um. Just
[1:54:20] to see what people in their own
[1:54:22] community experiencing. It is,
[1:54:24] it is a game of chicken, um,
[1:54:27] and very, very unsafe. And if
[1:54:28] someone is going to be late for
[1:54:29] work. And we
[1:54:30] re putting that
[1:54:32] bus stop in the middle. Again,
[1:54:32] I don
[1:54:33] t think we
[1:54:34] re fully
[1:54:35] practicing Vision Zero,
[1:54:38] practices when we are just not
[1:54:39] anticipating what that person
[1:54:42] will have to do to get to work.
[1:54:45] Um, so I know that we have um
[1:54:45] contracts with the, you know,
[1:54:47] some of the bus stops, some of
[1:54:48] them managed by the county,
[1:54:50] just wanted to see what, what
[1:54:52] is being done on that cause I
[1:54:52] know that
[1:54:52] s, we
[1:54:53] ve tried to
[1:54:54] talk and I just kind of want to
[1:54:55] get a sense. So we
[1:54:55] re making
[1:54:57] any progress on that particular
[1:54:59] front because that is an equity
[1:55:09] issue as well. Yeah. Sure, so
[1:55:09] it
[1:55:11] s part of the initial uh
[1:55:14] crash analysis. Um, we looked
[1:55:17] at uh serious, serious injury
[1:55:19] and fatal crashes that happened
[1:55:20] within kind of 100 ft of a bus
[1:55:22] stop. Um, and then we
[1:55:24] identified their uh turn
[1:55:25] another 8 bus stops where this
[1:55:27] happened. Uh, 6 of them were on
[1:55:30] uh state-maintained roadways
[1:55:32] and uh two of them run a city
[1:55:35] maintained roads, um. One of
[1:55:37] them was on Helpine, uh, where
[1:55:38] we have an ongoing project
[1:55:39] looking at a complete streets
[1:55:41] and doing separated bike lanes,
[1:55:42] kind of near the shopping
[1:55:45] centers. Uh, we also reached
[1:55:47] out to the county, uh, who
[1:55:49] operates the ride on bus
[1:55:50] service about whether they can
[1:55:53] move some of the bus stops, um,
[1:55:53] and then whether the state
[1:55:55] would support that as well, if
[1:55:55] it
[1:55:58] s on state rights supply. Uh,
[1:55:59] in some instances, they said,
[1:56:00] oh, we
[1:56:01] ll look into it. Um, in
[1:56:02] other instances, they
[1:56:03] ve said,
[1:56:04] uh, we can
[1:56:06] t move it because
[1:56:07] the distances between the bus
[1:56:09] stop and the intersection isn
[1:56:09] t
[1:56:12] uh supportive of having
[1:56:12] multiple buses queued up and
[1:56:14] things like that. But we can
[1:56:16] continue to work on it Thank
[1:56:18] you. Appreciate you keeping at
[1:56:20] it one day. Um, and I
[1:56:20] ll just
[1:56:23] end and say, uh, before I let
[1:56:25] my colleagues ask questions.
[1:56:26] The Maryvale Bike Program
[1:56:27] education program is amazing,
[1:56:28] as well as the outreach you do
[1:56:30] at the schools, uh, for walk to
[1:56:32] school day and bike to school
[1:56:35] day. Um, I, I know that the
[1:56:37] kids were able to map out safe
[1:56:38] routes to library and town
[1:56:39] center and places like that,
[1:56:40] and it really makes a
[1:56:42] difference. I will say more
[1:56:43] schools are wanting, and so
[1:56:45] Twin book has already said
[1:56:45] whenever there
[1:56:46] s an opportunity,
[1:56:46] we
[1:56:47] d like to be included and
[1:56:47] i
[1:56:48] m sure there are others, but
[1:56:49] just wanted to commend you all
[1:56:51] on that great work Councilor
[1:56:56] Fulton Thank you. Yes, uh, the
[1:56:58] work is amazing. Uh, I, I find
[1:57:00] that the Vision Zero work is
[1:57:01] the, the quantity of the work
[1:57:02] getting done, the quality of
[1:57:04] the work getting done, the
[1:57:05] level of engagement, the
[1:57:06] reporting, and the tracking,
[1:57:07] it
[1:57:07] s, it
[1:57:08] s all really stellar
[1:57:10] and so thank you for that. Um,
[1:57:11] the mayor going first made a
[1:57:12] lot of the comments that I
[1:57:13] would have made and probably
[1:57:14] some others, but a couple
[1:57:16] things that I, I, I want to
[1:57:18] double down on um the North
[1:57:19] Washington Street, um,
[1:57:20] connection and, and maybe even
[1:57:22] be a little bit more explicit.
[1:57:24] Um, there were a lot of people
[1:57:25] that were really unhappy with
[1:57:28] that work at the time, um, uh,
[1:57:28] it
[1:57:28] s my neighborhood. I
[1:57:28] ve
[1:57:29] talked to a lot of them. They
[1:57:31] were very unhappy. 2 years in,
[1:57:33] you almost hear no complaints
[1:57:34] anymore, and now you see the
[1:57:35] benefits of it, uh, like you
[1:57:35] ve
[1:57:37] got data that shows, you know,
[1:57:38] yes, people might have to go
[1:57:40] slower, but it
[1:57:40] s actually
[1:57:41] preventing accidents. So, so
[1:57:43] thank you for that. It
[1:57:43] s worth
[1:57:44] it. It
[1:57:45] s also creating parking,
[1:57:49] like benefits all around. Um
[1:57:51] two clarifying questions, um,
[1:57:52] on the sidewalks, you made, uh,
[1:57:52] I can
[1:57:53] t remember where it was
[1:57:54] where you said the community
[1:57:56] was asking for it, so that made
[1:57:58] it a lot easier. That is great.
[1:58:00] Um, if someone wants a sidewalk
[1:58:02] in front of their house, that
[1:58:03] is great. I think it
[1:58:03] s also
[1:58:04] important to remember that the
[1:58:05] sidewalks actually aren
[1:58:06] t for
[1:58:07] the person whose house the
[1:58:09] sidewalk is in front of. So if
[1:58:09] there
[1:58:09] s, if there
[1:58:10] s a, a family
[1:58:11] with a child down the street
[1:58:13] trying to get to school, who
[1:58:14] wants that sidewalk that
[1:58:14] s
[1:58:16] equally as important. So I just
[1:58:17] wanted to to make that point.
