Oh, I don't like this position.
Okay.
Condition.
charges over.
» Okay. >> Yeah.
» Better. >> Okay. Thank you. So,
I'd like to call this meeting to order. Today, May 19 at 7:05
p.m., this is a work session of the mayor and council and is in person here
at Pot Hall. Um, first item, the agenda is called to order. Um, Danielle,
» Mike,
first item is called to order. Second is what?
» I'm calling to order. So >> Oh, I thought you asked me to read the
agenda. >> I'm asking you to say here.
» Here. >> Jenny
» present. >> Joseph
» present. >> Valerie,
» I'm here. >> Okay, I'm here. So, it's a full quorum.
500. Item number two, review of the agenda. Five minutes. The mayor and
councel review the agenda for the meeting, adding or deleting topics of
interest or discussion. Um, so you we already did call to order.
We, you know, are reviewing the agenda right now. Item number three is update
discussion the 3200 Row Island Avenue property. We will receive um an update
from the owner 3200 block of Rland Avenue. Um, presentation discussion and
missing middle housing study draft strategies. It's a 20-minut discussion.
Uh, mayor and council receive a presentation from Prince George's County
Planning Department on the missing middle housing study draft strategies
and provide feedback and recommendations.
Presentation, discussion on tree commission report. Mayor Council receive
a report from the tree commissioners. Presentation and discussion for of the
city ordinance. Uh, 20 minutes. The city manager and city attorney will present
the following ordinance to the mayor and councel.
It just might have there's like a big space in between. All right. Ordinance
04-2026 amending the code of the city of Mariner
by repealing and reacting chapter 7 license and permits for the purpose of
systemically revising provisions that absolutely and efficient or do not
reflect actual city code compliance activities and to reorganize its
provision for greater clarity and efficiency. Efficiency of enforcement
and transferring section 1-01-107
A illegal evictions to chapter 10 peace and order as section 10-1 to3A
ordinance 05-2026 amending the code of the city of Marina chapter 9 parking
meters to eliminate parking meters and provide for the establishment of paid
parking zones as a mean of charging for parking and says and said zones
ordinance 06-2026 Six. I made the code of the city of
Mareno chapter 13 traffic uh to revise and transfer fines previous privilege
set forward in the city fee schedule and make certain other minor revisions
ordinance 07-2026 amend the code of the city of Marina
chapter 3 building code section 3-105 permit fees to clarify the fees for
demolition permits for building of 500 square feet amend chapter 3A standard
for property maintenance Section 3A-108
violations and penalties to increase the fines for certain violations. Amending
chapter 6 health and nuisance section 6-118
penalty to conform to penalty to amount set forward previously in the mounter
fee schedule amending chapter 12 street section 12-109
removal of snow le of freezing rain to revise and transfer fines previously set
forward by the fee schedule amending chapter 14 animal control section 14-116
penalty to increase fines to certain violations and amending chapter 16
violations of ordinance section 16-103 fines payments of fi fines payments of
fines in section 16-106 failure to pay fines to implement authority granted by
the Maryland general assembly to increase the maximum fines for municipal
infractions from 1,000 to 5,000 item number seven presentation and discussion
of emergency ordinance 02-2026 council will discuss emergency ordinance
09-2026 budget amendment number Two. Item number eight, presentation
discussion on the third quarter of finance report 20 minutes. City manager
Kamali Kouch. Oh, sorry. Kuru Kamali uh finance consultant Ronda Wilson will
present the FY226 quarter uh third quarter financial report. Item number
nine, presentation discussion resolution 06-2026
ordinance O82026. Mayor uh car will present resolution 06
20226 ordinance 08 2026 establishing the governoring of the city's uh son
problem. 10 presentation discussion on
legislative priorities and Daniel will present a suggested turn practice for
the council and city manager will create the annual legislative priority list
number 11 presentation discussion legislative priorities council will
discuss the legislative priorities for the city uh including the Maryland
municipal leagues uh in the state that should read larks in case people don't
know presentation discussion business round table council member power will
present a proposal business roundt discussion item number 13 and and
discussion on hybrid options on council meetings. Council discuss potential
having a hybrid option for council meetings. Item number 14 presentation
discussion FI27 legislative session council uh customer half hour present a
proposal begin FI27 legislative session with a work session set a legislative
meeting. Item number 15 presentation discussion
appointment members follow MUTC men. Councelor Jakuda will present proposed
appointment to the LA LTC number 16 uh presentation of minutes. The city clerk
present the minutes for May 5th legislative meeting uh minutes a journ.
And for coming events we have Marenia Pride uh celebration June 27, 2026. And
just a reminder, May is Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander um
heritage month and Jewish American Heritage Month, both uh by proclamation
and ornance as well. So you can find them in the website and and they're
there. All right. So you guys have heard a full read through of the agenda
council. I need to know if there's anything you guys need to add, remove,
what are what is the plan? If there's anything here you want to do. Um if not,
we'll move to proceed. Anybody needs the mic?
» Joseph, >> mayor. Um, I would suggest
either removing item number three or moving it to the end of the agenda just
in case they do show up.
» Okay. How about can we leave it as is and if they don't come, we'll skip and
then we'll come back to it. >> Will that work? Because if I move it to
the end and they don't come, then >> whatever works best, but they're not
here. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Any other item?
Nothing. All right. So, I need to hear a voice um affirming that you guys approve
this agenda as presented. So, Valerie, >> I approve.
» Joseph, >> I approve.
» Jenny, >> I approve.
» Daniel, >> I approve.
» All right. So, we have a working agenda. Um, unanimously support for the agenda
we have in front of us. All right. So item number three is going to be put on
hold uh until until the people uh from 3200 block come. Okay. So we are in
agreement of that. So whatever time it come they'll be the next item in. All
right. We're good because you guys are doing a
lot of signals and I'm not sure what you guys are talking about. All right. So um
you LMTC people are not here. You don't want to move them up in the agenda.
Okay. Because that's going to be that's going to be how do you call it? Um
Joseph, you're >> uh for those at home said Mary Lee will
be here at 7:30. >> Mary Lee will be here at 7:30. So she'll
be >> So that's in 15 minutes.
» Yes. >> And because the next agenda item is 20
minutes. So that should be fine. sign and then LMUTC. I recommend at least
come to next meeting when we vote on it. >> Okay. So, they're not here. So, it's
just more like a read through. All right.
» Hi. All right. Perfect. Okay. All right. So, we have um item number four will be
the next one. Presentation discussion on missing middle house study draft
strategies. The Americans presentation for prejudice county planning department
and the missing middle house study draft strategies. is providing feedback and
recommendations. Who do we have here from? Hi. Can you go ahead and press
that button so it shows green so that way um you're on and introduce yourself
so we know who you guys are? >> Absolutely you guys.
» Good evening. Uh my name is Karen Muro. I'm one of the housing planners in
Prince George's County Planning Department and the project manager of
the missing middle housing study. And joining me in giving you this
presentation tonight is John Parks. >> Hi, good afternoon um or good evening.
My name is uh John Parks. I'm also another housing planner with Prince
George's County Planning Department and the uh deputy project manager for the
missing middle housing study. >> I also just want to acknowledge that uh
the supervisor of our NRS section in the planning department CPD and also the
division chief of community planning department, Andrea um uh Andrea is also
here with us today. Um Andrea Gillis and Josephine Salvakumer. Sorry about that.
I want to get their full names for you. So, it's great to be back here uh with
you. As you may remember, we gave you the Missing Middle Housing Road Show
virtually a few months ago. So, it's great that you have that background as
we're drilling down into more specifics about the study. And tonight, what we're
going to talk about is the draft recommendations and strategies and then
specific to um Mount Reneers and COC. So, I'm going to start with a little bit
of background for you. Uh could you go back one slide, please?
Thank you. As some of you are aware, many other jurisdictions across the
United States have undertaken a process to address housing under production,
affordability, and choices. We believe that missing middle housing can be an
additional way the county can meet those housing needs and goals. This how
housing shortage is experienced by both renters and homeowners alike. That is,
even when a household can afford to rent or buy a home, there may not be an
appropriately sized or priced unit available in their area. This gap means
that middle-income families have difficulty finding appropriate housing
in Prince George's County. But it also means that current residents lack
options to age in place, explore first-time home ownership, and otherwise
find homes that either aren't high-rise apartment buildings or single family
homes. The goal of the study is to promote a
range of missing middle housing types and areas throughout the county, examine
current barriers and opportunities, and provide recommendations to create a more
inclusive h inclusive housing future for all Prince George's County residents.
Next slide, please.
Thank you. Historically, the county was recognized as having a more competitive
housing price points compared to the region. But this increased demand for
housing coupled with the narrow ability to increase supply has driven up prices
for everybody. And like other areas in the county country, excuse me, Prince
George's County is experiencing a significant housing shortage. There is a
mismatch between what housing is being built and what folks need. Housing
policies and development practices are faltering to support firsttime home
buyers to enter the market to provide opportunities for seniors to age in
place and develop pipelines for young professionals. There is a lack of
housing opportunities which directly dis respond to the diverse needs of the
county. Given this reality, we have to think
about housing production differently. The study is exploring how to further
housing production which meets the unique needs of county residents through
a diversity of housing types in both form and scale.
Missing next slide please. Thank you. Missing middle housing
describes a range of housing types and design and unit count. These types can
be anywhere from 2 to nine units and have the same form and scale of a single
family home. In many cases, these types used to be built, but in the 1980s,
zoning and building codes were changed, and it made it basically impossible to
build these types, and the outcomes of development did not generate
contextdriven types. These are examples from across the country, but in many
cases, missing middle housing types are already in our neighborhoods. And the
building on the top left is a forplex located in Mount Rear Mount Reneer on
Bunker Hill Road where it leads into Eastern Avenue. Probably familiar with
that. These are examples from across the country. And in many cases, missing
middle housing types are already in our neighborhoods. As I said, not only is
the form and scale of these are middle in the traditional sense of a single
family home and a large apartment building, but the lower construction
costs provides a more competitive price point for middle inome families. Next
slide, please.
Missing middle housing functions best when located in a walkable area with
access to amenities, transit networks, and jobs is critical to the success of
this study. that way identify areas of the county which are best suited for
missing middle housing development rather than offering merely an
additional housing design which furthers suburban sprawl. The studies identified
two distinct target area designations that you see on the map. The missing
middle housing opportunity areas and the missing middle housing focus areas.
There were eight qualifying factors are the place types analysis or nature of
the existing built environment that went into the consideration and development
of these locations. Job density, the development pipeline
projects, proximity to plan 2035 centers, transit stations, population
density, and street connectivity. The missing middle housing focus areas
are areas which meet all thresholds for opportunity areas but have a combination
of connectivity and access to local amenities that make them especially well
suited for missing middle housing. Missing middle housing opportunity areas
in areas with the potential to be transformed from non-walkable into
walkable places could support more missing middle types and these should be
encouraged and enabled. Next slide please.
Now, John is going to talk about some of the study goals.
» Great. Thanks so much, Karen. Um, so housing policies in general can be
organized into three categories. Policies focused on housing production,
housing preservation, or the protection of existing residents. And this study is
exploring a production focused policy, which could be a tool for the county to
respond to current and future housing demand as highlighted in the previous
slides. um based on internal conversations within the planning
department, leadership um and subject matter experts. Um these are the the
study goals that were identified in the scope of work. Um and the project team
has developed an approach for accomplishing these study goals. Um
these goals were identified by research and analyzing best practices from around
the country, regional trends, um and our county goals for creating more
attainable housing choices for middle-income households. Um and these
study goals informed and guided the draft recommendations which we are going
to discuss next. Uh next slide please. So as stated um we conducted research
into best practices to encourage the production of missing middle housing. Um
and the team used their vast experience and looked at thought leaders across the
United States to develop re draft recommendations and strategies which are
tailored specifically to the needs of Prince George's County. Um many of these
recommendations discuss needed changes to our zoning ordinance, building codes,
and overall agency coordination to achieve um a greater availability of
housing choices for current and future county residents. Um these strategies
and recommendations are by no means the final language um or even proposed
changes to any ordinances or regula or regulations. These are simply guiding
principles um that we will use to coordinate internally to achieve these
goals. Um, and these are the the categories of draft strategies and
recommendations. And I believe um the full list of draft strategies and
recommendations was distributed. Um, but if um anyone didn't get that, we'd be
more than happy to provide um that full list of strategies and recommendations.
So, we want to go into the draft strategies and recommendations that are
specific to the city of Mount Reineer to gather input and feedback. And again, we
want to emphasize this study um is an exploratory exercise in changes that
would allow for missing middle housing. Um this study will not directly make
changes. It will be used to inform um county and uh municipal decision makers
about missing middle housing and how to promote these types. Um, specifically
the Mount Reineer Neighborhood Conservation Overlay Zone or NCZ
preempts many of the development standards within the base zoning
district regarding height, bulk, lot size, and other components as well
provides additional design requirements in order to preserve the historic um,
design context within the city of Mount Reineer. And as Mount Reineer was
identified as a missing middle housing focus area due to its excellent location
adjacent to amenities, access to transit, and proximity to employment
centers, uh the NC without amendments may be a barrier to miss to some missing
middle housing types. Uh the draft recommendations uh proposed to encourage
missing middle housing types within the NC area, but also highlight the
importance of developing design standards to maintain neighborhood scale
and character. And while this is already being done by the NCO itself and
neighborhood compatibility standards within the zoning ordinance, it's
critical to ensure quality design at all levels of review. Um, as well, we have
provided again the full list of recommendations. Um, and we would
welcome any insight regarding those uh that full list of recommendations.
And next slide, please.
Um, and as well I do want to highlight that the um photo that's in the bottom
is actually another forplex within uh the city of Mount Rineer.
» It's a fiveplex. >> Fiveplex. Apologies. Fivelex.
» Cottage city. Uh, a close neighbor. >> Close neighbor.
» Um, next slide, please.
If we go back one. Yeah. So, this is a truly a paradigm shift for the county.
Um, an implementable uh, missing middle housing policy will augment the county's
ability to respond to the acute housing needs of our current residents and
retain or attract the next generation of Prince Georgians. Um, something like
this has never been done in the county and this study provides a substantial
body of work to inform the planning department's vision for housing as well
as county and municipal stakeholders and assist in concise or correct messaging
and inform um, our decision makers about how to proceed in promoting missing
middle housing uh, within Prince County. And with that um, we would love to
transition to a more open-ended discussion um, about the draft
strategies and recommendations. So, thank you so much for having us. Thank
you so much for the presentation. I'm gonna open it up to Mayor and Council to
see what questions they they have. Okay. Um
we are going to start Joseph. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I'm very excited to
see this study progressing and I you know I from what I understand about
middle missing housing, it really brings vibrancy to communities. It helps with
long-term financial stability. Um and um it also you know the we don't just have
examples in our community from time in memoriam. We actually not in the end
cause but in the LMUTC we did have a vacant lot used to be a underwhelming uh
community garden um and is now four town homes right right in the heart of
downtown. So we we show we can do that in Mount Reineer. Um the two things I
was hoping to see in this study if it's not too late to include them. I would
love to see some how it would positively impact our businesses because I often
hear about how businesses don't have enough uh customers and I know that if
we have a denser um area with more folks living in it that can be more of a
customer base for our small businesses. And the other thing I would like to see
is I know that the as you put more housing in you in less space you wind up
with uh benefits for your tax rate. So I would love to see how this could
positively impact our communities. uh uh our city's tax income um as you work
through the study and I can send you some links too if anything that if you
need any guidance on that. >> So every time you move away from the mic
» they cannot they cannot pick you up. >> No cuz you keep doing this just so you
know >> it's it's all dropped off. Jenny
Danielle Valerie go ahead. Um,
so I'm new to dealing with Prince George's County politics, but as far as
I have learned, um, a year into being on council, we don't really have any power
here. And I'm I'm curious given what you discussed in terms of the
overlay uh zone um as a municipality, what actually could we do to support um
development of missing middle? >> Sure, that's a great question. Well,
this um any any changes to incorporate new missing middle housing types
throughout the county or in certain areas that were identified on the maps
before, the focus areas and the opportunity areas. Um I think will take
place through um either um sector plan updates. we'll be writing that language
to encourage that and and get it into writing. Um so that when proposals come
forth, we can compare those and and support those types of developments. And
then also um through probably some text amendments to the zoning ordinance
because as you know the planning department does control the zoning um
and other regulatory standards for development in the county. for as far as
the NC, what the strategy is recommending is to um allow certain
missing middle housing types, especially more duplexes and triplexes in the NCO
overlay zone so that you can incorporate more missing middle housing types. And
then back to Mr. Jakuda's uh point about increasing small business activities. Um
I want to point out that um one of the things that uh one of the benefits that
missing middle housing types have is you know we talked about how they really
work well in um walkable environments where there's access to amenities and
services. And you know, the more the more um the more residents you have, the
more people who are able to take advantage of those, they're able to um
support those businesses. In fact, there was a Brookings Institute study that
found that, you know, um there was an 80% increase in um small business
activities just by um increasing the walkability in those environments. So,
um that's a good thing for the city. It's a good thing for the small
businesses in the city. But um as far as making changes or recommendations to
advance missing middle housing throughout the county, that will
probably be done by us through plan changes and amendments uh to the zoning
ordinance. >> And and if I can add as well, a critical
component of this is looking at the design and what these missing middle
housing types will look like. Um while it hasn't been initiated yet, um we're
going to be exploring that design and a critical feature of that is partnerships
with municipalities. Um you all know best the feel and character of your
communities and we want to ensure that any new um housing types um specifically
any new missing middle housing types complement and and bolster the existing
neighborhood fabric of that. So that partnership is is critical. Um
regardless of, you know, our agency having land use authority, we we look to
municipal leaders um to be able to provide input on what these types are
going to look like in the communities that you represent.