[1:58:19] And then just a question for
[1:58:20] you. There
[1:58:21] s been an awful lot
[1:58:22] in the news lately about
[1:58:23] Montgomery County
[1:58:23] s right on
[1:58:26] red, uh, going into effect, uh,
[1:58:27] and the signs going up and the
[1:58:29] reaction to that. Um, do we
[1:58:31] have a stance on that, on
[1:58:32] whether making some similar
[1:58:34] restrictions, uh, in, in key
[1:58:35] places might make a help us in
[1:58:39] any way. Yes, uh thank you for
[1:58:40] your question. Um, I
[1:58:41] ve been
[1:58:42] actually in contact with
[1:58:44] Montgomery County to talk about
[1:58:47] this, um, so they have, uh,
[1:58:48] about 22, I
[1:58:49] m sorry, 200
[1:58:52] locations in different downtown
[1:58:53] areas like Silver Spring, for
[1:58:55] example, or Wheaton, um, that,
[1:58:57] um, as you probably have heard,
[1:58:58] there is something called the
[1:59:01] Safe Street Act in 2023, and
[1:59:03] they were required, uh, as
[1:59:06] staff to implement those uh no
[1:59:07] turn on red. So, um, I
[1:59:07] ve been
[1:59:09] told that they have the JUNE
[1:59:11] 26th to, to do this work.
[1:59:13] However, the way they are doing
[1:59:14] it is that, that they are
[1:59:15] trying to look at intersection
[1:59:17] to see if that will cause any
[1:59:18] problems or not. There are some
[1:59:19] pros and cons for no director
[1:59:21] No red. It helps sometimes for
[1:59:23] one direction, but maybe it
[1:59:25] hurt the other direction. Um,
[1:59:26] but anyway, um, so they are
[1:59:27] looking at that and at the same
[1:59:29] time, they are going to remove
[1:59:30] the no re and no red at
[1:59:31] application when they find out
[1:59:32] that there is an issue with
[1:59:35] that. Uh. Coincidentally, that
[1:59:36] 2 years ago, we actually look
[1:59:39] at that in our um intersections
[1:59:40] Um, I don
[1:59:40] t know if you can
[1:59:43] bring the slide, uh. So we, we
[1:59:45] look at the town center, uh, we
[1:59:47] really have like 5-minute
[1:59:47] intersections that we consider
[1:59:48] like the heart of the town
[1:59:51] center, couple on, on 28 and
[1:59:52] then Middle, and North
[1:59:53] Washington, Middle in Maryland,
[1:59:59] um and um Washington Courthouse
[2:00:00] Square. Uh, as you see from
[2:00:03] this table, uh, we already have
[2:00:05] several No right turn on red on
[2:00:06] every intersection has no right
[2:00:08] turn left, but not, not all
[2:00:10] directions. Um, we have also,
[2:00:12] uh, looked at our intersection
[2:00:13] and we found, we added the, the
[2:00:16] north, uh, the middle and the
[2:00:17] Maryland intersection we had on
[2:00:19] the northbound and southbound.
[2:00:20] So we are trying to balance a
[2:00:21] little bit between putting the
[2:00:22] Nora Tanner red, but at the
[2:00:23] same time, like if you think
[2:00:24] about if you have no right turn
[2:00:27] on red, the car going straight.
[2:00:28] i mean that helps the
[2:00:29] pedestrian crossing in front of
[2:00:30] this car because the car cannot
[2:00:33] move forward. But it hurts the
[2:00:34] other pedestrian on the right
[2:00:35] side when finally this car can
[2:00:37] make a right turn, they
[2:00:37] re
[2:00:38] competing now with the
[2:00:39] pedestrian who have the chance
[2:00:40] to cross the street. So we are
[2:00:42] trying to put it where we have
[2:00:43] the more pedestrian or where we,
[2:00:44] we don
[2:00:44] t want to have this
[2:00:46] conflict. But we keep looking
[2:00:46] at this and if we want to edit
[2:00:48] and we add with it what we call
[2:00:50] the lpi which is uh the leading
[2:00:51] pedestrian interval. So we try
[2:00:52] to give the pedestrian a little
[2:00:55] bit uh ahead of time to start
[2:00:56] to cross before the, the car
[2:00:57] get the green light to turn. So
[2:00:58] it
[2:00:59] s a balance between the two,
[2:01:00] but we are working with the
[2:01:01] counties to try to see what
[2:01:03] that experience is, and we keep
[2:01:04] looking at our intersection to
[2:01:06] add no time or no external red
[2:01:07] one, we see it
[2:01:08] s needed or it
[2:01:08] s
[2:01:09] gonna be beneficial. Thank you
[2:01:10] so much. You, you have thought
[2:01:11] it through and you answered. My
[2:01:12] only ask was to like stay in
[2:01:13] touch with Montgomery County
[2:01:14] and see their experience, see
[2:01:14] if there
[2:01:15] s anything we can
[2:01:15] learn and and you
[2:01:15] re doing it.
[2:01:18] So thank you so much. Doctor
[2:01:22] Miles Thank you, thank you,
[2:01:22] MADAM Mayor. It
[2:01:23] s like a, it
[2:01:23] s
[2:01:23] been a long time since i
[2:01:23] ve
[2:01:25] seen you, MR. Burnett Woods.
[2:01:27] She was here this Saturday at
[2:01:28] the police event, and I
[2:01:30] appreciate you coming. Um,
[2:01:33] thanks for this report. The
[2:01:34] only thing I
[2:01:34] ll raise is, uh,
[2:01:35] to thank y
[2:01:36] all for your
[2:01:38] continued efforts to work with
[2:01:39] the county, particularly with
[2:01:41] regard to the Millennium Trail
[2:01:44] Northside. Similarly, with some
[2:01:45] of our border areas where there
[2:01:48] are streets that are out of our
[2:01:49] jurisdiction and or control.