» Danielle, >> thank you so much for coming. Um I
actually first learned about missing middle housing um when I did the uh
neighborhood academy with uh parks and planning. I was in the first class and
it was very interesting to learn about the different zoning types and stuff in
the community. Um, what we have, what we don't have. Um, as you may know, Mount
Reineer is I I think we still hold the designation of the most densely
populated city um, in the state of Maryland. So, density is not something
that we are afraid of. Um, I I see this map here of areas in Mount Reineer that
um, Reineer, I could get in trouble for not saying it right. Um, are there any
specific areas that you have identified here in Mount Reineer that you would
like to see converted or is this just bringing it to us for information? Do
you have any >> to you for information? We have not
identified. >> Before you answer, can I get council to
add more time because we only have three minutes. We still have like two speakers
to speak. >> Um, make can you guys a motion for at
least um whatever 10 more minutes? >> I motion we add 10 minutes to the clock.
» Can I get a second? >> Second.
» All right. probably moved and second. Any discussion? Objection stations
hearing none. Apologies. I didn't want to cut that. Go ahead.
» Thank you. >> You can answer.
» So your question again, >> my question was I mean I saw the map
here that you have in Mount Reineer and you have all the and I know those are
the zoned areas that are zoned for this. Do you have any specific you know like
housing or vacant housing or anything that you have identified?
» No, not at this point. We are not identifying specific parcels or
properties. Um, we're not proposing to take anyone's property or anything like
that. That's not what this is about. This is about actually providing the
opportunity to add more housing choices for people to um be able to afford um
where they live. >> Awesome. Thank you so much.
» Welcome. And again just adding on to this, this is um the study is an
exploratory exercise. So there will be no accompanying uh zoning changes, no
changes to the development standards that are currently in the zoning
ordinance. This is meant to serve as kind of the body of research in order to
inform those decision makers. So um yes, we have not identified specific parcels
or identified, you know, specific areas that will have any sort of development
modifications. system is simply highlighting um that there could be a
need to make changes within the um specifically the neighborhood
conservation overlays. >> Well, thank you for bringing your study
to us. Thank you. >> You're welcome.
» Um yeah, thank you. I think um I think this is a great study. Um so, thank you
for doing this. Um I think uh I would like to we have a strategic plan coming
up in the city. Um and I think this is where this study could possibly inform
some of that work for the next 10 years. Um, and then I also wonder, um, are you
all is this only in Prince George's County or is this um, like a more
statewide I know this is the Prince George's Planning Department, but like
is this happening elsewhere and what is the engagement is their engagement with
the state department of housing and community development?
» Sure. So, this is this study applies only to Prince George's County. Um, but
as you are aware, in the past several years, um, nearby jurisdictions have
gone through the same process. uh Montgomery County um they were
successful after going through some back and forth and changes. Also, Arlington
um Alexandria um was able to change it relatively quickly and and easily. Um
you know, every every place's process is a little bit different. Everyone um
either engages with it more embraces it more readily or not. But this study
applies only to Prince George's County. And in fact, we've learned a lot uh from
what other places have gone through um by doing this as well. So,
» and and a component of the study and a a critical part of it is looking at those
other areas. So, um within the study, we're looking at um you know, how the
the housing shortage is not um isolated to Prince George's County. Um it is not
unique to us. It is a nationwide issue and that lends itself to we have a great
body of work to look on what other places are doing, how we can tailor that
to the needs within the county. So, a component of the study is looking at
what other places across the country are doing.
» Thank you. And just to follow up, um is there any communication or engagement
with the state department of housing and community development um on this
particular issue >> with the Maryland Department of
Planning? They're aware of the study and they are supportive of it as you know.
Um they um convened a oh this is not missing middle housing but an ADU task
force that's another housing option that's going to become available to
Prince Georgeians at the end of the year hopefully. Um that was a state mandate.
Um and then the uh Prince George's Department of Housing and Community
Development is also a partner with us and will be a partner um in implement in
implementing this as well. >> Thank you.
» So once again, thank you for coming. I I think that for me I'm happy that that is
is happening. In the last legislation, there was a very big housing bill.
» Um various um from the top level from Prince George County all the way through
um u county executive team like county council chairs and stuff like that went
to speak when it came to their letting you know the state know like hey
we're doing this study and it's just not about like throwing a number this how
many houses you're supposed to have in Prince George's County because not all
the counties are the same right? So this allowed us to be able to analyze the
data. The other thing is like the comment regarding um the municipalities
don't have any input. We have a lot of input that actually the current summit
um our LTC uh team >> right
» like send stacks of information. So Joseph um I think that they're going to
be doing the same thing. So they would from the first review all the way
through the final they would submit information to us as council say hey
this is the recommendations and we were passing them forward. I think that from
what I understand from the team was um over 90% of the things that the marine
asked for it to be in the plan um were actually incorporated.
» Great. >> So Maria has never been very silent
about what is it that we will see it. Um, and it's always, you know, thank you
for clarifying that it's not about taking nobody's property and Marine is
in a very unique position cuz we're tapped out.
» Yeah, >> we're very tapped out. We might have
like a little hole here and there, but the reality is like we're very tapped
out on potentially what we could what we could do and being the highest density
populated um city in the whole entire state.
» You know, there's only so much room, >> right? Well, as residential
redevelopment can occur, these might be good options for you. And I think that
that's important that you guys voice because I think people feel like, okay,
we we're known for having beautiful backyards, right?
» And people feel like they're going to be chopped off and another building is
going to be thrown in there and now it's like double the population and as it is,
we're very tight spaced already. >> But um so my question to you guys is
what is the timeline looks like for you guys to start the the process? And um we
definitely I would like to invite you guys back to figure out like um you know
when it comes to community involvement because big for us.
» Sure. Um well I can tell you right now that we are reviewing the draft of the
final study um and on June 4th the consultants and uh the planning team
here will be giving a hybrid presentation in front of the planning
board on June 4th. So you might be interested in tuning into that. And then
after that, >> we could pass it out to the committee.
» Sure. I'll I'll send you um the the link.
» Okay. And thank you for the work. That's something I think that there is a need
for housing. Yes. >> And I think that will be able to best
relate what is needed in Prince George's County.
» Yeah. >> That way, from what I understand, a bill
might be coming next legislation as as well, but at least you'll have like more
data from our county. Yeah. >> Not prior to CO. That's the concerns of
people. It's it's really something that um you know when you either read it or
you hear the full presentation on the full study that you know it's it's
really enlightening and and you really start to realize that you know we all
have housing issues. Um we we may not have them now but we've had them in the
past. We'll be confronted with them in the future. So now is a really good time
to think about not only our needs but everyone else's housing needs as we go
forward >> to be more of a sense of um making sure
that >> you know we have a lot of our seniors um
aging in place but sometimes the houses are so big and there's nowhere for them
to go >> right
» you know and the price point for some of the apartments are so expensive that
they pay le mortgage in their house something that I know is being talked
statewise like what is the around to be able to move people so that way um
families are moved to the big homes because we're big family homes but also
like making sure that >> there is a place for our our elders if
they choose to move. >> Yes. Yes. And that that concern has been
voiced loud loudly by all sorts of people that we've talked to for sure.
And as well, I want to just echo um you know, we are of course available um you
know, whether Karen, myself, Josephine or Andrea to answer any questions um as
the advocates for your community, we want to make sure that you're informed
and provided with all the information that um your constituents are are
looking for. And if we can um have any opportunity to to speak with anyone,
we'd be more than happy to do that. >> Thank you. Yes. And any information you
have, we'd love to read it as a human right here. Okay. So, thank you guys so
much for joining us. >> You're welcome.
All right, moving on to item number five. Presentation discussion tree
commission report. The American council receive a report from the tree
commission. Hi. >> Hello.
» All right. Greetings. Good evening. My name is Mary Lee Howitt. I'm the tree
commission chair and today I'm here to talk about the tree commission, what
we've been up to, some of our activities that are ongoing, some of our
accomplishments and some of our challenges. Next slide.
So why does the tree commission exist? What do we do? So we are established in
the urban forest code, so chapter 12b. And we have a lot of different
activities that we do. We help maintain and improve the city's tree canopy. We
advise the city on trees. We educate city staff and the residents. We
advocate for the preservation of existing trees. We do a lot to
coordinate planting of new trees around the city. And then we do have a formal
role in the review of public tree removals and hear resident appeals under
the ordinance. So I'm going to talk about some of these things in more
detail in the next slide. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on
this because hopefully council understands the benefits of trees, but
for folks that don't maybe are less familiar of like why trees are um
beneficial to communities. This is a short list. There's a lot more that we
could say about trees and their benefits, but these are some of the
common ones. They help cool our streets. They help save residents energy, um
support wildlife, of course, absorb storm storm water, calm traffic, and do
increase property values. Next slide. Okay. So for ongoing activities, uh we
do a lot. So the tree commission is a very active group and some of the things
that we do throughout the year of winter pruning of young trees. We help maintain
the city tree inventory and and coordinate tree observation walks in the
summer. I'll talk a little bit more about that. Tree planting coordination,
which I mentioned already, maintenance coordination. We work with utility
companies in the city. Pepco and WSIC are very common ones that are doing work
in the city. Provide input on city projects and then again have a formal
role in terms of some assessment, permit, waiver process and outreach and
education. So next slide. I'm going to talk a little bit about
winter pruning. So winter pruning, this is when I talk about the tree commission
is involved in winter pruning. We're talking about small street trees. Uh so
we have hand tools that the city has purchased that we use. We go around the
city. Um we have a map that we mark here on the right to notate kind of where we
have been. Each commissioner has a different color so we're not duplicating
effort. And we're going to hopefully every street tree in the city um that is
small and manageable with with hand tools and trying to do structural
pruning. So why do we do this? Um to establish strong, healthy and
structurally sound trees. This reduces costly corrective pruning by contractors
later. And we also are being really observant about pedestrian um clearances
and car clearances. So, we're trying to shape the tree so it's not hitting
people in the face when they're walking down the street or hitting a car as
they're driving by. It's not perfect. We can't get everything, but it is
something we are attempting to do every year. And this map is an illustration of
what streets we were able to tackle as, you know, a five to six member
commission last winter. Um, next slide. Just as a reminder for folks that don't
know, um, the ordinance governs who governs who can prune city trees. So
only city tree contractors, tree commissioners, city staff, and other
trained individuals with a pruning authorization letter can prune city
trees. So this includes, you know, the tree and the tree box in front of your
house. And the reason is because you can do a lot of damage if you incorrectly
prune a tree. And so there's training behind this and anybody could stop
somebody pruning a tree and say, "How do you have permission to do this?" And so
that's why we have these authorization letters that document the person has
been uh trained and has permission from the city to to prune uh small street
trees. Next slide.
And we do a lot with outreach. So we do a PR a winter pruning workshop. We've
been trying to do this on an annual basis. So we had one in February in
which our tree commissioner um Barry Stall led a uh public workshop. Anybody
could come learn about the benefits of pruning, why you do it, and how to feel
comfortable and confident in terms of pruning your own trees on your property.
Um, we also had some folks show up who were interested in getting that pruning
authorization letter to help out the tree commission. So, this was a great
way to get them trained up. Next slide. All right, I want to talk a little bit
about the tree inventory. This is a database called accessible urban tree
inventory Audi. And this is something that's been instituted in the last
couple years. Before we had a database, we had an Excel spreadsheet which was
prone to a lot of errors and very difficult to maintain. And so the city
has invested in this database. The tree commission keeps it maintained. And just
so everybody knows, this is a pretty significant number. Uh there's nearly
1,600 public city trees in Mount Reneer. So these trees all need to be maintained
over time. And we are entering data into this database such as the condition of
the tree, species, size, location, who planted it, is it native, naturalized or
invasive. This is a very datarich uh database and we can pull information
about it. Um so pull information from it. So for example, what are the top 10
species that are plant planted in Mount Reneer? There's a list if you wanted to
know the largest tree in Mount Reneer, the smallest tree, you know, how many
trees were planted in the last um two years. We can get that information. And
just tonight, um, somebody from the tree commission asked Lester, who maintains
this inventory, can you make a map of all the service berry trees because
there's a lot of delicious service berries out there right now. And so we
have a map of the service berry trees that people can go and and pick. Um, so
that is going to be posted, I think, to the list serve and to Facebook um, very
soon. Next slide.
And all that data is overlaid on a Google map. So each dot represents a
tree. Um, so this is on the city website. If anybody's curious about the
tree in front of their house, I want to know what kind of species it is. Is it
in good condition? When was it planted, you can zoom in, find the tree in front
of your house, and this is the type of information that pops up. Just it's all
GPS located as well as correlated with the street address as well.
Next slide. All right. So one of the ways we maintain the information in the
database is we do summer tree observation walks. So we're trying to
walk every street in the city and look at every tree. So nearly 1600 trees in
the summer to observe um how are those trees doing? What are are there any
changes in health? Are there hazards? Um we want to make sure the data in the
database in terms of its location is correct. And then we communicate any
sort of hazards or risks to public works. So we're just getting going on
that. And so that's something we do from June to uh November when the trees are
leafed out and we can get a good sense of their overall health. Okay, next
slide. Tree planting. So we do a lot of coordination with different
organizations. Uh over 636 trees have been planted in
the last 5 years in the city. This is largely through partnerships with Joe's
Greenworks uh which is located here in Mount Reneer. They've run some great uh
tree planting programs in partnership with the tree commission. Casey trees
has planted a significant number of trees in the city at no cost as well.
And then the county had a huge uh planting project related to the levy
mitigation project. So that's a whole other can of worms. But we did get the
trees after 10 years of waiting and nearly, you know, over over 260 trees
have been planted through that county project. We also get trees that the tree
commission may work in cooperation with the city in terms of planting as well as
WSSC does plant trees when they remove remove trees. Next slide. And then we do
a lot with maintenance and coordination with the city. When we talk about
maintenance, we're talking about pruning, possibly needing to remove the
tree, watering is a huge concern for young trees, staking, mulching, and some
in some cases removing invasive vines. Um, so we work very closely with the
Department of Public Works, again, pulling information from that database
about tree hazards, feeding that information up if there needs to be some
pruning done. Um, Bartlett is the city's tree contractor. So with the small
trees, we're trying to tackle those as a tree commission, but as the big with big
trees, you need to bring in Bartlett to handle that. Um, so this is a very close
collaboration and a lot of work goes on in this area a couple times a year.
Particularly Bartlett comes to town, I think one to two times a year to do this
work. Next slide. Pepco also comes to town
every two to three years. um they're doing line clearing work and usually,
you know, surprises people. I know we do our best to try to let folks know when
they're coming to town. Um they are planning to come to town at some point
this summer, I believe. And so we have looked at their plans in the past. We
have met with Pepco reps to go over kind of what their plan is. Um, we did as a
tree commission provide some questions, recommendations to public works that I
believe went back to Pepco and we're waiting for the response. One of the
concerns was just about the timing. So, we and this is in the ordinance as well.
We recommend that uh work on trees not happen in the spring when birds are
nesting. So, if we can postpone that to later in the summer, that is a best
practice that we're trying to encourage. All right, next slide. And then input on
city projects. This is an example of input that we provided on the Newton
Street project. So we provided a letter to the city with some of our
recommendations. We reviewed plans, provide advice. In the case of the
Newton Street project, I did meet with the contractor, had a really good
conversation about tree root protection, tree protection, and that was very
productive. So trying to do that as much as possible as well. Next slide.
And then outreach outreach and engagement is uh also a focus. We try to
do our best as a small commission. Um, free tree program in partnership with
Joe's Greenworks is an example of that where we worked with the city of
communications to get the word out about that project. We had an Arbor Day
celebration where um we had a tree walk led by Gabe Popkin on the the tree
commission and um Barry Stall in which we planted a couple uh white oaks in
Richardson Park uh the picture there in the middle. And then we try to do as
much communication out to the community by writing articles for the message and
posting those other articles around on the list serve and Facebook as we have
capacity. Next slide. All right. So the tree commission has uh
two vacancies right now. So we just want to make the council and everybody aware
that we are seeking new members. Um as I mentioned I think we are a commission of
seven. Um currently there are five. We are very passionate, active, fun team.
Uh we like to get things done. So if if folks are interested in trees and want
to be part of this community of treeloving uh residents, we certainly
invite you to be part of the commission. You don't have to be an expert on trees.
I came to the commission. I didn't have a lot of background except I like trees.
I knew a couple species and have learned a lot um from other folks.
Next slide. All right, just pivoting to challenges.
I just want to talk a little bit about challenges in some of the solutions that
we have been working on with the city. So I think one big challenge is that you
know residents and contractors that come to the city aren't aware that we have an
ordinance that governs public and private property trees.
So h how do you deal with that? like we need to communicate that there is there
are these rules and there has been a lot of effort invested in this um ongoing
coordination with the city on communication work with code code
compliance in terms of enforcement working with public works getting
information on the website so folks understand if they're looking for does
the city have tree protections they can find it easily but all that said we do
realize that there's people that have lived here for a really long time but
still don't know that there's a tree ordinance and they could get in trouble
and find if they illegally remove a tree without going through the pro the
process. So over the last year we've worked with the city to develop a door
hanger. Um, so those just got printed, which is very exciting. And they're in
English and Spanish. And the goal is that we're going to put those on every
house door knob that we can over the next couple months so that there's
awareness. Um, everybody's getting information equally hopefully. Um, so
that is a big project that we've been working on over the last year and
excited it's almost to fruition. Next slide. Infrastructure projects. So,
I talked a little bit about, you know, Newton Street and other things. You
know, there's a lot of construction in the city. It's, we just heard about the
density of the city. Um, trees are kind of, you know, in this
very stressed space between sidewalks and streets and when you're taking
sidewalks out or doing curb work or road work, it's very likely tree roots are
going to be affected. And that's the life support system of the tree. So we
have really I think improved the relationship with the city in terms of
communicating that impact and trying to put things in place to protect trees.
So, tree protection plans, the consulting arborist Matt MadiRaa is an
expert in putting together tree protection plans. Um, requiring
contracts, contractors with the city to understand the tree protection rules. um
and having follow-up enforcement if they are violating those protective fencing
of trees and then like I mentioned you know the tree commission has
recommendations and we'll meet with contractors in advance as well just to
kind of emphasize certain best practices.