[2:01:49] I
[2:01:53] m mindful of like Montrose uh,
[2:01:55] the bottom end, um some people
[2:01:57] bite there, sometimes I bite
[2:01:58] there. Either some kids who are
[2:02:00] walking, uh, school, some of
[2:02:01] our North Farm kids like go
[2:02:03] across the street and swim over
[2:02:05] at Old Farm. Um, I recognize
[2:02:06] that we don
[2:02:07] t have jurisdiction
[2:02:09] over uh that street. It is a
[2:02:10] fast one. I mean, it
[2:02:10] s, it
[2:02:11] s
[2:02:13] posted at 40 miles. People
[2:02:15] drive 50. Um, but I, I would
[2:02:17] hope that we can continue to
[2:02:19] work with them to make it uh
[2:02:20] safer for those to connect to
[2:02:21] communities, recognize that one
[2:02:24] of them is not ours, but, um,
[2:02:28] anybody who um is involved in
[2:02:31] um uh a motor vehicle collision,
[2:02:33] be a pedition otherwise, um
[2:02:34] that those could be our
[2:02:34] neighbors too. That
[2:02:35] s all.
[2:02:38] Thank you. Thank you,
[2:02:38] COUNCILMAN Valeri and then
[2:02:39] Councilor Jackson, then we
[2:02:39] ll
[2:02:42] go down the line. Yes, thank
[2:02:45] you. Um, yes, see, I feel like
[2:02:47] I see Brian all the time, um,
[2:02:48] but it
[2:02:49] s because I get to be
[2:02:51] liaison to both the
[2:02:52] transportation mobility
[2:02:53] Commission, and the Rockville
[2:02:54] Pedestrian Advocacy Committee.
[2:02:55] So I
[2:02:55] m always appreciative of
[2:02:57] the amount of work that he
[2:02:57] s
[2:02:59] doing, um, and that the entire
[2:03:02] team is doing. Um, I had a
[2:03:05] couple of of quick questions.
[2:03:10] Um, the no right on red, um, in
[2:03:12] Montgomery County, um, do you
[2:03:13] know if they
[2:03:14] ve identified any
[2:03:17] of the um county maintained
[2:03:19] roads within the city of
[2:03:20] Rockville or adjacent to, I
[2:03:20] m
[2:03:21] thinking specifically of
[2:03:23] Twinbrook Parkway. Um, and
[2:03:24] whether or not they
[2:03:24] re looking
[2:03:29] at no right on red. And you can
[2:03:31] come back to me on that one.
[2:03:32] I
[2:03:33] m just thinking like, you
[2:03:35] know, um, we get it that it
[2:03:35] s a
[2:03:37] Montgomery County thing, and I
[2:03:38] really appreciate the analysis,
[2:03:41] but because I think that the
[2:03:44] data always has shown that um
[2:03:46] eliminating right turn on red
[2:03:48] uh does save lives. So I think
[2:03:48] that
[2:03:50] s really important. Um, so
[2:03:50] there
[2:03:52] s that. I, I had a
[2:03:54] question about the maintenance
[2:03:56] of crosswalks, um, and this
[2:04:00] might be, maybe a, a, a fun uh
[2:04:02] con uh collaboration between,
[2:04:04] uh, MR. El Shafi. Brian Barnett
[2:04:07] Woods, and Craig Simenow. Um,
[2:04:09] what is the maintenance of
[2:04:11] crosswalks? Do we have a, a set
[2:04:12] schedule cause what I
[2:04:12] ve
[2:04:14] noticed is some of the
[2:04:17] crosswalks that have been um
[2:04:18] community requested at a
[2:04:18] certain point, I
[2:04:19] m, I
[2:04:19] m
[2:04:20] thinking of one that
[2:04:20] s just
[2:04:22] down the block. After the
[2:04:25] winter, all the um striping has
[2:04:27] come up and hasn
[2:04:29] t been fixed
[2:04:30] in about 2 years. So I
[2:04:31] m just
[2:04:33] wondering what the um what the,
[2:04:35] the maintenance schedule, uh,
[2:04:37] looks like on those, and I can
[2:04:38] pause there. I have just one
[2:04:42] more question after this. Sorry
[2:04:45] to put you on the spot, MR.
[2:04:46] Simenow for a mic. I
[2:04:47] ll, I
[2:04:47] ll
[2:04:50] take that one. We have
[2:04:51] developed within the last 2 or
[2:04:53] 3 years, a level of service for
[2:04:54] exactly what you
[2:04:54] re talking
[2:04:57] about. The average life of
[2:04:58] asphalt in the city streets is
[2:05:01] 12 years, give or take, and we
[2:05:03] have, uh, ascertain that we
[2:05:05] should be replacing the lines
[2:05:06] about 6 years halfway through
[2:05:07] life. So they
[2:05:08] re going to get
[2:05:09] replaced when we resurface the
[2:05:10] road because we
[2:05:11] re digging them
[2:05:13] up, but then about halfway
[2:05:13] through, we
[2:05:14] re going through
[2:05:15] and replacing those lines again.
[2:05:16] Ok. So we
[2:05:17] re we
[2:05:18] re thinking the
[2:05:19] lines are lasting 6 years in
[2:05:20] the roads lasting about 12
[2:05:23] years. Probably depends too on
[2:05:26] the amount of snow that how
[2:05:27] much blade and how much, uh,
[2:05:29] where it, it gets, etc. Some
[2:05:30] locations a little more than
[2:05:31] others. Doesn
[2:05:31] t mean we won
[2:05:31] t
[2:05:32] take one out of cycle if it
[2:05:32] s
[2:05:35] in a high of it, but we, we
[2:05:36] think, especially like the long
[2:05:38] lines we call them. Long lines
[2:05:39] of the bigs we call a
[2:05:40] contractor and to do them, the
[2:05:42] crosswalks we do in-house now.
[2:05:43] Ok. Thank you. That, that
[2:05:43] s
[2:05:45] really helpful because I know
[2:05:45] I
[2:05:46] ve heard from some residents,
[2:05:49] um, that appreciated when a
[2:05:51] crosstalk was put in, and now
[2:05:51] it
[2:05:53] s looking a little, um,
[2:05:54] looking a little rough and can
[2:05:55] barely tell it
[2:05:55] s a crosswalk
[2:05:56] there. So thank you. That
[2:05:57] s
[2:06:00] really helpful. Um, my, my last
[2:06:02] question slash point, um,
[2:06:04] because I know that you have
[2:06:06] the quarterly meetings with the,
[2:06:09] the state and the county and
[2:06:11] our wonderful team here in the
[2:06:13] city. Um, I really would like
[2:06:14] to see if there
[2:06:15] s a way that we
[2:06:32] could there is not enough time,
[2:06:34] and this is on city roads
[2:06:36] specifically. There is not
[2:06:39] enough time to cross, and
[2:06:39] especially at Beersmillon
[2:06:41] Atlantic. They gave us the
[2:06:43] benefit of um I think 8 more
[2:06:46] seconds, which really for
[2:06:49] people, um, of, of, of any age,
[2:06:50] but particularly with any sort
[2:06:52] of sort of uh mobility
[2:06:54] impairment, um, you feel that
[2:06:54] it
[2:06:55] s a race, because most
[2:06:56] people don
[2:06:57] t understand kind of
[2:07:00] the, the, the nuances of you
[2:07:00] can keep walking when it
[2:07:02] s.
[2:07:02] Blinking orange. People just
[2:07:05] see that and you have an
[2:07:05] internal panic and you can
[2:07:06] t
[2:07:08] get to the other side, and
[2:07:08] that
[2:07:09] s a uh essentially in many
[2:07:11] ways is a a 5 lane 6 lane
[2:07:15] highway. Um I really would like
[2:07:17] to advocate for us lengthening
[2:07:18] the time our crossing time
[2:07:20] across the board in the city,
[2:07:23] um. But in addition to that,
[2:07:25] really working with the, the
[2:07:27] county and the state on looking
[2:07:30] at the, the crossing times, um,
[2:07:31] on those particular roads,
[2:07:32] because I know that we can
[2:07:33] t,
[2:07:34] you know, just go in there and
[2:07:36] change them ourselves, but it,
[2:07:37] it makes a big difference, I
[2:07:40] think, in terms of safety, but
[2:07:43] also um the walkability factor,
[2:07:44] that to make crossing, you know,
[2:07:45] people have to feel safe and
[2:07:45] you don
[2:07:47] t want to make them
[2:07:47] feel like they
[2:07:48] re on beat the
[2:07:49] clock, and that
[2:07:50] s the way that
[2:07:51] people feel right now. So, um I
[2:07:54] just wanted to put a, a plug-in
[2:07:55] for that because that is
[2:07:57] probably up there with uh
[2:07:59] sidewalks is probably the #2,
[2:08:00] uh, thing that I hear from
[2:08:02] folks. So, thank you and thank
[2:08:04] you as always for just
[2:08:05] phenomenal work. You have a
[2:08:08] great team. Thank you,
[2:08:10] COUNCILMAN Jackson Thank you,
[2:08:11] Mayor. I
[2:08:12] ll be, uh, rather
[2:08:16] brief, but first, let me say,
[2:08:18] great work and uh you know,
[2:08:20] this is an example of the
[2:08:22] departments actually working
[2:08:23] together and pursuing one goal,
[2:08:26] and I, I think we
[2:08:26] re making
[2:08:28] tremendous tremendous progress.
[2:08:28] Obviously, there
[2:08:29] s still a lot
[2:08:34] to do, but I think this
[2:08:36] presentation and the maps and
[2:08:37] everything you talked about
[2:08:37] says that we
[2:08:38] re going in the
[2:08:39] right direction. And so I, I
[2:08:44] appreciate that, um, I as a
[2:08:45] bicyclist uh myself on the
[2:08:48] Bolivian trail, I really
[2:08:51] appreciate um your continued um
[2:08:52] a doggedness and trying to
[2:08:56] improve uh the stretch, uh, uh,
[2:09:00] uh, east of uh Onguti uh of 355,
[2:09:01] uh, obviously that
[2:09:02] s a, a tough
[2:09:03] nut to crack, but uh you guys
[2:09:06] are keeping on top of it. Um,
[2:09:09] likewise, uh, Redland, the, the
[2:09:10] demonstration project, that is
[2:09:12] something that we have talked
[2:09:14] about for years now, and I
[2:09:14] m
[2:09:15] really excited that uh we
[2:09:15] re
[2:09:18] gonna get it started and see,
[2:09:20] um, you know, how it works and
[2:09:20] whether it
[2:09:22] s uh feasible to um
[2:09:24] and keep it. I, I think that
[2:09:27] getting uh the traffic slowed
[2:09:29] down along that road is going
[2:09:31] to be a fantastic for people
[2:09:33] who live uh in in that. Now,
[2:09:36] the street lights, um, I know
[2:09:38] that you said um that it takes
[2:09:39] a little bit of time to get
[2:09:41] used to them. And, and and
[2:09:42] that
[2:09:44] s probably true. Um, and I
[2:09:47] support, um, uh, the lad street
[2:09:49] lights. My question is, uh, as
[2:09:50] somebody who actually lives in
[2:09:53] King Farm. And I know that they
[2:09:55] have private streets and public
[2:09:57] streets, Private streetlights
[2:09:59] and public street lights. So
[2:10:03] this picture that you showed,
[2:10:04] um, you can go, basically one
[2:10:06] block over uh of, of a city
[2:10:08] street to a private, I mean,
[2:10:11] yeah, private street and see
[2:10:12] the difference in lights. And
[2:10:12] it
[2:10:14] s not just uh in Ke Farm,
[2:10:14] it
[2:10:18] s uh other HOAs and uh other
[2:10:19] uh civic associations across
[2:10:21] the city. So my question really
[2:10:24] is, you know, in, in places
[2:10:26] where you have different lights.