Next slide. Another big challenge is climate change
and drought. Uh we have all these young trees in the city and they need to be
watered. Um they need regular deep watering. So any tree that's young, one
to three years, needs regular watering. And we are in a drought right now. So
this is an ongoing challenge. I it's it's hard to it's hard to find solutions
other than trying to get people to water trees and trying to, you know, find time
with the city public works staff to help with this as well. So we have often sp
sent watering reminders, worked with public works to get the water truck out
and also thinking about planting climate resilient species. So native native
trees are more resilient to climate change in many cases. So we're trying to
emphasize that. Um and this is just an ongoing challenge with you know we have
some solutions. It's just it's it's an ongoing challenge. Next slide. And this
is my last slide just in terms of challenges. Um, we are a volunteer group
and just have limited capacity. We do a lot and I just want to articulate a lot
of the services that we provide as a tree commission are provided by
professional paid staff in other municipalities
and we understand, you know, this is a small city and there's only so much uh
funding to support additional capacity, but I do think there could be some
creative solutions to look at in the future. Um I think one of our fears as a
tree commission is if you know we get burned out and the tree commission
becomes less active a lot of that work most of that work I just mentioned will
not happen. So do we have more hazardous trees that are causing problems for
residents? You know all those things could really come into play. So just I
think the solution here is to think forward about what could additional
capacity um in the in the city look like and some
of the creative funding options may include Chesapeake Conservation Climate
Corps. There has been some funding through Maryland's urban tree grant
program for capacity building in cities. Possibly cost sharing position with
neighboring municipalities. Maybe there's a sustainability
coordinator position that could be supported with grant funding that could
include some of the work related to trees that I mentioned as well. Anyway,
that's just some forward thinking thoughts that we've included in our
budget proposals for the last couple years.
And in closing, I just want to say a big thank you to city staff, um, Department
of Public Works, code compliance just for the support. It's a big
collaborative effort. Uh we're working very closely with all those departments
and want to call out Victor from public works who is transitioning over to the
police department. He has been our tree liaison for many years and has been a
great asset and so wish him the best and just want to call out his his great
service to working with us. And with that I'll stop and see if anybody has
questions. >> Thank you so much Marley and also uh to
the whole tree commission. So, I'm going to go around the room um to have the
council have a question if they have any. Uh but definitely if you guys want
to describe the tree commissioners are basically the Lorax. We speak for the
very vocal and um and we appreciate that because we have been able to save a lot
of trees, not just plant them. So, um every tree every tree counts here. All
right. So, Joseph, I'm going to go with you since you're the liaison first.
» Sorry. Um but uh I'll start first and I'm going to start by making a motion to
add 10 minutes to the clock. >> So make it
» I I move to make add 10 minutes to the clock.
» Second. >> Mr. Probably moved and second. Any
discussion? Objections. Hearing none. We're adding
10 more minutes to the clock. Go ahead. >> No, thank you. Thank you, Mary Lee. I
don't I don't have too many questions because that was a very thorough
presentation that really covered I mean I I've been listening and participating
in the well liazing with the tree commission for a a couple months now and
you guys just do amazing work. I can't help but thank Lester and Judy and Barry
and Gabe and yourself um for making this all happen plus all the other volunteers
that are pruning and I know there's so much more work to do too because we're
not you didn't even get into the problems of English ivy that needs to be
dealt with and then we also have rain gardens which aren't trees but are also
plants and we need help with. So I'm I'm really supportive of looking for ways to
find funding to make this happen in future budgets because we need support
for all this. Um, and it's it's re really a vital service given the climate
impacts and and the ability to lower our temperatures and have fresh cleaner air
um from having trees and other plant life. Thank you.
» I thought you said it was going to be short. Danielle, Jenny, Danielle,
Valerie, and Jenny. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for this. I
I I really enjoyed this presentation. It was very well done. I I love trees. They
used to call us tree huggers, but I love trees. Um, sadly we lost two of our
trees a few years ago in our backyard and we replaced it with an oak that I
think my husband got from Barry down at the nature center two years ago and um
it breaks my heart that it's not growing faster. So I'm looking for another tree
to put in my backyard. Um I I the things you guys do and the mapping, you know,
you guys do tremendous work and I just want to point out that you know it's
recognized um even by people who don't know about the tree commission. I didn't
know about the tree commission till I got on council. Um um I love what you
said about Pep um about Pepco trying to coordinate with them because they came
in the tool at Magnolia next door to me at 3204. Um they just they butchered it
and it was it broke our hearts to see it, you know, struggling to try to
survive. Um and I love the idea of the door hanger. So um and you say you need
two volunteers to join the commission. There's two vacancies. I mean, we can
function as a commission with five, but the we would like there's a lot to do,
so we would love additional members. Yes.
» Well, I will be more than happy to put that in my newsletter and see what I can
do to try to help you find people, too. So, thank you for everything you do.
Thank you for this wonderful presentation. You guys are amazing.
Thank you. >> Thank you.
» Um, yeah, thank you. Um, this was a really robust presentation, which I
appreciate. Um, I'm happy to see the Audi system working really well. Um,
because that's an exciting development. Um, I do have a question about that
though. Um, is there are there any plans for training other people to use the
Audi system? Is that something the tree commission might do? Um, especially as
you know, you have different people coming onto the commission, you might
consider having a training on using the system so that um, the next generation
of people can use it. That's something to think about. And then and then the
other thing I was going to mention is that the Maryland State Department of um
service and civic innovation is opening their grant applications now for their
service core year. And I feel like this would be a great program to include with
the tree commission to to show young people about how to use uh tree um like
to work on trees and work in a city committee and things like that. So that
might be something the city could potentially apply to. So those are my
two things, but thank you for your presentation. Um yeah, thank you.
Do do you want me there was a question there so I can answer about the
database. Um so Lester Sherman is our database expert on the tree commission.
He's >> adopted this project and he could
probably really answer that question easily. There's there's a couple people
that have access to update and maintain the information
and we we as the tree commission have really been the group that's maintaining
it. We would like the city to also be maintaining that information as well. So
we yeah we would love to to to do that. I think there's an opportunity perhaps
with with public works depending on cap capacity. Um but I think it has to do
with like number of licenses and access permissions and I don't have that the
top of my head but several people do have access and there's an ability I
think to to get more access. is just making sure they're trained like you
said. >> Yeah. I just think it would be a cool
partnership even with the Joe's stream team um to show people how the system
works just so that there's more awareness of it and that it's being
done.
» Um thank you Mary Lee. Um I'm was snacking on service berries from a
street food. Love it. Um 3802 Rhode Island Avenue right by Tanges. It's like
loaded. Um, so I'm super excited about the map. Um, and um, but I I wanted to
ask you, there's been a few incidents over the past year that I'm aware of.
There might be others that I'm not aware of in which people were um, cutting or
like pruning, like bad pruning or like actually just cutting down trees um,
that that you brought to our attention or that that were brought to your
attention. And I I'm wondering how you feel the partnership with the city has
been with regard to uh like problems like that and if there are changes or
improvements um that you think um the council should consider or the city
manager should consider. M yeah I think you know I've been in the city for 15
years long well a little longer than that and I have seen a great improvement
I mean part of that is having an ordinance and rules part of that is
enforcement so you can have the best ordinance in the world but if you don't
have enforcement doesn't really matter so code compliance is really I think
stepped up is not the right word like added capacity in this regard um to the
point where I feel that the code compliance officers understand the
ordinance to a large degree in a way that they haven't before. And there's
been cases where I hear a chainsaw, which I'm like one of those people that
chases the chainsaw and code compliance is there in some cases already kind of
asking the questions. Um could there be improvement? I'm sure there could be. Um
we did have a meeting with code compliance
gosh I don't know like five months four or five months ago because one of the
problems that we identified is that uh co- compliance officers can identify
hazardous trees or a neighbor can call in a hazardous tree like I just don't
like those people therefore I want to get them in trouble and say their tree
is hazardous and get them potentially fined or something like that. Um, and so
KAP plays aren't tree experts. And so there was a couple cases where they were
deeming a tree hazardous, but without a professional arborist, the city
consulting arborist making that determination. So we had a a meeting to
try to iron that out. And I think it's ironed out. Um, so if there is a
question of whether a tree is hazardous, bring in the city consulting arborist to
provide that professional opinion. He reacts very quickly. they can often come
to the city within a day. Um, so there had been a couple issues around that. I
think it's been ironed out. Um, but education I think is the solution to any
sort of issue of unawareness. Um, I think a lot of tree work happens on the
weekends where people are trying to get away with it. So I I realize that we
can't have CO compliance working every day of the week given budget
constraints, but that could be an area of improvement as well if we have more
eyes on kind of those issues on the weekends.
» Yeah. >> You know that our
also have a mic.
» It's okay if I just add something. Just want to let you know that and you know
it that our police department on the weekend you know in case if we receive
any call and the neighbors or the resident can call the emergency line and
definitely the police is going to be there and then they can contact the code
and the code Alma is just 5 minutes from here and she can be there and it has
happened in the past too. So I do appreciate that if there is anything
like this you know just on the weekend as you said there is a budget you know
limitation and we cannot have anybody on the weekends
» right okay that's good to know thank you >> thank you for that um I don't
necessarily have a well I do have a question from one of the residents that
I didn't was able to answer so be perfect for you uh but I going back to
the two positions that are still missing for commissioners
Um if you're interested, please reach out to the tree commission. Uh Joseph is
the leazison as well. The city portals there as well. But also when they have
events, it's open to all the community >> like when it's like the pruning where is
like tree where is information, right? Um they're very welcoming. So even if
they say like hey we're going to be pruning trees, it's like if you come in
and like you know they're they're willing to teach you on the spot as
well. Um but also when tree planting has happened like a lot of us have been
hands on to try to support it because it takes some time.
» So either could be done within an hour and a half or it could be done into
several hours based on how many people. So um so the big ask for the community
is also like when you see information out please come out and support the team
so that way they're also not burned out because if we have ex we could get all
the trees in the world coming to the city but there is um a requirement for
you to take care of it for the first three years for you to help them plan
right and that is more of like a learning curve um that needs to be so
please continue to volunteer the other one I was asked uh dogwood trees I know
there's a few in the city. >> Um, how do you call it? Is there
something that we're thinking of adding more or what does that look like?
» We haven't had a lot of luck with dogwoods as street trees. They're pretty
sensitive and we have tried multiple times in various locations and they have
died. So, we as a tree commission do not recommend dogwoods as street trees.
Could be perfectly fine in your yard, but we just have not had success. So,
we've kind of crossed that off our list, unfortunately.
» Good. Thank you for telling me because the ones that I know of, they're in
private property. Those are people that came and make it. I was like, I don't
know. I have to ask. Uh, but other than that, thank you guys so much. You guys
are definitely when I say you guys speak for these
» heavily and we have been very gifted to have within the committee many people
that are very knowledgeable >> that they're able to train and work with
people that might not be as knowledgeable. So we're we're able to
balance the the committee enough and and that has allowed also for us to be able
to do as much as as as it comes to the city because it's I think that when
people hear uh tree commissioners I don't think they always realize how much
work >> is being done but um if in doubt ask for
the letter because everybody that uh has applied for it they go through the
process they need to have the letter so that's something that people could
easily do. So thank you for that. >> Sure.
» Okay. >> All right. Thank you
» and and thank you as well to our co department for being great partners and
stewards as well as public work um as well because we have at least two right
to ario and Victor um which is outstanding um but this is going on for
many years of work. So thank you to all the other people that have helped us
through it. Right. Okay. So, moving on to uh item number
apologize. >> Item number six. Um we have our city
attorney um Alyssa here with us and our city manager. So, I don't I'm not going
to read the whole entire line of the ordinance because it is in writing and I
already read the whole entire thing. So, um I don't have to go one by one on it.
Okay. So, Mr. Kamali and Lisa Anz switch this over in disregarding or04-2026.
The floor is yours. And just remember, Mr. Kamali, you don't have a mic, so you
have to move the mic. >> Yeah. Thank you, mayor. I just, you
know, give the floor to Alyssa since uh she's the major archite architects on
that one. So, we listen to her and see what we do.
So, of the ordinances on your agenda, I'm sorry. Good evening, Mayor Council.
Good evening. >> Of the ordinances on your agenda,
Chapter 7, I think, at least on its surface, is sort of the most um
complicated in terms of um what we've done to it. So, I I I've gone through
sort of section by section to sort of describe what we've what we've done
there. So, chapter 7 has been largely reorganized and streamlined to make it
more understandable and easier to follow hopefully and to better reflect the
city's actual practices and nomenclature because there were so many times when um
I'd be talking to your code enforcement officers uh director of code enforcement
and I'd say this this doesn't make sense to me. Is this really what you're doing?
And she'd be like no we never do that. Um so um there was a large amount of
extraneous text in the purposes and policy section that has been deleted so
that what remains is the central tenant. The definitions remain mostly the same.
However, I included churches as charitable institutions instead of
calling them out separately which I don't think is constitutionally
supportable just as you cannot discriminate against religious
institutions who can't treat them more favorably.
Um, in 7-104, which continues to cover business licenses as before, um, we
streamlined and combined duplicative provisions and corrected grammar and
outlining errors. There were inconsistencies relating to
the treatment of home occupations that we corrected and we omitted regulations
that are a function of the county zoning ordinance except to say that the use
must have county proper county permits. Section 7105 was previously entitled
occupancy licenses and that was a little >> sorry this before you go on they um what
have you already is this the latest package from that was submitted today?
» Yes. So >> there were two different packages that
were submitted. >> We did we did replace it this morning.
» Okay. Good. >> Yes. Oh, this is this is still the May
1st version that we were working on. This is the April 15th version.
» Yeah, there is a May >> that's what we're
» Yeah. >> So, we're working on we need to work on
» I think this is still the old for this. >> Yeah, there was a revised version on May
14th. Um, however, >> those revision Um, Councilman Jakuda
very helpfully with Eagle Eyes went through and corrected a lot of um,
punctuation and um, uh, grammar and things that I thought I'd done a pretty
good job, but apparently I missed some things. So, um, so mostly the changes in
the May 14th version are those. So my description so you'll have the correct
one when you when you go to act on it at um your legislative section session. Um,
but I think the changes I'm describing, I don't think were impacted by the last
round of changes that we made. And, um, Councilman Jakuda, you can, um, jump in
after I finish describing this if you want to, um, point out any changes that
we substantive changes we made that, um, need to be reflected.
Um, okay. So um
in 7105 as I was saying was uh previously entitled occupancy licenses
and that was confusing because of its similarity to occupancy permits which
are thing that county issues and we don't. Um so it's really relating
primarily to rental licenses. So we've retitled it for clarity and made the
same general types of changes that were made to section 7104.
The code currently has a single section 106 titled permits which has a number of
subsections relating to a relatively large number of types of permits which
makes it a little difficult to find anything. And then it required a bunch
of cross referencing in your the way the code is is currently structured. So um I
broke that up into separate sections for each of the various types of permits. Um
and then we've combined the provisions for denial, suspension, and revocation
into a single new section 7112. Um and um except for provisions that relate
specifically perhaps to a particular kind of permit which remain in the
individual sections. We deleted provisions relating to
payones and newspaper boxes because they no longer exist. and we have deleted
permits for temporary signs because the city has not been enforcing it. Um, and
it's a zoning matter for the county. The current ordinance says for each kind
of permit that the fee is in the fee ordinance. It was unnecessary to say
that repeatedly. So, the new section 7114 fees simply says that all of them
are in the fee schedule except that it also clarifies that there are certain
administrative fees for gaming devices and commercial refuge collection in
addition to the basic fees and that um previously was not clear because it was
located in the fee schedule and not in the chapter itself.
We have moved um se what was section 107A illegal evictions because it
doesn't really belong in licenses and permits and we moved it to chapter 10
peace and good order or peace and order and you'll see it but it's it's in the
same your same um physical ordinance. Um and then there are no substantive
changes to the violations and penalties section which is now 715 except for the
deletion of fines relating to the items that we deleted.
Do you want me to keep going through all the ordinances or just do one at a time?
» One second. Team, can you also do us a favor as Alyssa is talking? Can you like
try to show whatever is on the screen because we're like in 105 and I think we
got to 109 or something like that, right? Okay. So, this is like the first
chunk. >> So, chapter seven.
» Yeah, that is chapter that is the whole ordinance. I've been through all the
changes in this ordinance that you've got on the screen.
» Okay. So, council,
do you guys want Alyssa to continue or do you have any questions at this moment
for her? I need to just if you have a question,
raise your hand so that way I know. If not, we'll continue.
So, we're we're good to continue. Remember, this is just a a walk through.
We're not voting on anything, but at least like verbally we're we're
showcasing it. Okay. >> If I can just make a quick comment. I
think um there we have a lot of questions, but I think it would be
better for Alyssa just to read through all of them. Um since the others because
there's I have a lot of questions just about this one.
» Well, then we probably should do that before I go to the next ordinance.
I don't think I think in the interest of time I I I think that we should have a
separate work session um to address all of the questions. So I think it would
make the most sense right now for you to go through everything. Yeah, that was my
point. Thank you. >> I would say just let me know that you
need to speak so I could like call on you. It does help.
» It's a work session. >> Joseph and Valerie, go ahead.
I would just say I think that especially chap title seven I think we do need to
talk about it in more in depth because there's some you know this is our
opportunity to fix some other things policywise so I would like to see
another work session just for us to discuss policy portions of it but I
would like to get through >> okay
» Valerie >> yeah I think we should just read through
all the changes now and then we can have conversation if we have to schedule
another work session we can but again remember It's we're at the very end of
the fiscal year. Um, and so I want to make sure that we're, you know, clear
about the timing of everything right now.
» Okay. >> So, Lisa, go ahead.
» Did you want to bring up chapter nine then?
» Yeah.
» Um, can can you put chapter 9 out?
» Chapter nine.
» Um, so this one's relatively straightforward. Um, it's intended to
replace the provisions relating to parking meters with provisions relating
to your soontobe implemented internetbased internetbased, pardon me,
parking fee system. It also revises slightly per city
manager the times during which the paid parking zones are in effect. Um, you
will see text deleted from subsection E on page six, but that language has
merely been moved and now appears on page seven as a new section B.
And also per previous discussion, we have moved the fines from the fee
schedule to the chapter itself. And that now appears on subsection A on page
seven.
That's all I have on chapter nine. >> I was say keep going.
» Chapter 13. >> I think this is more like a a read
through of information and then we'll get back to it.
» Uh can we get chapter 13 up?
» Okay. Okay. Um, this ordinance was primarily
intended to move the fines from the fee schedule to the text of the chapter
itself for the reasons we have previously discussed. Um, those fees
have been increased per the recommendation of the chief. The default
fine has been increased from $30 to $50. The fines for parking in a handicap
space have gone from has gone from 225 to 250 and the same fine has been
imposed for parking in front of a hydrant.
The fine for leaving a vehicle running unattended is stayed at $100, but we
removed the $200 cap, so it will double every 30 days as the other fines in the
chapter do. A violation of the no through truck
section, which is 13118, which has been an increasing problem, as I understand
it, has been made a misdemeanor with a fine of $200.
In addition, we took the opportunity to make some changes that are more in the
nature of housekeeping. We deleted some references to dumpsters that are covered
in chapter 7. We moved the references to the procedure for electing trial and we
inserted references to the administrative fees that were already
included in the fee schedule but had no corresponding code reference.
» That's all I've got on that ordinance.
And then the la the last ordinance if we could get up was the one with um
multiple chapters in it starting with chapter 3 including chapter 3A, chapter
16, etc.
Uh this ordinance has combined changes in the fines in various chapters where
there were only one or two changes per chapter to avoid a plethora of
individual ordinances. It amends chapter 3 section 305 relating
to building permit fees to address the issue identified by Councilman Jakuda
regarding the absence of a specified feed for demolition of buildings that
are exactly 500 square ft. It amends chapter 3A to increase various
fines for property maintenance violation, conform certain penalties in
chapter 6, health and nuisances to the amounts set forth previously in the fee
schedule as there had been inconsistency.
It increases and transfers the fines for violations of the requirement of snow
and ice removal in chapter 12 because I know that you all had difficulties with
um those things in the past winter. and it increases the number of fines for
serious violations of chapter 14 animal control.
Lastly, it amends chapter 16 violations ordinances to implement the authority
granted by the general assembly to increase the maximum fines for municipal
infractions from $1,000 to $5,000. That hadn't um that increase hadn't gone up.
the the maximum fine had not gone up in many many years and was not um
consistent with the efforts of various municipalities to obtain compliance
and that's all I got. Okay.
» Is there another one?
That's the one I just
» Okay. So, you >> Oh. Oh, that's a 3A part of chapter the
one that you >> Oh, okay. Hold on. No, no, that's
different. Give me one moment. >> Yes. One moment.
I don't think I realized until today that that was going to be on.
One moment.
Shoot.
Apologies. I said it a while ago. One second. So, as you look for it, um,
as a reminder, as we talked about, it's like this is not a voting item at this
point. And if an extra meeting needs to have to, uh, cut it into pieces to be
able to get the answers that we need, that's fine. Um, the the other thing is
like we had to rip the garage sometime,
right? So, we need to talk about it today. If not, it's going to continue
being pushed back and >> okay,
» to be found. >> I'm sorry.
» Thank you, Alyssa. This is the one um that uh for staff
request um made some changes to um the uh requirements regarding parking on uh
residential property um to um substitute this for what is in currently in um the
uh international property maintenance code. So, it will say it's adding a new
provision that's about abandoned or non-roadworthy motor vehicles um and
providing that they may only be parked on the exterior portion of residential
property under a carport connected to a street or alley by a driveway or on the
driveway. And then it defines what constitutes a driveway. So, I think
that's pretty self-explanatory.
That's it. >> Okay. I just didn't want to cut you off.
All right. Council, I'm going to go around once in case you want if you have
any questions for Alyssa since she's here. Um, and just to remind you guys,
this is not like the end all. So, if you do not if you have a question that is
not answered, um, we could get an answer as well. All right. So, Joseph, I went
first with you before. Daniel, have I gone first with you before already or?
No. >> No, I haven't.
» Okay, go ahead and we'll go around this way.
» Okay, great. Thank you, Alyssa, for this. This is a lot of work and and it
was a lot of work reading through it all.
» My brain was like, "Oh my gosh." Um, and I really appreciate everything. Um, the
questions that I have are mainly, you know, about fee amounts and stuff like
that, things that we can discuss with Mr. Molly. So, I'm just going to take my
moment to thank you very much for all the hard work you put into this and we
appreciate you coming and presenting it. Thank you very much. Um and yes, because
the amount of the fees I have no uh pony in that race, so you decide what you
think they should be and we will put them in.
» Jenny,
» um thank you for your work on this and thank you council member Jakuda um for
um your exacting nature. Um I um I just I I am applying for an outdoor
event permit. Um >> Okay.
» And I I dislike the million-dollar liability policy. Um
can you and I I think we've spoken about this before um because it was trying to
be enforced against my residents when it hadn't previously been in the code. So,
I appreciate the trying to write the code to match our practices. Um,
but can you remind me what is this like a requirement from legit? Because I I
just I'm really trying to balance like community,
right? The purpose of our code is to create a community that we all want to
live in and um and sometimes that can get lost in the minutia. Um, so could
you remind me why that is recommended? >> I don't believe, and I'd have to go back
and look and I can follow up with you. Um, I don't believe that it's a
requirement from Legit, but it is intended to, um,
uh, reduce the number of claims that go to Legit um because that increases the
city's insurance costs. >> Okay. I mean, no offense to you. I just
don't like lawyers, right? And um >> that's okay since you are
» Yeah. Yeah. Um and and I just I would I would like to have our ordinance reflect
community togetherness more than fear of liability.
» That's entirely a policy call for you collectively.
» It's my job to >> I know I know
» tell you what will best in my judgment protect the city.
» Yeah. Um, >> and then it's your job to balance those
interests against your public policy. >> Yeah, I think that um we will probably
want to propose some changes to chapter 7 in particular um which council member
Carter alluded to previously and um we'll probably want your wise counsel in
terms of risk assessment for some of those changes. Thank you,
» Joseph. Um I'm sorry. Could I just
» Can you add more time to the clock, please? Can you make a motion?
» I I'd like to make a motion to add >> 10 10 minutes to the clock.
» Just super fast. >> It's been probably moved and second. Any
discussion? >> Sorry.
» Objection. Abstensions here. None. 10 more minutes have been added to the
clock. Just so we consistent. I apologize.
» I apologize. No, I not used to your procedure. So, forgive me. I just wanted
to ask to the extent that you're able to before we come back to whatever work
session we're going to talk about it if you could just sort of highlight for me
the sections you want me to to be prepared to deal with that would
probably make things more productive >> Joseph
» thank you mayor thank you so much for all the work you've done on this
» uh the I know in my comments to you I think I was reading through chapters
title seven and I was like this is >> Joseph I need move the mic as close as
you can to you because they're alerting me that they can hear you
» Jason and then as soon as it gets close then it's
» um uh so anyway yes I thank you for all the work on this I do think there were
still version control issues with it looks like chapter 13 chapter 9 and the
various ones as well um and um so I'm hoping that that can correct it too
because I think there were ones that we've gone through and added our commas
and whatnot Um, I I do think that we could I'd be h personally fine if the
the last one we talked about, chapter 3A, we moved forward. I think that one's
pretty simple. I don't think we need about it.
» This is the exterior parking one. Um, I don't think that's still up there, but
that was a pretty short one and I don't think there was much. So, if I know you
wanted to get some stuff done, so I'd be in favor of that one at least because I
don't think I don't know, at least in my opinion. I'm going to ask my one
question though. I don't think anyone here is going to be able to answer this.
So, I'm calling upon the city to use your collective minds to answer why it
is that in chapter 13, we allow for vehicles that are owned and
licensed by city residents prior to March 1st, 2006
that are I believe RVs. Oh, no. boat trailers with or without a boat, camping
trailers, travel trailers, or utility trailers to be parked solely on the 3700
block of Otis Street. I I cannot fathom that particular carve out. So, if any
history buffs out there know why and can tell me because I would I don't like
carveouts like that, but I really want to know what that one is.
» Thank you. >> Please email Ryan
» your mic because I'm not going to hear you. Well, I just want to let you know
that that you're always welcome to email Brian Nettler, the former council member
» and former mayor too. >> Mayor too. Thank you, mayor.
» I wondered the same thing. I have to say,
» but now I look forward to our further discussions on seven and nine um and and
uh 13 because and we got some important work
» 16 and the rest of them. All right, Valerie.
» Um yes, thank you for your work on this. Um, I uh I think my my request since
we're going to go through all these ordinances, I think we need to have a
strong communications plan as the city and we need to have like some
visualization of like what the code was, why we're changing it, and what it is
now so that people can follow along um as we change these ordinances. So, I
just I that's my one request is that we get that. It would be helpful for me as
well just as a council member to see it visually instead of just all the text. I
mean, we've read through it three times, but like getting it visually so I can
quickly point to something, this is what it is, this is what it's not, so that
people are very clear, that would be helpful. Um, so for most most of the
time when I do an ordinance and we just do it like most of the ones before you
where we strike through and add stuff, it's relatively easy to see. and chapter
7 because it was so extensive and um counciloman Carter knows this but she I
gave her a red line and I thought you're never this is just it looks like
gobbledygook but it was helpful to her and if
» I would be happy to share it with >> I'm or I am um I just I didn't send it
because when I looked at it I thought that would give me a headache so I tried
to explain it um yeah but I I I hear what you're saying
» I just think for the um for the community. Um, especially for the
community as we roll this out, we should have a plan for communicating this in
ways that make sense to people that don't look at legally and lawyer stuff
all the time. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, yeah, if you could send
it to well, at least to me or all of us, that definitely will be helpful. So, we
could have it in archives. >> Sure.
» Um, that will help and and I definitely will second when in doubt when it comes
to um anything co-related in the books, reach out to Brian. He was with us like
20 years as well just like Mary Miles. So one or the other one will know. Um
but um so
we definitely need to create a simple document especially for the fees because
um it's extensive work that we're doing here. So Alyssa, thank you so much. Uh
Joseph as well uh to our teams for helping and making this documents
happen. Um it's needed. That's the reality of it with like every every year
legislation changes and we have to update our documents so that we're all
like within the same time frame, right? But yeah, some of the grammatical errors
were just so frustrating at certain point. But I'm glad that it got taken.
So I asked for one heavily patient from the community as we go through this
because it's a lot a lot of information. Um but it's cleaning out things that we
need to um we need to do. Other than that um it is an intensive document. So
I feel like when their fees are added they could be like the numbers could be
bolded or something. >> Okay.
» So that will help at least to be able to if you're scanning through it easier to
to read and I'm assuming in our code once we have to
submit this there's going to be a legend attached to it. I know it's
electronically once we approve it goes to mini code. Correct. and then we're
able to um we're able to sort out a little bit more cleaner by by words than
than just directing people to the whole document.
» So um so to some extent the formatting for changing documents goes back to
typewriters, right? And I have moved it a step forward by using small caps which
weren't an option when you had a typewriter and and using and bolding and
things like that. But in theory, you could show changes in different
colors, right? There's nothing in state law that tells you how you have to do an
ordinance, right? We we we try to follow a little bit the way the state does it,
but I I don't personally find the bills that this, you know, general assembly
bills that I read to be particularly easy to follow either. So, we could
experiment with that now that we're in the age of computers.
Yeah. >> And that might be useful to showing the
changes. >> Yeah. I mean, the only reason why I like
it in the two colors is because um color challenging is a real thing and there's
some colors that do not show up for people. I know I have a hard time seeing
certain colors as well. And there's some people are heavily color blind as well.
» Well, that's true. >> Yeah. So, accessibility wise,
» I can bold things. I can there we can italicize them. that might be a way to
make them stand out that doesn't depend on color.
» Yeah. >> Um I hadn't really thought about
the um you know disability issues related to putting them in color because
that could make it harder for some people. Um, but I guess my point is we
can do things I think to make them easier visually to pick out the changes
and um, >> thank you so much for that and I look
forward to the to the other document as well and um, in the communication
campaign we're going to have to do to put this roll it out. Uh, it's
definitely a lot of information. Okay, council is do I need to go one more time
around or you guys are good? I need to verbally hear you. Danielle, you shaking
your head? No, you're good. >> Yeah. No, I'm good.
» Jenny, >> I'm good.
» Joseph, >> I'm fine. Thank you.
» Okay, Valerie. >> Yes, I'm good.
» All right. So, um Elissa, thank you so much for uh joining us. It's always a
pleasure to have you and thank you for keeping us um very safeguarded as well
as our city attorney for >> My pleasure. My pleasure. I take it you
do not need me for this. No angels. >> I appre I did thank you in my
presentation. Oh, that was unnecessary. >> Okay. Excellent. Well, have a wonderful
evening. I It looks like you got a long night.
» Thank you. >> You're welcome to stay.
» Thank you so much. >> Have a safe uh travel home, please.
Okay. And we'll see you very we'll be seeing you very soon.
» We'll see. >> Yes. And all of you should respond to my
invitation >> after this. if I need to. Um so moving
on to the next item on the agenda. Uh it is item number um
seven presentation and discussion on emergency ordinance 09-2026.
Mayor Council will discuss emergency ordinance 09-2026
budget and member and we have with us Ron Wilson that just joined us in the
table um who is our financial consultant. All
right. So Mr. Kamali and Ron the floor is yours.
» Yeah, thank you mayor. I just give the floor to Ron and Ron is going to quickly
walk you through the items that we are proposing to be part of the budget
budget amendment number two. Thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you.
» You're fine because you moved the you can move in the microphone away for you
so I could hear you. I'm sure they cannot hear you. Okay. Thank you so
much. >> It's up in the
» It's very up in the screen. Okay. >> Can you guys like expand it just a
little bit? a little bit bigger >> or can we go to the ordinance page? We
can see it better. Okay. >> Okay. Go ahead.
» Okay. Good evening. So, it's our um annual um time to do um budget
modification wrapup. Um most of this budget amendment is uh adding grants uh
that weren't previously budgeted, but we do have one non-grant item to um modify
in the budget. Uh if you recall last year, fiscal 25, we did a budget
amendment to add a million and a half in use of fund balance for the Potts Hall
project. Uh which brought the total to $2.5 million use of fund balance for
Potts Hall. Um, we used a little bit more than 1.5
uh last year which left us a little bit well left us $955,000.
Um, and we have those expenses in this fiscal year. Um, so we need to uh
rebudget the remaining part of the use of fund balance for pots hall. So those
are the first two items in this budget modification.
We are increasing the use of fund balance which is a revenue line uh 4707
uh for $955,240.
And then on the expense side, which is account 5701,
we are adding $955,240
to the Potts Hall uh welcome center project. Uh those two things um net to
zero um in budgeting terms.
Uh below that, everything else is grants. Uh I'll run through it really
quickly. Um uh the basic idea here is that grants
come in after the budget gets set. So we we wait until late in the year to try to
capture everything that we can. So on the revenue side, um 4700.20
is the streetscape uh Perry Street green streets. Um, this was budgeted in in 25
for $530,000, but we didn't use it. So, we're we're adding the remaining part of
that grant into this year's budget for the 499.
Um, item 4700
52, which is the solar panels from the MEA. Again, we had budgeted it last
year, but used very, very little of it. So, we're rebudgeting it for fiscal 26.
U 4700.47 is the DHCD mural grant for 10,000.
Uh that's a new grant that came in after the budget was set. Uh 4700.57
the um Maryland Department of Transportation levy trail crossing.
Again, this came in after the budget was set and we're adding 75,000 to that one.
Uh the next two lines, all we're doing is
switching grant numbers. So this this these amounts were budgeted for the
year, but they when the grants were created, we had a different number in
the GL. So I just need to clean that up a little bit. So on the patch grant for
2026 um we are removing that from
grant 48 and adding it to grant 54. So that's a
net nonchange. And likewise the national night out for $14,000 we are removing it
from uh grant 49 and adding it to grant 58.
So that's for the grant revenues.
Uh then under the grant expenses. So the as you know the way grants work is
revenue and expense equals. Um so for 5707.20
for city hall. That's the streetscape. Perry street green streets for 499,000.
Uh 5701.52. The MEA solar panels for 422
58.99.47 the DHCD mural for 10
5700.57 the MDT levy trail for 75,000
and then 58.99.48 48.
That's the packed grant. We're doing the number switching. So, we're taking it
off 48 and adding it to 54. And then 58.99.49
National Night Out. Again, we're taking it off with grant 49 and adding it to
grant 58. So, that is the entire budget modification that that we're
recommending. >> Okay. Thank you so much. And just as a
point of information to the community, um, if there is money allocated from the
budget that is not used, it goes back into our coffers. It's not like it
disappears. So that's basically what they're more or less doing here. They
were able to part of the grant or not utilize at all. And this is the reason
why we need to allocate it to this year. Correct.
» Right. Yes. >> Yes.
» I just want to make sure that because we had gone through budget amendments. I
wanted to make sure that they understood that it's not like all of it was
expended last year. It wasn't is the fact that it wasn't. So therefore,
they're moving it to this, but we have to do an amendment um in order to follow
up with it. Okay. So Jenny, I'm going to go first with you.
» I don't have any questions. Thank you for your work on this.