[2:10:28] Uh, is there a program or is
[2:10:30] there outreach, you know, what
[2:10:33] are we trying to do to kind of
[2:10:34] coordinate and eventually, I
[2:10:34] don
[2:10:36] t expect it to happen
[2:10:39] overnight, but eventually, uh,
[2:10:39] we
[2:10:40] ll have the same, um, uh,
[2:10:43] the same kind of lights rather
[2:10:45] than people saying the uh
[2:10:45] different lights and wondering,
[2:10:46] you know, what
[2:10:50] s going on? Uh
[2:10:51] good question. I mean,
[2:10:53] obviously, you know, we, um, uh,
[2:10:56] we, we are just doing uh the
[2:10:58] LEDs on our uh uh public
[2:11:00] streets, but we actually have
[2:11:01] worked specifically with Skink
[2:11:03] Farm and other uh neighborhoods
[2:11:04] on before we install the lights
[2:11:05] because, you know, we, we did
[2:11:09] not want to get like um,
[2:11:10] sometimes like feedback that
[2:11:10] they don
[2:11:11] t like the lights. So
[2:11:12] before we put the light in King
[2:11:14] Farm, we work with the King
[2:11:16] Farm uh assembly, and we
[2:11:18] actually changed the, the style
[2:11:19] of the fixtures, the light
[2:11:21] fixtures. Uh, in a way that
[2:11:23] they like it. Um, so that
[2:11:23] s
[2:11:24] just the, the amount of work,
[2:11:27] the extent of work we did with,
[2:11:28] uh, with them to coordinate
[2:11:30] this kind of work. Um, we also,
[2:11:31] you probably heard some people
[2:11:33] that uh were complaining about
[2:11:33] it
[2:11:34] s too bright. And we have
[2:11:35] actually dimmed some of those
[2:11:37] lights and we work with some of
[2:11:38] those residents to dim it a
[2:11:40] little bit and, uh, we did not
[2:11:41] hear complaints after that, so
[2:11:41] hopefully it
[2:11:42] s good. Um, just
[2:11:44] to add to that also, uh, a lot
[2:11:46] of work has been done in
[2:11:47] Githersburg and Montgomery
[2:11:49] County with those LEDs and they
[2:11:50] get the same feedback that we
[2:11:51] are receiving now. At the
[2:11:52] beginning, they feel it
[2:11:52] s too
[2:11:53] bright, then they get used to
[2:11:54] it or they can dim some of them.
[2:11:56] Uh, but we can work with some,
[2:11:57] like, like, for example, like I
[2:11:59] said, we work with King Farm,
[2:12:01] we can talk to them about the
[2:12:03] possibility of uh them doing
[2:12:05] also uh led lights. There are
[2:12:08] some programs, uh, um, that can
[2:12:10] help financially, which we use
[2:12:12] obviously, um, and maybe we can
[2:12:14] guide them, uh, to, to maybe
[2:12:15] apply for something similar. So
[2:12:16] the financial burden will not
[2:12:19] be as, as much as it can be. No,
[2:12:20] and I appreciate that. And I
[2:12:22] also, let me just say, um, you
[2:12:24] know, I was involved with this
[2:12:26] conversation with the l led
[2:12:28] lights and people um brought to
[2:12:32] their um complaints uh to me,
[2:12:35] and I think that number one,
[2:12:37] your staff uh responded really
[2:12:39] quickly and really thoroughly.
[2:12:41] And with the right tone, which
[2:12:42] was, hey, well, we
[2:12:43] ll work with
[2:12:44] you if the judgments that need
[2:12:46] to be made, we will do it. And
[2:12:51] that way went a long way and um
[2:12:52] kind of mollifying uh those
[2:12:54] people who were complaining,
[2:12:57] but also it brought it off the
[2:12:59] uh the woodwork, uh, people
[2:13:01] that actually liked the, the,
[2:13:01] the lights. They
[2:13:03] re like, um,
[2:13:05] the, the clarity, and also they
[2:13:07] like the, the fact that it
[2:13:07] s um
[2:13:10] uh No, it
[2:13:12] s a, um, uh, it, it,
[2:13:12] it
[2:13:13] s really, uh,
[2:13:14] environmentally friendly. Yeah,
[2:13:15] a lot of environmentally
[2:13:17] friendly. Uh, the, the night
[2:13:18] sky, it
[2:13:20] s really helped by
[2:13:22] having uh ele, yeah, uh yeah,
[2:13:24] light pollution is, is really
[2:13:27] lessened uh by using the, the
[2:13:29] led lights. So I really thank
[2:13:31] you for that. Um, the only two
[2:13:34] other things and, and one, the
[2:13:35] city manager knows I
[2:13:35] m going to
[2:13:36] keep harping on, on it, and
[2:13:36] I
[2:13:39] ll save it for last. But um
[2:13:42] just the, the ada, um, and, and,
[2:13:44] uh, town center, uh, you know,
[2:13:46] we continue to hear um
[2:13:50] complaints from people who are
[2:13:51] mobility challenged or um uh
[2:13:52] use uh other things to get
[2:13:54] around like walkers or
[2:13:57] wheelchairs, uh, with the
[2:13:59] cobblestones or the bricks in
[2:14:01] town center and I know we
[2:14:02] talked about this before and I
[2:14:02] know there
[2:14:04] s a plan, but you
[2:14:06] know, whatever we can do to
[2:14:08] speed it up or uh get that
[2:14:13] moving. I know that, you know,
[2:14:16] people want to use town center
[2:14:18] and people uh that are mobility
[2:14:21] challenged or maybe uh aging,
[2:14:23] um, they avoid it because it
[2:14:23] s
[2:14:24] really difficult for them to
[2:14:27] walk to get around on that
[2:14:28] uneven surface. So just put in
[2:14:30] a plug for, you know, whatever
[2:14:33] we can do to accelerate uh that
[2:14:34] changeover. And then finally,
[2:14:37] and, and uh the city manager is
[2:14:39] gonna laugh, but, um, you know,
[2:14:41] uh, Doctor Miles was talking
[2:14:42] about, uh, school kids, uh
[2:14:44] biking. And Skokia it
[2:14:44] s uh
[2:14:47] walking to school. And I would
[2:14:48] be remiss not to mention that,
[2:14:52] you know, we still need to work
[2:14:54] on that when the line
[2:14:56] millennium trail, the
[2:14:57] connection to Yale Place
[2:14:58] because it
[2:15:00] s really, uh, the,
[2:15:02] the greatest is really steep
[2:15:03] and uh kids have a lot of
[2:15:05] trouble, even adults have
[2:15:07] trouble making that turn and
[2:15:09] going along that way. And it
[2:15:10] s
[2:15:11] a real impediment to being able
[2:15:14] to bike and walk. Uh from, uh,
[2:15:16] you know, King Farm or other
[2:15:18] points down, uh, the Millennium
[2:15:19] Trail and then crossing over to
[2:15:21] the to the out places. And with
[2:15:22] that, I will turn it back over.