» Okay, Danielle, >> thank you. You were looking at me. You
knew I was going to ask the um 955,240 just like with last year with the 1.5
million. Um first of all that means that the cost of POTS Hall went above the 7
million as projected. It went by another million
» close to this is 955,000. So >> no. So what what happened,
excuse me, um we in fiscal 25, we started out the budget with a million
dollar use of fund balance knowing that there was roughly another million and a
half to come a and we were holding out for grant money uh which we never did
receive. So when we looked at this in in the early spring, we decided that we had
to use another million and a half of fund balance uh to to complete the
funding for Potts Hall during fiscal. So that gave us 2.5
million. We were at the time thinking that it would be completed, closed out,
all the expenses would be recorded and then all of that use of fund balance
revenue would be used. Um the project extended past June 30. So in in effect
we ended up using a million545
» of the 2 and a half >> in fiscal 25. So what we're doing here
is we're
we're recognizing the rest of the two and a half.
» Okay. To get clear just to make sure I'm clear because you know when I saw this I
thought another million out of the rainy day. So it's the money we didn't spend
last year is being transferred to this year. Thank you.
» That's correct. >> Okay. So thank you.
» Okay. >> Cuz you know you know cuz you remember
last year I was like hold up. >> Yeah.
» So Okay. Great. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for clarifying that.
» Thank you for this. Um my my question probably more is going to also touch on
the next one. Uh the next item with the uh review of the budget. I'm I'm I'm
trying to understand if there's any GL accounts we also need to rebalance
through this because I see that probably two of them are going to be over by the
end of the fiscal year and mostly they're under and did we need to do any
other emergency rebalancing through this emergency ordinance or so can you
explain that to me? >> Yeah, without getting too in the weeds
um the weeds. Yes, we we do build our budget on a lot of line items. The
actual budget ordinance though it is done in groupings. So one part of the
budget ordinance just sets a departmental total. Okay?
And the other part of the budget ordinance
does it by expense grouping for the city as a
whole. So what those are the numbers that we manage to so if any particular
line item is over budget uh it's not a problem if other items in that
particular grouping are under budget. So we're we're always, you know, trying to
to balance that out. But technically, we do not have a requirement to
manage to each individual line items budget. We we do it internally.
Mr. Kamali and I are always trying to manage that, but from a need for doing a
budget modification, uh, that doesn't
necessarily create one. >> Oh, no, no. I I just want to be clear. I
wasn't anticipating line by line. I'm talking about at the department level.
It's like I think two departments maybe >> um going a a hair over what was
budgeted. and the way that the way that the report is set up, it's really hard
to look at the groupings. So that's why I was wondering are do we need to make
any other adjustments for the one or two departments that may go over at this
time? >> We don't think so.
» Okay. >> Yeah.
» Because we're waiting for June the 30th and then we see the number and the
picture of the whole budget better at that time.
» So there may be another emergency amendment coming up. So, Mr. Kamal, you
try to get the mic in front of you. >> Oh, I'm sorry.
» Because they're alerts that they can hear you.
» No, I don't think so that we need to do because uh I know which departments
you're talking. you're talking about the police and public works and I'm working
with Ron to make sure that we just use the same fund that is available for that
department to make sure that like I can tell you right now building maintenance
in the police department it's already over vehicle maintenance in public works
is already over so so we can we can just basically look at the whole budget for
that department and see how we can fix those issues internally without going
through the budget amendment. >> Yes. I think historically this is this
should be the this should be the last budget amendment we have before June
30th because we're like around around the corner.
» We don't have time for it. >> Yeah. So by the time we vote on it, it's
going to be like June. You have like three weeks. Go ahead, Valerie. Um
» thank you. I I don't really have any questions. Thank you for your
clarifications from the other council members questions. Thank you.
So, um, for me, I think I already said in my my statement, um, for those that
are watching us online, uh, the emergency is 09-2026.
They basically describe it. That was the document on it. It's just in a different
format and it shows the revisions, adjustments, and current budget. So, we
already went through it, so we don't have to go through the whole
» ordinance. Yeah. I'm saying you don't have to read it because you just went
through the other page. And I would tell you that I appreciate having both. I
like this new method of having both of because it's clear and removes the
additional work. So, thank you for that. Okay. I I definitely like it like this
and it's also more in gear with what the budget looks like so it's easier to like
follow through along with the other document. So, I like numbers away from
documents so I could clearly see them. Other than that, um I know that uh Mr.
Kamali and the whole entire team, they do a lot of work to make sure it's
stable within their budget um and stretch and like I mentioned earlier,
any amount that is not utilized um it goes back to our our our
city. So by June 30, the strike at midnight, whatever is not used, that's
been allocated goes um more or less straight in. Obviously, there's a couple
bills that are there that need to come. um they have like about a week or
whatever, but anything has to be turned in by the by the 30. So that's more or
less what they're doing here is like um some of the grants have gone either new
or they gone split here and they're trying to like accommodate in order to
make sure um get basically the money that we had or that went back grab it
and and put it um to be able to pay what we need to. Okay. Um so I have no
questions. Just thank you guys for for the work on on this and making sure you
um keep us through it. And that means we'll move on to next time in the
agenda. Right. >> Mayor, may I may I um ask for us to take
a 5m minute break. It's been two hours to get up stretch before we continue.
» Um we could usually do two hours and a half and then we take a break because of
the rules. So if you guys want to take a break right now, that's that's fine.
Council, where are you guys? Want to take a break?
» Yeah. >> Yeah, he has one.
» Okay. I'm sorry. I thought he was done. >> Yeah, cuz usually we do, too.
» And Ron has a two hours driving. >> I already have one foot out the door.
» He has a >> So, moving on to uh
» the third quarter on the Hold on. Moving on to the next item on the agenda,
presentation, discussion, the third quarter financial report. Uh Mr. Kamali
and our consultant Wilson as well will present the FY2026
third quarterly financial report. The floor is yours.
» Oh, go ahead. >> Okay.
» All right. Um, as I understand it, you all were given this financial report in
advance. Um, recognizing that you have a very full agenda tonight. I'm not going
to read through it line by line, but I do want to be available for any
questions that you have. So, um we this is the third quarter financial report.
So, that's through March 31. Uh we are already in the process of
beginning our closing out of the fiscal year, gathering up expenses, doing
reviews and all of that sort of thing. Um but we did want to give you the third
quarter report. You the fourth quarter report that you will receive will be
part of the audit package. So that's the the um the version of the financial
report that goes through a lot more work than what you're seeing here. Um so
anyway um um I I would be glad to answer any questions that you have.
» So just as a point of information, this covers until March 31st, 2026 and that's
the ending of the third period. So that's what you're seeing here. So April
and May are not covered on this report >> and June.
» And June. Thank you so much. And that'll be covered the in the four and and
final. All right. So, council, I'm gonna go
I'm gonna go around if you have questions regarding uh the report. Is
there anything else you guys need to add to it before I send it to council? Oh,
we're good. Mr. Kabali. >> No, we're good.
» Okay. So, I wanted to make sure I give you enough u notice. So, um Valerie, go
ahead. >> Um thank you. Thank you for preparing
this report. Um I have two things that I want to kind of think through and talk
through. Um first the recreational committee grants. It looks like it's
zero. I think there was the half I think we had approved two grants um before
March 31st. So we just need to make sure that this is in there unless they
haven't come in for reimbursement. I just wanted to make sure make a note of
that. Um so you can do that first. Is >> can you guys do me a favor? Um, when you
guys make a reference to line, read the number so that way the rest of us could
follow up. At least give us well this has page numbers, but that way we could
fill we could fill it out under what category like is
» administration. Hold on. Like it's administration and line whatever it is
so it's easier for us to follow. >> Um, administration 01-55-.033.00
I'm sorry 554. It's 333.0. So, I just I wanted to make
sure I know that this is a reimburseable grant, but it says zero, and I'm pretty
sure two had been approved before this. >> Um, I I would have to double check to be
absolutely sure, but I I do recall signing off on a couple of the
dispersements. Uh, so I believe that they were after March 31.
» Okay. Um, >> can I also add, mayor, yes, we did
receive their reimbursement last week. >> Last week. Okay.
» Yes. That's why it's not in this report. It was 2049 one of them and the other
one we're waiting for more information and you will see all those uh grants
that have been processed by June 30th once the report is complete.
» Okay. And then I have one more if that's okay. Um under economic development um
this is 01-5504.041.00.00
economic development main street program. Um, is it possible for you to
walk through kind of what happened here? Um, in terms of the main street program,
um, this is the I believe these are the facade improvement for the bus stops.
Um, and this is where, you know, the the episode of this project actually
affected the artworks that were developed as part of the Wulmada um, art
and transit program and was, you know, put together by specific projects. Um,
and I know that it sounds like this was not a reimburseable by DHCD. So, we had
to then spend $30,000 on top of, you know, that 30,000 that we still have to
use, which is good. Um, but I would like to know like just generally like DHD
grant agreements, do you sign them as a city manager or does the economic
development director sign them? Um, and who signed this one? Um, and then I want
to know know this timeline because um September 2025 is when these were
painted. Um and after that, um you would have had to submit as a city three
quarterly reports to DHCD. Um and so I'm just a little concerned that that issue
wasn't caught before that because if we had a from September 2025 till April
2026, we did not know that this was not a reimburseable grant. I think that's a
little bit disconcerning um for me. Thank you.
» Okay. All right. First of all, re regarding the quarterly report, it was
done by Ron Hopkins. I did not have anything to do with it. I did sign the
agreement in 2024 and when he was doing the the bus
shelters, this happened in November and he came to me and he said that you know
I'm going to paint those and as you know that the property is a metro but the
shelters are ours because the city got the grant long time ago and the
structure is ours. So when I asked him as a director and and he said, "Yeah, we
could use the money because we were over uh close to $32,000,
$31,000." And he said, and I asked him, I said, "Have you communicated with the
DHCD?" He told me, "Yes." I trusted my and I got his signature on the purchase
requisition that he sended to me. We have that one. And that's why uh we
signed it on November 18, I believe. And the documentation is there. I gave you
guys all the information. In my email last week, I listed the dates. So, what
happened in November? We we did that one. Then we had two more stores. That
was Nes and there is a barber shop next to it. The barber shop had to do the
roofing and Nes wants the awning. Ron Hopkins was here and he was doing this
one and then we let him go by December 27. The project was not closed out. So
we waited until we did close out the project. Then Bill was given that task
to go after DHCD for the reimbursement. When we submitted the reimbursement for
$150,000 for the facade improvements, that was
the first time that I found out. And then I did ask Bill, let's have a
meeting with the DHCD. I did go to the Zoom meeting with the DHCD and I told
them they said no, we did not have any request from Ron Hopkins and this is not
a facade improvement. The grant was basically defined in the scope of the
agreement for the facade improvement on the businesses and we have no clue and
you guys have to pay it out of the pocket. So then I I told them, you know,
is there any way that I could at least retrieve the $30,000 and use it before
we lose that grant? They said yes, the grant is a two years grant and we have
time until June June 30th 27 2027 to use the grant and right away I tked Rosio to
go and find more businesses to use that $30,000. I'm sorry. I trusted my
director and this is what happened. So between the time that I gave it to you,
we applied in in in February and then we had to wait to hear from them. They
didn't, you know, four or five weeks and all those dates are there. And if you
look at the date, we just we were finally notified in April. And that's
that's how you know we got into this situation. And the easiest way I just
want to say on the record, the city lost $30,000, but thank God we had a line
item over there which is defining the same thing. Main Street $30,000. So Ron
and I, you know, concluded and I even talked to the city attorney. I said that
can I use this line item without going through the budget amendment? She said
yes because the money is there. the work is from the same department and
unfortunately I know but somehow put yourself in my position when when a
director comes to you and asks you hey we got $30,000
in the grant and we don't want to lose it how should we and I got a suggestion
so I trusted and it I I get it and I'm full fully responsible for it but I'm
sorry that was one of the reason that I Why don't you stop talking about a
personnel issue? >> Okay, I'm just going to stop you right
there. >> So,
that is the case. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we still have
$30,000 in a DHCD grant to work on um Main Street programming such as uh
storefront uh facade improvements. >> Facade improvement until June 30th,
2027. >> Okay. Thank you.
» Sure. >> In addition, don't we have another new
» Yes. Yes. We we have $100,000. This was FY2025.
We have $100,000 right now. We just opened the bid yesterday and that is
$100,000. And if you look at the DHCD
also information last week I received I want to make sure that I haven't told
you guys. There is another $150,000 for FY27
is listed for the city of Mount Reineer. I just received it, you know, through
the the mail and I think Ron Hopkins applied when he was here. He applied for
26 and 27 at the same time. So, we got 100,000
150 plus $30,000. Right now, we're trying to find more businesses to use
it. And I was just talking to the barber shop on 3,800 last week and we just
added him Mr. Wellman to the another one. I'm sorry. Thank you.
» So if if we could make sure that we don't change people's names.
» Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. >> It will help. Okay.
» Sure. >> All right, Joseph. Go ahead.
» Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Ron, for this great report. And Mr. Kamali, I had
two questions. The first one's probably a simple one. It's in the the only items
in non-dep departmental are for the principal and interest on Potts Hall. I
see that we've spent all of our yearto date and our budget at year to date. I'm
assuming there's no more payments for the rest of year, but can you explain
that? >> Sure. That those um we call them a bond,
but uh it's with the bank. Um they are semianual payments. um and it's like
September and March or >> okay
» something like that. But both of the semiannual payments have been recorded
for the fiscal year and there will be no more.
» Okay. Thank you. And then the other question is public works on line item
015601
080. It's towards the bottom. Oh, wait. No,
sorry. I got off 5611 uh street electricity.
» I see that we're if you look at just the three quarters of the year, obviously
summer's coming, so use a little less than summer, but we probably should have
spent about 60ish,000 already, but we're already over budget and there's still
three months in the year. I think that this is just a good example of why we
really need to move forward with LED street lights because they will save us
money. to also hopefully save on that line item below too with the light
repair. >> Um but in particular with electricity
costs skyrocketing. >> Um I think this is a good area for us to
save money going forward. So I hope you have can give us some updates on how
you're working on it. >> All right. on the LED, changing the LED.
Yes, we do have a meeting going on and Rosu is having that meeting with Pepco
and we are in process of moving all the street lights to the LED lights and uh
definitely we will have more updates as we get from you know Pepco. But we have
gone through few meetings with them and they are counting all the street lights
and we are working on that process. Definitely we're going to get it done. I
promise you. But I want to make sure that regarding the next one, the street
light and signal repairs. That was the main issue that we had with 35
decorative lights. Finally, thank God we fixed it. And that's why that that's why
we went over the budget and that was an unforeseen situation unfortunately
and the first one because the electricity has gone up big time
otherwise you know the way we projected $80,000 we should have been fine but
that's how it goes but you got a point LED it's going to save city a lot of
money and that's my ultimate you know goal to do that definitely thank
It also falls under a green initiative um document that we have created
» all that fun stuff. Jenny Danielle >> um staying in public works I have a
couple of questions. Um so the first is um line 015543.080
yeah whatever uh community garden. Um it was budgeted for 4,000. We only spent
387. Um can you explain that? Um because when
they gave a presentation to the council um they talked about certain projects
being delayed and um I'm wondering if this is what they're referring to and if
there's an explanation for why it wasn't done.
» No, thank you for asking. As you know that
that $4,000 was allocated to community garden. So far they have used 387
but as you know that there that we we received the grant from Gateway CDC
$24,300 but unfortunately when we went to WSSC
to make that connection they are Valerie knows about this. They are recognizing
that fire hydrant because we have to connect fire hydrant to the community
garden as a commercial. And yesterday I received a proposal after Rosio asked
Rosio to get more proposal. The lowest one we got for $39,000.
And if you recall, last time they were here, they were complaining about the
tool shed. We got that tool shed fixed and they were so happy about this. But
unfortunately right now uh we have $39,000
uh cost that we have to connect the water to the community. We just have
another grant sustainability grant that mayor sended. Yes, that one I gave it to
Bill and I said the limit is only $10,000.
So again 10 and 24 and maybe that 4,000 I'm trying to work it out somehow.
» Okay. But um thank you. And I wanted to clarify the the bike co-op um the reason
they were so far over budget was because of the roof.
» Roof. Okay. >> Yes. Thank you.
» And then last question um the overtime pay for public works um was
significantly um over. Is that simply because the
snowrete or is there something else going on?
» As you know that uh public works has two vacancies.
So, and uh unfortunately we lost one of our crew last year and so what we do
right now we're using the staff to cover >> and it's been hard to hire.
» Yeah, it is it is hard and we have heard we have had few interviews unfortunately
we cannot find a qualified one. We hired one and we had to let it go. So, we are
working on it and definitely we're going to have I'm sorry.
» We're going to have >> Yeah, thank you.
» That's the reason that I am using it and believe it or not, it's cheaper to do
that because I don't have to give benefits and it's going to balance the
pay, regular pay with the overtime at the end of the game.
» Okay. >> So, Danielle, can you add more time to
the clock? Thank you, Mr. Ki. >> Yes. I'd like to make a motion to add
five minutes to the clock, please. >> Just add 10 just in case.
10. I I make a motion that we had 10 minutes to
» Could I have a second, please? >> I'll second. Motion has been second. Any
discussion? Objection, extensions, hearing? None. 10
more minutes have been added to the to the club. Thank you.
» Go ahead. >> Okay. Thanks a lot for this. And yes,
thank you for reminding me. I had looked through this. It's been a long day for
me. Um I I had some questions and um my uh colleagues uh council member Hoffower
and uh Jakuda touched on them. You know the decorator street lights. I was going
to confirm that that was all that and >> question about the uh overtime as well.
I have one other question and this is you know shooting ourselves in the foot
because it's about the council and that is the association dues. I noticed that
we had a budget of uh 8,000 but we went up 12,000. Now, I do know the PGCMA
increased our dues, but not by 4,000. So, I'm curious, um, is this the MML
that has increased it? Have we joined new, um, organizations? Why is it
$4,000? >> Um, MML alone was $10,100.
» Is that that's an increase? Well, no, that's not the amount of the increase,
but that is the the new >> Yeah, that's the new dues for the city
of Mount Reneer, >> $3,000.
» Yeah. >> So, we we did, you know, when this came
about, we did increase the budget for fiscal 27 and that was a big reason. So,
10,100 is just for MML. Then there's PG >> CMA
» 700 >> $731.
» Yeah. So there there are several other much smaller items that are in that
particular uh expense category. >> But the bulk of that was in
» the University of Maryland Association that once you go to those classes, we
pay $250 for each council member one time registration. So it happened for
the new council, >> the academy.
» Yes, the academy. >> Yes.
» Right. Okay. >> I did discuss this one with Ron last
week because I said why >> I know if you attend the graduate
classes at the conference as a separate cost of like $75 to $100 per class.
» Yeah. >> Oh, okay. Well, all right. Well, thank
you. >> That's the reason.
» So, so every time I take a graduate class, you guys Okay.
» Oh, yeah. >> Fair. And you're taking them, too. So,
yeah. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Yeah. Yeah.
» And I'm glad you adjusted for it in the new budget. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut
you off. >> No, I wanted to ask you if you were done
with your question. >> Um, so just to um a little bit of
reference regarding MML, we were notified two years ago that the increase
was going to come and it was they changed it from assessment to population
which thank God they did because our assessments are ridiculous. Uh so the
difference between what it will have been and not we will have paid more
assessment. Uh the other thing that they have added uh we do not have to pay the
NLC fee because um it's incorporated with ML. So that extra additional $3,000
or so that they did allows for us to to do that. But they have increased um a
lot of the webinars. So there's a lot of stuff that they offer as part of the
package. And the first year they gave us a step up in order for us to adjust our
budget. And then this year we we paid the full amount, but there was one step
in the middle that um they said like, "Okay, pay this lower amount." And we
did took advantage of that. And then now it's that. But um it's based on
populations. So we're 8,250 versus according to the census. So
unless we get to 10,000 or more, our fees basically will stay the same every
year. um because it needs to adjust another three years. So at least it
gives us some consistency for the staff to be able to know like this is what it
looked like because based on an assessment it wasn't working. Um in in
my end thank you for putting this documents together and it takes a lot of
work and um I know financing does a lot of work. I know our department has a lot
of work to provide the information to you guys as well so you guys could keep
up. I think that's been a very uh continues to be a positive change
because as you when you guys are closing the books but also working on the audit
is easier to maneuver the process of what it looks like and I think that
overall you have done a good job also projecting as much as you guys can. Um
gas I mean electricity that was the roof um I think we also had
like the police department roof as well on it. So, there's a couple stuff that
um we have to tackle. Um but because we have been responsible with our funding,
we were able to like grab the money that we needed to be able to do the stuff
that we needed. So, um that has come out like, you know, quite a bit. And
it's definitely a lot of work. So, thank you guys for um putting all that
together. And um I would tell you the the only part when it comes to the 30k
um I I would like for us to figure out what
other um steps we need to do in between to make sure it doesn't happens again.
» So even evaluations say like look this is the contract sign. So every time
something comes up we're going to match it with the contract in order to make
sure it doesn't happens because that way it allows us to be able to be
accountable. And I know some of those contracts are signed three years prior
or two years prior. So by the time that works on it um it is through it. So if
we could work on that to like write it because our auditors love writing. If
not it doesn't count. If we could go ahead and do that if we haven't already
done so can we please move forward with it. So that way when we are audited they
could check it to like okay this is what happened but this is the written steps
we're taking forward to make sure we're not getting that position again.
» I just want to add something to that. We yesterday we opened the bid for the
facade improvement. Right away I had bill to list all the work that we're
doing on the storefront to the DHCD and we got the confirmation. I'm not going
to let it happen. You all know me that every penny matters to me and
unfortunately I got caught up, you know, and I didn't,
you know, think about it. But I want to also let you guys know that this year
we're going to have a two audits. one the regular audits and then the single
audits because of SS4A. So Ron is gonna be busy and I'm going to
be working with him and hopefully we're going to do make sure that we're going
to meet the deadline. We just had the first meeting with the auditor last
week, last Thursday. They came over here and we had a meeting in the council
chamber. So, we're going to be getting ready for the two audits that this year
we're going to have because our spending is more than $750,000.
Thank you. >> For the next aside from this year, for
the next four years, we have to do double audit. So, just for um for quick
of information, um we managed to get a lot of money, but it comes with
additional uh and that's with accounting with the reports and everything else
that we have to do to provide constant information. So, thank you guys for that
as well and for reminding us that that's an additional task you guys are going to
be working on. All right. So, I am I am good with questions um and comments, but
thank you guys so much. Okay. All right. Let me see where are we at?
Okay. So, okay. Item number
nine that from 1300 block is still here, right? So
we'll take a we'll take a break right now. So can I have a motion of to take a
break and come back in what what do you guys want? Five 10 minutes
you guys. All right. What? So right now it's 9:22 p.m. Can I have a motion the
floor? Thank you on state travels to have a 5m minute break.
» Motion for a five minute break. Please >> have a second.
» Second. >> Is there probably move and second? Any
discussion, objections, abstensions? here. 9. Uh we
are going to be doing a 5m minute break. It is 9:22.
Uh 9:27. We'll come back. Okay.
Where's everybody? This is like 10 minutes. But you guys
didn't believe me, right? Like 5 minutes. And never never have I seen
five minutes. And honestly, like Well, technically we had four, but
in a meeting. Well, we only have two bathrooms though.
» Well, you have like we have said there was only one over there.
» Yeah.
» I know.
So next time break. Okay. We can never get to five.
All right.
We're calling back to order. Can I have a motion to come back into session?
» I motion we come back into session. Second probably move a second. Any
discussion? Objection. Abstensions hearing none. We are back in session at
9:29 p.m. All right. So, thank you guys for
that. Members of the community, we did took a small break. Um, and we're back.
All right. Moving on to item number nine, presentation. In discussion
resolution 06-2026 and ordinance 08-2026
uh vice car will present resolution 06-226 and ordinance OA226 establishing
and guarding the city's snow angel pro uh program.
» Thank you so much mayor. Um, after my unsuccessful attempt to have the lawn
angels program and its sisters program, the snow angels considered by council in
the fall of 2023, I decided to do the snow angel program on my own as a
grassroot effort that sum that winter. In the first year, eight residents
requested help shoveling their sidewalks. The next year, 12 to 15
residents requested help. Then, before the first snowflake fell this year, 28
residents had already signed up for assistance. And by the end of Snow Creek
event, volunteers through the snow angels program have helped more than 42
residents with some volunteers taking on two or three houses. That means that
over the last three years, a program fueled solely by volunteers grew by 250%
before the first snowflake fell, but continued to another whopping 425%
at the end of the 2026 event compared to 2023.
I don't understand the skepticism that surround the program in 2023, but that
doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that more of our neighbors are choosing
to age in place, are living with disabilities, chronic illnesses,
temporary injuries, and other physical limitations. These residents just need a
helping hand with things like shoveling snow so that they can stay safe and
avoid code violations. During the Snowcrete event, all of us
here at this table took part in one way or another when it came to helping our
neighbors dig out, and I am sure they appreciated it, too. So, I would ask
that we take one more step and make this program an official city program. Now, I
have no problem continuing to recruit volunteers and match them with residents
who need help, whether I'm on council or not. But this program is not about me.
It is about our residents and it is our job as a council and as a city to do
what we can to improve their quality of life. I appreciate that other members of
council agreed that this program has value for our residents and that council
member Jakuda helped me with the language of the resolution and
ordinance. I'd also be remiss if I did not thank our city attorney who left um
for helping um ask questions, thoughtful questions and tweaking things here and
there on both pieces of legislation. The resolution and ordinance are as
follows. The resolution establishes the program as a cityrun and city sponsored
program. And the ordinance governs how it operates by requiring things like
volunteer waiverss and allowing extra time for volunteers to clear both their
own properties and the properties of the residents they are helping. There are a
couple of things that I left open for discussion and those are the amount of
additional time volunteers should be given to clear both of their properties
and the properties that of the residents they're helping which I am suggesting to
be 24 additional hours and an aotment of $1,000 in the budget to help offset city
staff's time needed to administer the program in case of a snow event. I am
also more than happy to welcome whomever Mr. Kali taps to run this program. Uh
excuse me. I am also more than happy to help whomever Mr. Kamali taps to run
this program by showing them how I've done it for the last three years so that
that can ad they can adapt as necessary including sharing the list of residents
who are already signed up receiving help during snow events. So with that I will
hand this off to council member Jakuda to make any comments as well since he is
co-sponsoring this with me if he so chooses.
» Joseph, you don't have anything to say? >> Um thank you. Um, I I think that this is
an important program for us to move forward with as a city, as council
member Carter mentioned, we have a good number of folks that are aging in place
and um I I know from helping out from the Snow Creek event that those were
often the people that needed the most help when it came to shoveling. I also
think that having a program like this in place will make it easier for us to be
able to triage who needs help with a sidewalk versus who's not doing it and
should be held accountable under our ordinances because I think no one wants
to see um someone who's been living here for 30 years um you know suffer fines
from not clearing their sidewalk. we know they need help, but others that can
and don't want to, I think, because we need safe sidewalks to pass since we
have so many folks that walk, take the bus, and otherwise get around without
cars. Um, and this is also becoming more commonplace. I believe Hyetszville has a
program, one of the um one of the port towns has a program. I think we should
show leadership and um adopt the program as well. Thank you.
Okay, Denny. >> Um, thank you. I um I agree with the
program and I just want to say that one of the things that uh concerned me um
earlier this year with the snow creed was uh the decision to not not enforce
our ordinances. Um I really like the rule of law and I like laws to be
enforced um as written. Um, and I was concerned that um people like my my
children frankly um did not shovel their sidewalk when they were perfectly
capable of doing so. Um I was out of the country. Um but um there was no fine um
of them and um whereas having this situation having the snow angels program
will enable the city to identify the people who really do need assistance and
for whom um perhaps there could be leniency and for the rest of us um to
enforce the laws as written which I think we should focus on doing. Thanks,
» Valerie. >> Um, thank you. Um, so I have a couple
questions and some suggestions. Um, if that's okay. I have, first of all, I
wanted to ask if you've worked with the city manager on the protocols and like
managing the list. Has that already happened or is that not something like
has the city manager been involved in the creation of the program?
» Um, it's my understanding that council member Jakuda spoke with Mr. Kamali and
Mr. Kumali has um decided that it he would direct who would be in charge of
the program and uh go from that way. So I trust that Mr. Kumali will be able to
adapt um use the list that I have and the practices that I've used and adapt
them like I said in my statement adapt them into the way that um best suits the
staff that will be overseeing it. >> Okay. Uh thank you. Um and then just
quickly um one suggestion I would make is changing the name of the program. so
that it's a little more official to snow snow removal assistance program or
something similar. So that if in the future we're going after, you know, if
this is a program that becomes wildly successful that if we're going after
grants to support it in the future that it's it's not connotated to like a a
religion maybe or or angel, you know, I I just thinking through that a little
bit would be a good idea. Um, and then, um, on the ordinance, I do wonder about
the 48 hours for the volunteers to clear their own snow because I think the point
of this is for the volunteers to, you know, like when you're on a plane, you
put your mask on first and then you help your neighbor kind of thing. Um, so I
just wonder about that in the ordinance. So those are my questions. Thank you.
» Oh, okay. So, um the 24 hours, the reason, um I came up with the additional
24 hours is, and this is from the time that the snow finishes, um some of the
volunteers have come from Southside over here and have gone like all the way over
to Windham. So, it it's it's more of a you know, allowing them the time to get
not just theirs, but their the one that they're um doing as well. Some people
have done two and three houses. Um so I feel that an additional and this is just
my feeling of course this is up for debate but I feel that an additional 24
hours gives them the leniency to do more than one if there is a need and this
year there was a lot of need. In fact last year I had a couple of residents do
more than one as well. So it's not just giving them 24 hours to do theirs but
it's giving them theirs and any others. It it it allow I guess you can say that
it um encourages more volunteers to know that
they have they they feel that they have time. So or that they're Yeah.
» Um
I would tell you that I was expecting a presentation, right? We have not fully
heard this about three years in three years. We had a lot of questions about
how it was going to work, especially if it's like cityrun. Uh we have a very
small staff. Um and I feel like there's a lot of questions I still have not been
able to to get. We I'm not even sure how the $1,000 came in and I need to
definitely know who are the people cuz right now in the audience you have the
police department code public works and I will tell you the police department is
like down to the wire with the things that they need to do. They cannot take
an extra work. public works during the storm is in charge of like
clearing all of our streets and alleys and even then like dealing with
machinery and whatever comes their way code is dealing with everything that
court has to deal with as well. So my thing is like if those three departments
are already oversaturated, where does this fall in? Um that's one.
The other one is I would tell you that I'm very much a line of like the
volunteers have to do their homes first, right? And then because if not their
home becomes a hazard as they're helping somewhere else. So they could clear
three houses, but if their house is not on now that block is be is a hazardous.
So I think that it has to be them doing their home first and then they could
volunteer for for something else because of the fact that if they can even clean
their holes, how they're going to have enough springs to come back after two
three houses if they can. So they will get I mean in 48 hours is a long period
of time. I think that what happened a lot with the the the the snow part of it
was that people waited so long to remove it that it turned into ice, right? to me
is like they're going to go from snow to come back and then now they have to deal
with ice in their home. So, um that's the other one. Uh so I I do need to know
who's going to be in charge of this and have you even reviewed the the I'm going
to like this. Um what is the liability for the city? I know there was a waiver
for the the helper not to sue the city, but is there a waiver where the
homeowner does not sue the city or B the volunteer doesn't sue the homeowner if
they happen to fall on it? So what are the protections? because right now this
document just tells me like they cannot technically they cannot sue us but the
other three components of it are not meant and and lastly I would tell you
that um I need to get a definition what a
snow means right a snow means is 3 in 1 in 5 in or if one inch lens is going to
be activated and who's going to be in running this program you see has a very
successful program actually taking the training And it's like robust on what is
it that is requiring because if you're having to have a staff member um being
pulled let's say on a on a Saturday to like match people right who's calling
that staff member to come in or work for whatever they're doing and leaving their
duties aside. So I know it's a lot of cover but I definitely want to know that
I think there's a need to help. I even three years ago the issue wasn't the
help wasn't needed. It was like how will the city administer and protect ourel to
be able to help the residents without hurting ourel or or hurting other
people. >> Um thank thank you. I appreciate that.
Um first of all, let me address the uh the timeline. The timeline is not you
get 24 hours to clean the people you're volunteering for and then come out to
yours. It is a you have this much time to get everything your your home and
anybody you're you're shoveling done. So it's not, you know, designating what
they do first. So there is, you know, that's up to their discretion. Most
people are going to scrape their own sidewalks first. I mean, Brian scraped
our sidewalks first and then went and helped. Um the $1,000 that was um that
is was something I put in there. As you see, it's an asterisk, so it's up for
debate um to help with Mr. Kamali when it comes to staff that may need to work
like to make extra phone calls or whatever in case of a really bad snow
event. Um, my original and and I talked with uh Joseph uh council member Jakuda
about this originally. My suggestion was the social services coordinator to do
this because they're the one that is most in touch with the residents in the
community who may fall into the parameters of assistance or the need of
assistance with this. But after council member Jakuda spoke to uh city manager
Kamali and then discuss it with me, we felt that it would be best to defer to
Mr. Kamali and let him use his best judgment. Um and if you look at the
resolution, it does say with input from council the policing code. When I first
um came up with this program three years ago, the lawn angels and snow angels was
a part of it. It was in a direct response to the the answer that I gave
to code when I was first elected. What can I do to help you and make the
quality of life for our residents easier as a as a joint? And they said that
there are a lot of people out there who need assistance both with mowing their
lawn and shoveling who otherwise get violations who can't physically do this.
So, this was a direct result of a an an idea that came from code enforcement.
So, I mean, originally, if you recall, and if you don't, that's fine, but
originally my suggestion was to let the social services coordinator oversee the
program with the um assistance with code, and that was my original, but that
was when I was first on. Now, after speaking with council member Jakuda, I
agreed to defer to Mr. Kamali. Um, I think those were the questions you had
about that. Um, as far as the waiver, um, council member Jakuda,
» put time on the clock. >> Oh, yes. Um, I'd like to make a motion
to add 10 minutes to the clock. >> U second. I
» second. >> Probably moved and second in discussion.
Objection extension hearing. None. We're adding 10 more minutes to the clock.
» Okay. And then the last point that you made was about the waiver. the waiver.
Um, that's something Hyetszville, it's it's it's funny how some of these comm
anyway the waiver HiZville um is the one that decided to do the waiver and I
think that deferring uh to the city attorney to dis to design and um to
design the waiver that we would use would be the best practice there. She
knows what liabilities are needed. She knows who needs to be protected in which
way that happens. So those were the u things that were discussed before this
has been brought tonight. >> So I did ask what activates it.
» Oh, what activates it? Okay. So you you asked about inches. Well, that's that's
an ordinance situation. There is nothing in the ordinance. It says that if
there's snow accumulation, there is no this is another one of those things we
may need to revisit, but it does not give a specific measurement. So whatever
would trigger you to have to scrape your sidewalk is
what would trigger the snow angels. >> So
So Mr. Kamali, there's there's two questions for you. One, has legit been
contacted to figure out what the liability is and what is the cost for us
to be able to inquire this additional insurance to cover our residents doing
this and who is the person that you are um that you'll be allocating to do this
work? Well, based on my conversation with
council Jacuda, we're supposed to I think the best option is public works
because they are here emergency situation the director of public works.
I'm talking about the director so people can register and then she has the name
and we can go through the process. But I am the only thing that I'm concerned
I see you know both sides that we got smaller staff I know that six people but
my my concern is what's going to happen and I think the city attorney also
raised this question that what's going to happen if they are not available
if the snow angel team are not available at that time if they're out of town and
we get a snow I just want to make sure that if I am committed to something. I
want to make sure that it's going to work and it's not going to create more
trouble. And then the waiver, I talked to the city attorney. She's going to
make sure that we're not going to have any liability for this city. And I need
to talk to the insurance. And I was coming to this discussion and see you
know what you guys going to decide and we take it from there.