[2:15:30] Thank you, Councilor Brashaw.
[2:15:32] Uh, but I, I do wanna commend
[2:15:33] the staff and echo my
[2:15:35] colleagues. Thank you. It
[2:15:35] s an
[2:15:37] excellent presentation. I just
[2:15:40] have two quick things, comments,
[2:15:42] um, just building on my
[2:15:42] colleague
[2:15:44] s comments around uh
[2:15:45] North Washington, um, that
[2:15:46] s
[2:15:48] the area where I live and so I
[2:15:49] greatly, greatly appreciate the
[2:15:50] improvements. Um, we talked
[2:15:55] about um, the benefit of
[2:15:56] parking, and I just want to
[2:15:58] build on that with that benefit
[2:16:00] of the businesses. Also
[2:16:01] appreciating the parking around
[2:16:05] there, um, and I think we
[2:16:07] should broadly share, uh, the,
[2:16:08] the data that we have, um,
[2:16:11] because I know there was a lot
[2:16:12] of mixed feedback originally,
[2:16:13] and I think it would be great
[2:16:16] to share some of that data, um,
[2:16:20] and the other thing is, um, the
[2:16:23] led savings, um, I know
[2:16:26] initially, uh, there was a er
[2:16:26] uh I can
[2:16:27] t remember the the
[2:16:29] number, but there was a
[2:16:29] projected number of uh money
[2:16:32] that we were going to save by
[2:16:35] having led and so with 2/3 of
[2:16:37] it being installed, I look
[2:16:38] forward to learning the actual
[2:16:41] savings. Thank you, Councilor
[2:16:47] Jackson Council member Van
[2:16:47] Gregg, sorry. It
[2:16:50] s ok. It
[2:16:50] s
[2:16:50] it
[2:16:52] s a compliment. Um, first,
[2:16:54] um, uh, uh, like I said to my
[2:16:55] like my colleagues have said,
[2:16:57] um, fantastic report, but I
[2:16:58] wanna emphasize something even
[2:16:59] greater. Um, MR. Barnet Woods,
[2:17:01] I have to tell you, I know you
[2:17:02] mentioned the public engagement
[2:17:02] that you
[2:17:04] ve been to, but that
[2:17:05] was just a snapshot. I don
[2:17:06] t
[2:17:06] think there
[2:17:08] s a single, whether
[2:17:08] it
[2:17:10] s county or city event that
[2:17:10] I haven
[2:17:13] t seen you at the table,
[2:17:14] engaging from start to finish
[2:17:15] of our events. And it
[2:17:16] s not
[2:17:17] just handing out the I ike
[2:17:20] Rockville, uh, uh, magnets or
[2:17:21] other aspects for those who
[2:17:21] don
[2:17:22] t know or haven
[2:17:23] t been,
[2:17:23] he
[2:17:26] s got an an entire chart of
[2:17:28] the city, engaging with our
[2:17:30] residents saying, where are the
[2:17:31] problem areas? What can we do
[2:17:32] to help out? And I
[2:17:33] ve witnessed
[2:17:36] time and time again, residents
[2:17:37] pinpointing areas that I know
[2:17:38] are part of this report. So I
[2:17:41] know this report is not just um
[2:17:43] staff looking at areas, staff
[2:17:44] hearing from the mayor and
[2:17:46] council. I know that you have
[2:17:49] been out there on a constant
[2:17:50] basis looking and getting the
[2:17:52] information. So you and the
[2:17:54] entire team, with regard to the
[2:17:54] engagement
[2:17:54] s exactly what the
[2:17:55] mayor and council has been
[2:17:56] looking for. The community
[2:17:58] engagement, and I can
[2:17:59] t think
[2:18:00] of a person or a department
[2:18:01] that has done it better than
[2:18:03] you have. So thank you so much
[2:18:03] for everything you
[2:18:04] re doing.
[2:18:06] Thank you. Um, I, I also, I
[2:18:08] also have a question. I know
[2:18:08] I
[2:18:09] ve asked it before, um, but i
[2:18:11] want to bring it up simply for
[2:18:12] the fact that it
[2:18:13] s probably the
[2:18:16] single most area, a single most
[2:18:17] commented area that I get. In
[2:18:19] fact, I literally had two
[2:18:20] residents ask me just this
[2:18:21] weekend on the issue, it
[2:18:22] s on
[2:18:22] the chart, and it
[2:18:23] s dealing
[2:18:24] with Scott Drive. And I know
[2:18:24] that it
[2:18:26] s an area that we
[2:18:26] ve
[2:18:28] been uh pinpointing for years,
[2:18:29] and I literally had two people
[2:18:29] calling me, what
[2:18:30] s going on?
[2:18:30] What
[2:18:32] s the status? And I note
[2:18:32] that it
[2:18:34] s listed on the diagram,
[2:18:36] but it isn
[2:18:38] t on the ongoing
[2:18:40] upcoming or design. So, uh, uh,
[2:18:42] to kind of at least help me uh
[2:18:43] uh in communicating with the
[2:18:44] residents and give an update,
[2:18:46] where are we on that? Can we
[2:18:47] see it in the future? And
[2:18:48] because I know some of my
[2:18:49] colleagues were talking about
[2:18:50] school kids. The frost school
[2:18:53] kids, the Wooton school kids,
[2:18:53] they
[2:18:54] re asking us as kind of
[2:18:55] where we are because they know
[2:18:58] they view it as important. Good
[2:19:00] question again, uh Scott Devi
[2:19:01] s,
[2:19:02] uh, drive is a cip as you
[2:19:04] probably know, um, we did a
[2:19:06] feasibility study, so we have
[2:19:08] actually a good plan. And then
[2:19:09] we are moving to the design
[2:19:10] phase, but we were lucky enough
[2:19:12] to get a grant for that, which
[2:19:13] slow us down a year at least at
[2:19:14] this point. Uh, as you know,
[2:19:16] when we get a grant, it
[2:19:16] s
[2:19:17] always, uh, somebody else
[2:19:19] giving, giving us the money and
[2:19:21] therefore they are involved in
[2:19:23] every step, all the agreements,
[2:19:23] and that
[2:19:23] s what
[2:19:24] s slowing us a
[2:19:25] little bit. But, uh, we are
[2:19:27] close to have an agreement
[2:19:28] signed and get the project
[2:19:29] starting to design. So we have
[2:19:30] money for the design and we, we
[2:19:31] are gonna move forward with
[2:19:35] this very soon. And again, uh,
[2:19:35] I
[2:19:36] m only saying this because I
[2:19:38] know that like, that
[2:19:38] s been the
[2:19:39] response. Do we believe that
[2:19:39] there
[2:19:40] s going to be at the
[2:19:42] design phase. We think in the
[2:19:43] next year. I mean, I, I
[2:19:44] understand that there
[2:19:44] s a lot
[2:19:46] of complications here. It
[2:19:46] s
[2:19:47] just something that I, I, I
[2:19:47] m
[2:19:48] not joking when I say it
[2:19:49] s at
[2:19:51] least once every 2 weeks, I get
[2:19:52] a question just on this issue.