» Okay. because um highest skill is having issues currently with the liability part
of it. Uh DC has very clear standards because I did do the training. I'm
trying to actually remove snow in the sea if I so choose to. They have very
specific standards when it activates. The other thing according to the
ordinance and you have to be 70 and over to get the help but it does not does not
implement whether it's a financial need or is it open to all 70 years old or B
if there's an able body in the house like an example if you have an elderly
that's 70 but however you have grown children in there that could do this
they'll still get the free service. So I I would say at least for me if you guys
you know haven't taken the training for DC take the training because they're
very specific so that way we are able to follow the rule of what it looks like.
DC does not remove eyes and they're very clear like they do not do uh driveways
and vehicles and steps. It's up to the person and they do have a very slow
window. And the way it also works, it's like the person doing the house has to
send a photo back to somebody to show that they done the work. So that way
they could validate that this is is done. But uh there is once there's no is
like people could valid people could sign up at whatever time but then people
call like say like hey I need the help right and that's how they assign them.
So, there's a coordinating team that is working on on matching um homeowners
with volunteers in order to make this happen. But I believe if I'm correct,
it's like there I know I'm correct. There's a specific amount when it goes.
So, if it's like half an inch or an inch, they're not um they're not moving
their their um snow heroes out into the community. So, I think that there's at
least for me, it feels like there's a lot of uh things that we need to make
sure we have in order to get the answers that we need because if now you're
asking the public works director who's like conducting all the snow around,
right, to also assign people to the to this program and example, they have to
give that list also to code because code is also sighting. They also have to give
the list to PD. So I think no matter what you'll take three departments to
work on it because even if public works has it if code is like out there citing
right if they don't have a document that says like these are the people that are
helping and these are the people and they have to be obviously like you
mentioned like it has to be that they're they have signed up for a shift to help.
It's not just like you know you're a schedule volunteer so therefore you get
a a free 48 hours. So, so to me there's a couple more fine-tuning and I would
definitely suggest for you guys to look at ideally what um you know DC is doing
to figure out how they're able to accomplish what they're doing. I know
the county tried doing uh the snow removal and they hire contractors and
they end up with a lot of delays because the the need was on it and they're
reviewing the program as well. So that way it's more fine-tuned to who they
potentially could help because they bit a bigger apple than they could handle
and that's reason why we had to add additional time because they were under
the county list and they had been approved and how are you going to site
them if you're supposed to be getting help with the county. So that was
another issue that we encounter. So, I'm telling you this in good faith that you
will look into those programs to figure out how we could do it because if not,
we're sending the team blindly to be able to do it. When the city gets
involved, there's other liabilities and I don't want to get into situation where
the public works going to have to choose remove like the the snow and everything
else and have to suffer people that sometimes are not here than then having
to do this. So, that might that might stretch them to death. So that that's
where I want you to please um consider and review some of the stuff that I said
» um on on some of your points um as far as who um in in the um resolution I'll
just read these two parts um it says whereas the American Heart Association
advises that persons 70 years old and older with high blood pressure or
previous cardiac issues are at increased risk for cardiac strain and injury when
shoveling snow and should be cautious or refrain from shoveling snow and ice
altogether. And whereas the community in Mount Reineer has many residents who
have opted or are opting to age in place, as well as residents with
disabilities, chronic illnesses, temporary injuries, and other physical
limitations that make snow and ice removal difficult or unsafe, increasing
the need for assistance during or after snow and ice events. So, the resolution
covers persons over 70. It literally says persons over 70. Um, and it's not
just some it's it's 70. It's not income based. It's age- based or um disability
um or injury or illness related. And I I have full faith in the city uh manager
that once I hand over the way that I've done it that he and his team will be
able to adapt it the way that it fits into the the way that the team needs it
to work for them. As far as if people are not in town, that was something that
the city attorney brought up. Um, you you literally check with the way
I've done it, you check with the people when you hear the weather, you check,
hey, are you in town? Are you going to need services? So, as soon as the
weather comes out a day or two in advance, that's when you start making
your checks. >> Mr. Kamali, I saw you shaking your So, I
just want to make sure you know >> that's how I've done it. Well, I think I
think I think this is my opinion >> uh to be honest with you with this small
team that I have if we have to run this program it's going to be additional task
and tonight I'll leave it up to you guys discuss it but uh I need to look at it
in the bigger a bigger picture because public works is only six people and if
we have to run and administer this this program it's going to be additional task
for me. That's why 3 years ago, I just want to be frank with everyone. I said
staff capacity is very important when it comes to this snow. We hire some temps
in order to to clean up our sidewalk over here because I got only six people
and with six people, Rosio is not going to be doing any work or Hold on. Let me
finish with this. Yes. Yes. I I just want to let you know that and I think we
need to sit down and discuss this one in a broader picture because I do not want
to obligate myself to something that I I'm going to be sorry tomorrow for it
and I think you know there should be there are so many points that we have to
look at it first of all when it comes to the snow I am really short I cannot like
you know I try to do I come here myself and I stay here all night still I cannot
you know get it over so I am not looking to have additional task and I believe it
is good it's a good program I wish I had 10 people to run it and do it but I
think we need we need to talk about this more
» if I if I can ask you Mr. Kamali, um, you keep referring to public works
running this program. What is wrong with the social services coordinator that is
her job is to communicate and keep in touch with people that literally fall
into the uh the the the demographics that that are mentioned and outlined in
the in the um resolution. I mean, she's it's her job.
» May I ask for time, Daniel? >> Yes. Um,
» yes to 10. >> Um, okay. Uh, a motion to add 10 minutes
to the clock. at this point. So, we don't have
» I disagree with the motion. >> So, there's a motion on the floor. Is
there a second for adding to more minutes?
» I'll second it. Any discussion? >> I disagree with the motion.
» Okay. Any discussion? Any objection? Jenny, you cleared
there's an objection on your end? >> Objection. I think we need to talk about
this more offline and come back. >> Well, I I think that I want to make
sure. >> I So, I object. So there's two I I I do
want to honor Nenburg cars. She wanted to say something.
» Yeah. No. So let me let me call the vote in order to make sure I'm fair. So
there's two nos, right? So 10 minutes. Um
» so any obstensions? There's are you guys abstensions or no?
» No. >> So no.
» I'll go step abstension. >> So one section one and no. Any yay? I'm
a I'm a yes. Yes. >> Yes, Danielle.
» Um I I >> It could be a yes. You could say final
word. You don't have to say. >> Yes. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes.
» Okay. Motion carries. So, go ahead, Danielle.
» Okay. Um I um I agree with the comments um from Council Member Jakuda. This is
something we need to discuss. However, I do feel that we do need to focus on
finding a way to make this program work. >> That needs to be a goal.
» That's our Yeah, definitely. That's our goal. Can I answer? Yeah, go ahead.
» But as a city manager, I want to make sure that I am able to run this program
and I'm going to afford it. Social services is not an essential employee
and I cannot assign her. Hold on a second. Let me just Essential employees
are police department and public works. I cannot assign that person to be here
to make sure that you know during this snow time and again I do appreciate to
as I talked to Joseph and Joseph should recall this one you know that we need we
need to talk about this whether to talk about it more because the way I see it I
don't know I just you know however you guys want to decide
» where are you guys still I think it's around for the whole whole
home's night. >> You exhausted us.
» All right. >> Well, thank you guys for joining us. So,
I I do agree this has to go to a drawing board. There's a lot more information
that we need to look into. There's a couple programs that are currently
running year. They have like gotten theelves in a situation where we need to
also like um figure out so that we don't end up in the same situation, right? And
so we will have to discuss it offline to be able to get some of the answers that
we need. Uh because I believe there's a different um there's a different if you
bring non-essential staff during an essential emergency, it's differently
coded. Um and do the legislation that says like, you know, council members, um
I'll definitely if this thing moves forward, I want to make sure the mayor
is also added to it since I'm not a council member. So that way um any of us
are able to refer if it moves forward. But there I would say that the next step
is definitely figure out what the two programs are to figure out how they're
doing it. Um but also talk when it comes to liability and Mr. Kamali um I
appreciate the the remarks that that you made. So there's a couple steps that
happen. I would say like um take it offline like it's been said and we could
figure out what what else to do in order to to get more answers for this. I'll go
ahead. >> I I just have one question. You said add
you to what? Did you say add you to something? The the conversation
» members could like um uh council members could refer people in need.
» Oh. Oh. Oh, the language. Okay. Yes. Done.
» Yeah. But I definitely think that we have time. There's no snow again, but
it's Maruk has snow tomorrow. But we have time to figure this out and figure
out what it what it looks like. And if this is something we could potentially,
but I know that um Highestville and DC have two programs. And the other thing I
will and I'll close it with this based on the paragraph you wrote, you read
there's no at this point I haven't heard any distinction of where regarding
volunteers. It sounds like 70 and over volunteers cannot join to do this
because they will have heart attacks and whatever else it is and this is the
reason why we we they need the help. So, I want to make sure that that's a little
bit clear um as well because if if they could get their house clean at 70
because of the different like um being sick, not strong and blah blah blah,
will that disqualify them from being volunteers? So, well, because they fall
under the same guidelines of not being able to lift the snow and everything
else. So, just hits us on that. Okay. All right. So, um we'll move on to the
next item. Okay. It is 10:01. Uh item number 10 uh presentation
discussion legislative priorities as Mary car will present suggest alternate
practices for the consultation manager when creating the annual legislative uh
priorities list. >> Okay. Thank you. Um as we begin thinking
about next year's state legislative priorities, I would like to suggest that
we consider redesigning the way we develop and present them. Traditionally,
each council member is asked to submit three individual priorities. While that
approach certainly generates ideas, it can also result in a list of unrelated
items rather than a cohesive set of goals that reflects the broader needs of
our city. Recently, I came across the legislative priorities adopted by the
town of Matthews, North Carolina, and I was impressed by how they organized
their priorities under a broad topic areas such as transportation, revenue,
and tax reform, public safety, and planning. Rather than simply listing a
handful of unrelated requests, they create a comprehensive document that
groups specific priorities under larger policy umbrellas. For example, under a
category such as transportation, Mount Reneer could include priorities related
to the CSX rail lines that run through our city, improvements to Rhode Island
Avenue, and issues involving Queens Chapel Road. All of which involve state
controlled infrastructure and have a direct impact on our residents. under a
category such as revenue and tax reform. We could identify issues related to
municipal funding, state aid, and policies that affect our local tax base.
Other potential categories might include public safety, housing and economic
development, environmental sustainability, and local government
authority. I also believe this process would benefit from participation of the
city manager who often has valuable operational and legislative insights
that can help identify priorities from an administrative perspective.
My suggestion, sorry, my suggestion is that we begin discussing potential
categories and priorities and refine them during our September work session
and adopt a final list in the fall so that our legislative priorities are in
place well before the Maryland General Assembly convenes.
In addition, I would like to suggest that once adopted, the city's
legislative priorities be posted on the city's website under a dedicated tab
titled legislative priorities. Doing so would provide residents with a clear
understanding of the issues we the city council and mayor are advocating for at
the state level and would further our communic our commitment to transparency.
Once those priorities are identified and adopted, they would also serve as a
roadmap for Greenwell, our lobbying firm, by giving them clear direction on
the types of legislation and policy issues the council is interested in
monitoring. If bills are introduced in Annapolis that fall within these adopted
priorities, Greenwill could bring them to the council for consideration and
possible support. This would create a more organized and collaborative process
and help ensure that our advocacy efforts are guided by priorities that
have been discussed and approved by the council as a whole. Ultimately, the goal
is to move from a simple list of three priorities per council member to a
collaborative and comprehensive policy document that reflects our shared goals
as a council and mayor, incorporates input from staff, and serves as a
roadmap for our advocacy efforts in Annapolis. I believe this approach would
result in a stronger and more thoughtful legislative agenda, and I hope the
council will consider adopting this frame, this framework moving forward.
and I've um submitted the uh this is off of their website. Oops, I'm sorry.
Sorry. This is off their website. So, this is actually the blueprint that I'm
speaking of. You have the main topics like local government revenues and tax
reform and then the priorities individual identified. So under
transportation for us it would be CSX issues with trail uh with train it would
be things uh dealing with Shaw or Rhode Island Avenue, Queens Chapel um
government revenues and tax reform things of that nature. So that would be
tailored to fit Mount Reineer not only in the umbrellas but in the um items
underneath. Thank you. >> Okay.
Um I um I agree with Council Member Carter's uh presentation. I struggled um
during this last legislative session to understand where uh the priorities came
from that our lobbyists um were given and and what guidance um they were
receiving since it had not come from the council. Thank you.
» I would concur with uh what council members Carter and Hoff said. I think
it's important for us to discuss our legislative priorities clearly with a
guide towards that we are discussing state legislation or county legislation.
Um I I don't think we should be our lobbyists should be reading the tea
leaves through resolutions that were passed several council members ago. we
were elected to in this current time in this current body to be making our best
judgments about how to move forward as a city. And I think that having an
approach like this where we're clearly laying out our legislative priorities
for the year as a council, as a body, um is an important step forward. And
September, I think, seems like a reasonable time
frame. Um but I I would concur. I would I would defer if
others have thoughts on that time frame.
» Um, thank you. Um, so a few things. I think having a document
that sort of resembles this would be helpful um to have on the city website.
I think that I agree with that. Um, but I do think that we have to think through
the timeline a little bit. Um, we have MML coming up in June. um and have the
reason this document was created the way it is is because we were able to then go
to the all directors meetings at MML and talk to them directly about the
priorities we wanted to see happening. So for example, it was specific things
like POTS Hall, Memorial Park, when we talk about academic development, we talk
about Gateway CDC, like these are the things that we were talking about in
terms of um how we, you know, kind of frame what we're going to be working on
for the full year. It also helped for the city manager to understand the
direction the council was generally going in. So that you know if for
example we all said public safety was the number one thing that then we would
go after grants related to public safety. If we said economic development
we would continue on main street programming and talking about those
things. So I think this process had worked for a very long time. I
understand that we have a new council and so things might have to change a
little bit but I do think you we have MML in June. we have the U. Mako, the
Maryland Association of Counties. This is when a lot of those discussions
happen in in these conferences. And so I think waiting till September to really
put this together is going to be a little too late for those initial
conversations that people are having. Um and so I do want to protect this. I
think we should have a conversation about our general buckets of city
priorities. If we need to refine the list in September, we can do that when
we have all the more information on kind of what the general assembly is going to
be working on. They don't assign bill numbers until like January, so we're not
going to be able to get to that level of detail, but we can certainly add to the
list of priorities that we have kind of bucketed out at this meeting. Thank you.
» So, let me um so I will tell you guys the thing
September definitely does not work. The larks are to be voted by January, by
June. So, we will miss completely submitting any larks, right? And if you
don't know what it is, you guys will got an email from MML. Those are the city
suggesting a priority to MML for them to potentially look into. Um, usually their
uh legislative team and the legislative committee look into it and then they
come out with it. Right? So that is to this reason why we're discussing it in
May because we have to have voted um as a body in June and if we don't vote as a
body in June uh for this particular piece of the puzzle, right? Uh we cannot
submit uh alert. So just be be aware of that. Uh the other thing to point out is
you guys want a document that details what we've been doing on your cool. I
have no objection to it, but let's I just want to make sure we we stay
realistically that the numbers don't even come out in January at times.
Sometimes they come out in like February, right? So, we have three
voting meetings during this 90 days. And I think that trying to get us to vote on
legislation um is we're going to be falling behind.
Uh there's sometimes where we get notice on
on Monday that we have to um speak on Tuesday or submit testimony or like
request a testimony on Tuesday to speak on Wednesday as an example, right? The
turnaround is really really fast. So I would say the other thing to point out
is like um I I I I feel that
the system had worked for many years because we simplified as much as we
could. So that way during the summer the city manager was aware like hey this is
what our priorities are and then the team will work during the summer to
figure out like if they're grants we need to look information we need to look
forward right so it gave them at least some time for them to also like adjust
and then focus on those three items right this doesn't means to say that we
have a thousand things but I think it it made it um smoother and at least that
method if it doesn't work to this council fine we could just some of it um
if not mistaken it's been I want to say be four councils that we have done this
on um that we had you know reduced it on it but when it comes to the quote
unquote buckets uh we could list them up but for the majority of the part um and
this is not just legislation that we have passed prior we actually passed
human rights legislation you know talking about you know um abortion being
a human right the city marine this council passed this so if there's a
build in the legislation that you know makes reference. I think that is
definitely uh something that we currently have passed and I'll tell you
guys the rules do not disappear the same way the city manager is tasked with all
116 years. So the rules as they stand so are we right. Uh the books have usually
been in the lobby has done a good job in making sure if it's anything that's
safety they they will like notify us in the bill trackers right when it comes to
mandates that have no funding. They will notify us for us to be aware because
that means the city's required to follow the law and there's no money attached.
So usually that's when we react and say hey wait a minute we need to make you
aware that if this happens you know you have to attach money for it. The other
thing when it comes to like human rights or immigration in this sense, right?
That's legislation that we also passed this year. But it's something like, you
know, they always look anything that will harm our residents, you know, or
the safety of them. That's something that's also bucket. And I have a problem
if you guys wanted to write them down, they will write them down, but the
lobbyist is basically alert us if there's anything where there's a
priority of ours or not. they will let you know they will let us know because
we're all copy and every week we get a a report that says like hey this is the
bill we're tracking and you guys are welcome to ask them so I would say we
could expand the document to to add the other stuff that we need that's fine but
at time wise um we are running against the the clock of of the things that we
need to do so the next item the agenda is like you know we were supposed to
bring um the three items in order to figure out like and and I'll be honest
with you, it was originally done to figure out what we could agree on so
that staff will have a clear message across uh because a lot of us have like
20 different items a year but we want to make sure it was realistic for us to say
Mr. Ali, this is like the priorities for this year and we could like figure out
if we get them across. The problem with having 20 different things that reality
is like the staff cannot do 20 different things. So that challenges so I will
stay with that. I have no problem in in if you guys want to create a document
post it. I know we read it and post it. So that way also will reme will remind
the you know all of us like what they what they are because for a minute there
there was also confusion of what they were and but their list are there and we
could publish them so that way there is >> okay um to respond to both of you um and
just to be clear what what we're doing next on the agenda is not setting our
legit legislative agenda for our priorities for the upcoming general
assembly. What we're doing is looking at what we
want to see done in the city, not state legislation. There is a vast difference.