[2:19:52] It
[2:19:53] s going to happen. We have
[2:19:58] the money, so Thank you. Uh,
[2:20:00] thank you for the segue
[2:20:02] actually. Um, on this topic of
[2:20:03] sidewalks, um, I
[2:20:03] ve been try I
[2:20:05] just pulled up some 2024 data
[2:20:08] that we were at 51 miles in
[2:20:09] 2024. Um, so you
[2:20:10] re about 50
[2:20:11] miles now and by the time
[2:20:11] you
[2:20:12] re done, which I hope
[2:20:12] that
[2:20:13] ll be, you know, in the
[2:20:14] next year, we
[2:20:15] ll be at 49.7%.
[2:20:16] So is it fair to say you
[2:20:16] re
[2:20:19] targeting 1 mile a year? Yeah,
[2:20:20] we are trying to do that. As
[2:20:22] you know, a mile is not the
[2:20:23] short distance. Amy is a very
[2:20:26] long distance and it can be 67
[2:20:28] projects. Each one of them has
[2:20:29] their challenges, so, but we
[2:20:30] are, we are moving with that.
[2:20:31] As you know, we, we finished
[2:20:32] group one and we are working on
[2:20:34] group 2, and we already have
[2:20:36] group 3 feasibility coming up.
[2:20:38] Uh, so we, we are working as
[2:20:39] hard as we can on that. Thank
[2:20:41] you, and I know that um the
[2:20:44] money that we won back from tax
[2:20:47] duplication was a lot of it was
[2:20:48] from transportation and police.
[2:20:49] Uh, and so I just know that we
[2:20:50] wanted to make sure that even
[2:20:51] though it goes into general
[2:20:52] fund that we were accelerating
[2:20:53] some of our visions your
[2:20:55] efforts, and so I appreciate
[2:20:57] you doing that, uh, and taking
[2:20:58] that very seriously. Um, I
[2:20:58] ll
[2:21:00] also just say thank you for the
[2:21:02] Fixit bike racks. I have seen
[2:21:04] and been one of those people
[2:21:07] who needed uh to fix a a tire,
[2:21:07] um, and I
[2:21:08] ve, you know, you see
[2:21:09] a, a child trying to get
[2:21:10] through and they don
[2:21:10] t have
[2:21:12] their own kit. It people just
[2:21:12] need it. It
[2:21:13] s a, it
[2:21:13] s a part of
[2:21:15] life and so I appreciate that
[2:21:15] you
[2:21:17] re starting with 4, and
[2:21:17] also the work that you
[2:21:18] re doing
[2:21:19] to help Julius West last, was
[2:21:21] it a year or two ago, we
[2:21:22] actually worked with Richard
[2:21:24] Montgomery to add a bike racks
[2:21:26] there, so, um, we had some in
[2:21:27] storage, so I, I think that
[2:21:27] s
[2:21:29] great if we can get more of our
[2:21:30] students biking safely and
[2:21:31] create the safe routes to do it.
[2:21:32] I think it
[2:21:33] s a good thing. My
[2:21:34] colleague mentioned some of the
[2:21:37] comments around, um, uh,
[2:21:38] looking at schools in
[2:21:40] particular. I know that in
[2:21:42] particular one neighborhood, um,
[2:21:43] you are doing that broadly,
[2:21:45] right? Just looking at the um
[2:21:46] safe routes to school and and
[2:21:47] seeing where we are and what we
[2:21:49] need to be doing more to help
[2:21:51] students get to school safely.
[2:21:51] I believe there
[2:21:51] s a plan for
[2:21:55] that. Ok, all right, good. Um,
[2:21:57] I have another audience that I
[2:21:59] wanted to mention, similar to
[2:22:00] our youth, and I talked about
[2:22:01] people who are getting to work.
[2:22:04] This other population are are
[2:22:07] seniors, and um we have uh a
[2:22:09] variety of uh senior living
[2:22:09] communities around Rockville
[2:22:10] Town Center, but they
[2:22:10] re all
[2:22:11] across the city as well. We
[2:22:14] have a lot of them, uh, but
[2:22:14] I
[2:22:15] ve specifically received some
[2:22:16] feedback about Rockville Town
[2:22:18] Center, uh, that, um, in some
[2:22:20] cases, I won
[2:22:21] t name the
[2:22:23] particular institution, um, but
[2:22:25] the as people were getting out
[2:22:27] the parking lots were kind of
[2:22:27] had holes in them and didn
[2:22:28] t
[2:22:29] have like a safe sidewalk to
[2:22:31] get from there. We fixed a
[2:22:33] piece of it, but there
[2:22:33] s still
[2:22:35] more, um, so I just wanted to
[2:22:37] know, thinking about residents
[2:22:39] on the lane and victory and
[2:22:41] Brightview and others. How do
[2:22:43] those singers get to town
[2:22:45] center, and we know that uh a
[2:22:46] senior falling could be
[2:22:47] catastrophic in terms of their
[2:22:48] health, but also quality of
[2:22:51] life. It, it if someone could
[2:22:52] really, um, you know, be
[2:22:54] seriously hurt and life shorten
[2:22:55] years because of it. So I just
[2:22:57] wanted to note that as we think
[2:22:59] about outreach, if we could pay
[2:23:01] pay a little more, uh, review
[2:23:03] on how our seniors are
[2:23:05] accessing town center and, and
[2:23:06] other major locations across
[2:23:07] the city where we have senior
[2:23:11] living facilities. Um. And, uh,
[2:23:12] the other feedback that I got
[2:23:14] was, um, around town center. I
[2:23:16] know my colleague mentioned the
[2:23:20] point of um the time it takes
[2:23:23] to cross the street, uh, I just
[2:23:25] heard it earful in town center
[2:23:25] saying I, it
[2:23:26] s, I
[2:23:27] m, I don
[2:23:27] t
[2:23:28] feel safe crossing that street.
[2:23:30] So I just know many of us can
[2:23:32] walk quickly, but not everyone
[2:23:33] can, and whether you have
[2:23:35] little legs or your, um, you
[2:23:36] know, getting older. I just
[2:23:37] want to think about all those
[2:23:38] people who are just trying to
[2:23:43] get across the city. Um. I just
[2:23:46] also wanted to note, um
[2:23:48] Research Boulevard is an
[2:23:50] important part of our network.
[2:23:50] We
[2:23:52] re going to see mixed-use
[2:23:53] communities over there, and I
[2:23:55] think the project will also
[2:23:56] help us to create more housing
[2:23:58] there. So I know that we
[2:23:58] re
[2:23:59] applying for a grant and
[2:24:00] fingers crossed on that, but I
[2:24:03] just think that we, that one is
[2:24:04] an area where I know there
[2:24:04] s
[2:24:06] gonna be many more people and
[2:24:06] people already asking for that
[2:24:11] work. And um uh mayor Ashton.
[2:24:13] Yeah. Regarding the research
[2:24:16] boulevard grant. So the uh
[2:24:18] committee at the transportation
[2:24:20] planning board recommended our
[2:24:22] project for approval. And so
[2:24:24] the transition planning board,
[2:24:25] uh, will likely, fingers
[2:24:26] crossed, approve this so that
[2:24:28] we will have been awarded the
[2:24:29] grant, um, hopefully by next
[2:24:33] month. Fingers crossed, uh, and
[2:24:36] I will just note, um two other
[2:24:38] areas. One is, uh, the North
[2:24:40] Farm community has had a long
[2:24:42] history of asking for
[2:24:43] additional support, um, on
[2:24:44] pedestrian safety. They
[2:24:45] re not
[2:24:46] our roads nearby to the county
[2:24:47] roads, um, but I just want to
[2:24:48] raise that because I haven
[2:24:49] t
[2:24:50] had as much success in getting
[2:24:51] some of the pedestrian
[2:24:54] improvements. And uh Vio Mona
[2:24:55] Atlantic, I know you talked
[2:24:57] about that. Thank you for
[2:24:58] acknowledging the loss of life
[2:24:59] that has been there previously
[2:25:01] and someone being seriously
[2:25:04] injured. More recently, um, in
[2:25:05] addition to the increasing
[2:25:06] pedestrian time. I don
[2:25:06] t know
[2:25:06] if there
[2:25:07] s an inverse
[2:25:08] relationship here, but I have
[2:25:10] stayed there for an hour just
[2:25:12] to watch human activity and
[2:25:14] behavior, and one thing I
[2:25:15] notice is that um it takes a
[2:25:17] long time for the light to
[2:25:19] change to be able to walk. So
[2:25:20] you could be waiting and this
[2:25:21] is, I don
[2:25:21] t know if it
[2:25:21] s been
[2:25:22] adjusted since I was there, but
[2:25:25] it was like over 2 minutes. And
[2:25:25] if you
[2:25:27] re trying to again catch
[2:25:28] that bus or get, you know, it
[2:25:28] s
[2:25:31] just that length of time MAY
[2:25:34] someone MAY just make the walk.
[2:25:34] And it
[2:25:35] s a very dangerous
[2:25:36] intersection. I know we don
[2:25:36] t
[2:25:38] control the times, but we do
[2:25:39] have influence. And so I just
[2:25:40] wanted to continue to look at
[2:25:43] that, um, and appreciate that.
[2:25:45] Uh, and then the last, last
[2:25:47] thing is our sidewalk partition.
[2:25:48] I appreciate all the work
[2:25:48] you
[2:25:50] ve done with our
[2:25:51] communities, um, can we have
[2:25:52] that form in Spanish? You don
[2:25:53] t
[2:25:55] have to answer now, but I did
[2:25:55] check and it
[2:25:56] s still in English,
[2:25:57] so I think that
[2:25:57] ll be an easy
[2:25:59] fix, but as we think about
[2:26:01] parts of our community who MAY
[2:26:02] want a sidewalk and to make
[2:26:03] sure they have the access to
[2:26:04] understand how to do it. Yeah,
[2:26:05] we can definitely do that. All
[2:26:08] right, thank you so much. All
[2:26:13] right Thank you very, very much.
[2:26:14] Excellent, excellent work on
[2:26:16] Vision Zero. This is a model
[2:26:18] for our initiatives and uh just
[2:26:20] appreciate the deep thought,
[2:26:22] not only the human touch and
[2:26:24] experience, but also the
[2:26:25] data-driven and infrastructure
[2:26:26] part of it, and I know it takes
[2:26:29] the, you know, Rockville City
[2:26:30] Police, you planning a
[2:26:32] residence, um, you
[2:26:32] re really
[2:26:33] doing strong work and we
[2:26:40] appreciate it. Thank you. All
[2:26:42] right, now we
[2:26:42] re moving on to
[2:26:43] agenda item 13, which is our
[2:26:49] mock agenda. Anyone have any
[2:26:51] comments on the market agenda?
[2:26:54] Ok We
[2:26:55] re now moving on to old
[2:26:58] business. We can also entertain
[2:27:01] a motion to adjourn. COUNCILMAN
[2:27:04] Valeri for the good of the
[2:27:04] order, I
[2:27:05] d like to make a
[2:27:08] motion to adjourn. All those in
[2:27:09] All favor, please raise your
[2:27:12] hand and say aye. Hi. All right,
[2:27:13] good night, everyone. Thank you,
[2:27:15] Rockville, for joining us today.
[2:27:17] Thank you to staff who prepared
[2:27:17] and all the residents who