I mean, there there is a difference. Um, and and I mean, we've seen it like the
safe streets for all. That's not state legislation. Yet, that was one of our
priorities a couple of years ago and it stayed that way. That's, you know,
that's literally here. Stop sign legislation. That's that's general
assembly. But things that focus on city priorities is that giving Mr. Kamali
marching orders is literally a city issue. We're talking about legislative.
We're talking about things that happened in the general assembly in in Annapolis,
giving our um essentially giving our lobbyists the marching orders. So the we
are talking about two completely different things. And I think that that
that that um designation that they are two different
things needs to be highlighted as as to the voting. You you speak about voting
when when when we get like if if we have this, which I hope we will um and
Greenwill sees, hey, there's a there's a bill coming up that fits under their
transportation for CSX, just as an example, they send it to us. It is an
administrative vote. We can do that at a work session. we do not need a
legislative um session. It does not bear the weight of law. We've had this
discussion ad nauseium. Um so I mean just like if you brought like um a
letter from someone to ask for support for something happening in the county,
we do not need to legislate it over the course of two to four weeks. So I would
argue that this um that we do not need to make this harder than it has to be.
And I think dragging it out and and and and putting assigning all these
different stipulations to it is literally making something so simple
extremely complicated and confusing not only for the people who are watching us
and for others on council but for Mr. Kamali and the staff because that this
is going to confuse legislation in Annapolis with city priorities. So
that's my argument back >> to clarify the large are legislative
priorities we want to submit to MML this technically what they are so they're not
just city but it's like as a city we let them know like an example when hur was
cut off we've been having the the large for um highway user revenue to be like
um moved to 100% right we still don't have that but we managed to get some of
the money back right but that is something that as as members of MML
several of us like said like hey like this has something to do with it right
when it came to this to the ability for trained nonofficers to be able to review
the stuff like that that's another lark right the last priority for MML that um
which created a study to be able to find what the revenue was that's in Annapolis
legisl I want to make sure that we are clear
that the next point is going to be talking about that it's not just going
to be talking about like do we prioritize X or B? Thank you, Mr.
Kamali. Um, I'd like to somebody put 10 minutes on the clock, please.
» Or we could drop it and then move on to the next item. It's up to you guys.
» I'll make a motion at 10 minutes. >> Is there a second?
Second. Uh, discussion, objection, abstensions, hearing none. We have 10
more minutes on the clock. So, I just want to be clear that that's what's
going to be the next step in order for us because we have to have a vote on
what the city considers a legislative priority for us to be able to ask MML if
they will um include it for the legislative stuff or not. And the
deadline is uh vote by June. So, we could let them know like, hey, we
discussed this here, but it has to vote by June. If not, we cannot submit it.
So, I know I thought I was one like seeing the lights off. Um, so, oh, the
the overhead projector. So, I just want to make sure that that is uh clear.
» I'm sorry. I I that that did not happen last year, Mayor. And I'm I'm
there is a a disconnect between what you're saying and the facts. And and
last year when we discussed the legislative priorities, we were
discussing, as Council Member Carter noted, our priorities for legislation at
the municipal level. We never discussed in council the legislative priorities
for MML or for um the general assembly. And I'm tired of the misstatements being
made about this. It was not discussed. And so I I'd like to correct the record
that you have made a lot of misstatements about this. And and I I
hope that this year um we can operate differently. Again, item number 11, the
agenda states, Maryland municipal league and state priorities are next on the
item. MML decides when those deadlines are to be submitted and there's things
that happened before you guys were elected. I just want to make sure it's
clear and I'm not misspeaking. The reason why added, we all got the email
from MML saying, "Hey, this is the procedure on it and here it is. I'm
bringing it to a table to give us a chance in case we want to submit
something. So I I understand that for some people it's okay for them to
continue chastising me and that has to end. It's against the council rules. So
we need to stop. >> No. Um no mayor. Mayor actually. So we
don't operate according to Robert's rules. It's a work session. Mayor
Bonitz, you violated the council rules by submitting statements to the general
assembly purporting to rec to represent the city's position on legislation. And
we never as a council discussed those positions and you violated the council
rules every time you did so. I believe you submitted 13 statements last year to
the general assembly purporting to represent us when in fact we never
discussed it as a council. So the rule violation was by you
» again. How does that relate to us speaking about the large for MML today
that are due in June? Absolutely nothing. You just want to take a jab at
me. So I want to make sure that something is clear. I operated in the
same way we have operated for the last nine years. Okay. If there was a change
the council needed to do, fine. That's okay. But I think that there's a
disconnect on how we have previously operated to what it is. I did not went
out of my way. Okay. There has been resolutions and values and stuff like
that the city has upheld for years including stuff that this council has
voted on. So I want to make sure that as we put statements as such, we bring it
back to the point of this. The next step for item number 11 is for us to think
about whether or not we want to submit a legislative priority or not to MML
because according to their rules, the new deadline is speak about it voted by
June. So this is not a rule that I put together. This is the new deadline that
they set up this year for us to do. So, I'm trying. All I did was like bring it
to the table and nothing else. I'm haven't I haven't There's nothing else
to discuss. If there's nothing else you guys want to do with it, go ahead,
Joseph. >> Um, mayor, I believe we're still on
agenda item 10. Not we haven't moved on to agenda item 11 to discuss the MML.
Um, though I also noticed there's no document to discuss in regards to that.
But um I did want to point out that we did vote on the council rules um when we
all took our oaths on in May and they have been in place since July 5th of or
June 5th of 2018 and they do specifically say the mayor and council
shall members shall not affirm to represent the voices of their
constituents on issues outside of the city's jurisdiction eg county, state or
federal issues except in the case of approval by the majority of the council.
The council did not vote on HB 1317. The council did not vote on HB486.
Council B did not work vote on HB178 this session. We did not vote on
» SB36. We did not vote on HB923. We did not vote on SB526. We not voted on HB
35. >> You up for a minute because it's two
different discussions. This is discussing the document that Danielle
brought up >> and that is why we need to have a clear
document. >> Nobody's saying we don't need to. I
heard council member Valerie Wood saying like they will support a document as
such. I said the same thing. >> The only thing nobody else has said we
don't need it. We specifically said if this is like what will work for this
council, we could adjust it to make it work. So to me, that's the reason why
I'm a little bit concerned that this conversation has gone way on the other
side to attacking me when everybody has said like we could do a version of that
document if that will facilitate it, post it in whatever else is. So there's
no so for it to go beyond that. That's the reason why I want to make sure it's
clear unless Valerie am I misreading what you said about like creating a
document such as is another point you also made.
Valerie. >> Yes. I think if we want to have a more
um structured document, we certainly could.
» That's we're all in agreement on it. So, I don't know how it went from I done X,
Y, and Z. So, I want to make sure that we stay focused.
The issue that was that and when I mentioned number 11 was because
councelor Carter said we are not talking about Anapapolis legislative priorities
and I said like the MML version at number 11 does addresses but you know
what we would like MML to potentially consider advocating. So there is that
aspect in number 11. So I just wanted to clarify. That's it.
» If I can Oh Daniel go ahead.
» Actually no I need to speak. You are accusing me of attacking you. I'm not
attacking you. I'm correcting the record because you are making misstatements.
That's not an attack. If you make a misstatement, mayor, I have a right to
correct it for the record. And your attitude towards me, frankly, is
disrespectful and it's not warranted. >> Please don't don't after you call me a
in a public. >> Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I
suggest >> do not say anything to me anymore. You
could leave, but you want to call me on it. That's what you did at a public
event and I walked away from you. Go ahead.
» Daniel, you have the mic. >> I make the motion for recess.
» I second. >> Okay.
» You need to give how much time? Um, >> 10 minutes. 10 minutes.
» All right. Thank you. We'll come back at 10:35.
I get
I make a motion to bring us back. >> I second
to motion to bring us back. We have to get on camera.
» Oh, we have 44 seconds. >> You see what I'm saying?
Second. Any discussion, objections, abstensions? He hearing
none. We are back at 12 10:35 p.m. Thank you. Uh Danielle, you you
want to make a statement? >> Yeah, I just want to make one um one
final comment about this this suggestion and I'm glad that everybody is is seeing
the importance and the value on this. Once we get this started, it will be
easier to moving forward because there will be items on there that roll over
from year to year and we can add them as we need to. We won't need to do this
every year in June. So, I think once we get this established, it will just be a
rolling and then your the the city priorities that you're talking about and
the logs you're talking about with MML would be a completely different topic.
So we would have the legislative priorities of the city of the mayor and
council and then we would have our separate with MML.
» I would say that I would still like them in the document so there's one place
where everything's at even if it's for us to say like this is the
recommendation we made for MML for the large so that way anything legislative
or priorities in one document because that's the purpose of being on it. And
the other thing is like every year we have to go to this exercise. Okay. I
think that's sometimes I want you guys like I said just have a little and I'll
say this I wish there was more patience mainly because we've been doing this the
same way for the nine years this is the first year I think you guys have adjust
and be like hey we need something else something else will spread up and if
this what works for this two years then we'll work on it because next next year
we have elections and they might feel like differently you know so I would say
this is going to be something that we have to review every year most likely
more than once because as the legislation season starts, we might have
to have a conversation about it as well. Okay. But I want to say thank you for
bringing it up and um if we go have a document or place to have everything
together that works. Okay. Anything else on this Valerie Joseph? No. Shamali.
» Okay. Moving on to item number 11. Presentation discussion legislative
priorities. Mayor Council discuss legislative priorities for the city, the
Maryland Municipal League. um MML and the state. Um so as I was pointing uh in
the previous uh item, MML's has created a new process in which the laws have to
be voted by the council before the June deadline. Okay. The the paper that we
are receiving is basically here's a form like they do a lot of forms. The
discussion is basically does the city has a recommendation behalf of mayor
constant obviously Mr. Kamali right when it comes to legislative priorities they
want us they would we would like to pitch to MML and the way it process is
like the legislative team receives the various they call large things the
various large they evaluate them to figure out like is this state is this
apply just to one or two people does it applies to county and usually if it
applies just to a county or one municipality they remove them right and
if it applies to the state is it something that could be done and what it
looks like and the percentage and is there a capability to do it based on
what the members feedback? Um, hold on. Let me just
» for clarification, is there a document we should be looking at for this?
» It's an application. That's what they sent. So, I'm describing the process of
it. Right. So, the the vice there is a committee that's called the legislative
committee for MML, right? People volunteer. I know Danielle is in the
conference committee. I'm in the outreach committee. People volunteer for
legis committee. Basically, the president of MML appoints the different
people to the committee. They meet I think weekly in order to review the
various case. So once the LAR is submitted right we have to vote on and
say here's the resolution and it's obviously signed by all of us saying
this is what the body has voted on right and this is what we would like to submit
to you. it is up to you know the administr the legislative team for MML
and the legislative committee to be able to um to say like yes we'll take upon
this or no and mind you they get like you know 80 or 20 or 60 they cannot do
all of them last year the decision was made that instead of having a list of
like five of them they just had one and the the main one was when it came to um
that it actually passed uh being able to create a task force to review the
municipal um and county uh tax money that comes to
us because we feel as municipalities that we always would like more money
directly to us and this is something that is not just Selena saying it but it
worked for CO it worked for the infrastructure bill you know that we if
we receive the money directly in our fair share of what we think is like
taxes based that should be sent to us um MML has done various um events and
information and pamphlets that they have sent to us, right? And it so there
there's a couple things. So one of them is the three priorities we would like to
bring to table so that way when it comes internally and two if we want to submit
a large to MML that's a different we need to discuss it today so that we
could vote on it in the June work session. If the answer for you guys is
like you know what this year we're not ready for we don't want it good we don't
submit anything but I want to make sure that the document that we're working on
creating like states that on this meeting discussion happen it was decided
by the council that we would not be submitting large on it so that way we
don't not have an issue that a year from now we'll be like wait a minute you know
we interpret that conversation differently so I will start with step
number one when it comes to the three priorities that each of us um you should
bring to the table to figure out like if there's anything that matches because
what we realized nine years ago is like we all have great ideas but if we come
out and tell the staff here's 40 of them the staff is looking at us like okay
that's your priority that's your priority your priority but if we could
like figure out like like pot was forever on it we realized that it was in
the top priority for most of us so the staff went okay let's make that into a a
priority right to move forward and that's where like you know um anything
that had with zoning with like buildings anything had to do with financing in
order to bring money and grants and direct funding everything was like how
are we able to finance and be able to make this building that we're that we
are in happen so I would like to split the two categories if we could
potentially do that one of them is the three priorities from um from mayor
council when it comes to the city, right? Like I said in the past has been
possible it's been like you know um you know a bunch of them, right? You guys
already went through one year and figure out um does this fit into
into what we would like the staff to do. The staff also has a summary to figure
out like this is what works, this is what doesn't. And they could come back
to us and be like there might be potential but also the lobbyist goes out
there and be like hey this is the myian priorities. Is there any bills? Are you
thinking of something that could potentially support what we're looking
for um for Morinia? Right. So, that is where it potentially helps. All right.
So, um I'm going to go around the room and if you guys have your three
priorities or it could be three or less. You don't have to have three. If you
have two, you have two, right? Um Valerie, if you could help me just type
them and if you could share with the with everybody at the at the end,
especially Mr. Kamali so that way they know like what it is. It definitely will
help. So Joseph, do you have your three priorities uh for the city? Not lock
related, just city- wise. What would you like to see for the next year?
» It was very unclear that this that we would be discussing the L as part of
this. So there was no preparation that could be done in order to accomplish
this task. >> I'm asking for the priorities for the
city, not the large. I said I was going to separate them.
about the applications? >> No, the application just asks you what
it is, why do you need it, when was it voted, has it ever been discussed?
» It was also unclear from the the lack of document with item 11 that we were
supposed to prepare our own legislative priorities.
» It's not >> which was a presentation that was
supposed to be given to us. So >> I like I said, we're not talking about
legislative priorities right now. We're talking about city the three city
priorities non-legislative.
» I think we should postpone this until a further meeting.
» Okay, Danielle, do you have yours? >> Um, I'll be honest. I was kind of hoping
we would be doing it differently. Um,
I would like to make a comment though about this. Um, when it comes to what
you were talking about the MML. Yeah, I know what the MML does. um some the
newer council members they may I don't know but um like you said the
legislative group for the uh the legislative
committee for the MML they get together with all of our suggestions and then
they whittle it down to what they believe are the more
comprehensive ones that you know the more popular to focus on and so what if
our legislative priorities that we submit to them don't make it off the cut
they end up on the cutting room floor. So, I need to I I I would like to know
more about, you know, that in the process and how we can uh because I just
I don't know. I I just I I have I have questions about that. So, I'm not going
to address the Lars thing tonight. I I I agree with Council Member Jacuda on
that. However, um as far as priorities for the city, which have absolutely
nothing to do with the general assembly, have nothing to do with our legislative
priorities, the the secretar's roundt, any of that. um economic development
one, two and three. >> Can can I so two things you as a
question I'll give you an answer. >> Yeah. If it's not selected it's not
selected >> right which which which denies us.
» This is no this is what we have around lobbyist. We've always ask our lobbyists
to go pitch the ideas to somebody else but they cannot have 161 priorities.
» Correct. So so to me this is a this this is this is a time killer. you know,
instead, I mean, we we pay for our own lobbyists. Let's give our our lobbyists
our marching orders that are going to protect us. I mean, if if we want to go,
hey, you know, here's some things, but let's keep it focused on what we want to
do as a as mayor and council. Um, and then, you know, fill out the
application, you know, whatever. But as far as city um is concerned, economic
development across the board. >> And I'll tell you why that doesn't
» those are mine. Economic development times three. Why is it that that doesn't
dissociate it from it? Because when we talk to a round table people, Mr. Kamali
is talking to the agency, he would tell them economic development vulnerable
priority for my council. Do you guys have grants? Do you have legislation
you're supporting? What does it looks like? Everything ties up with realized
it or not because Mr. Kamali's job if that's economic because like number one
is to go out there to fight to make sure it
» mayor I I appreciate but I don't need my my comments editorialized. I do
appreciate it. It's late. We're all tense but you asked for my priorities
when it comes to the city for this coming year and its economic development
across the board. It does not need to be explained by anybody else editorialized.
That's those are my priorities for the city. Thank you. Just to clar just to
clarify >> I don't need my comments clarified
mayor. I don't >> I'm speaking Danielle. Thank you so
much. You asked a question that said what happens to the Lars if they're not
selected and I gave you >> so I was trying to make sure that that
was answered. Okay. And that was it. Um, and I wanted to clarify that this is the
reason why our internal priorities also means that when we talk to our team,
their marching orders are are done. They go look at every single option there is
that could potentially fulfill that priority for us. Okay. So, um, Valerie,
» um, thank you. And I just, um, I just sent around to the council um the the
link to the L form just so they could see it. It looks like we have to No.
Well, I just Googled it cuz I I also did not know I did not see the L thing come
through before we had this meeting and it wasn't the document wasn't attached
to the package. So, um that's I I understand the confusion there, but um
I'm looking at it now. It looks like the L form is due on May 31st and then
approval um that approval has to be sent in from
council on July 1st so that they can work on it. So, that's the timeline that
we're working on here. Just to clarify that. Um and then um in terms of overall
city priorities for me it would be transportation continued implementation
of current safe streets for all um funding um and new funding for future
projects. I think that's critical to keep matching funds if we can to keep
building better streets, sidewalks and and places for people to walk, bike and
and roll. Um I think two for me is strategic plan. We need to have a
strategic plan to work from so that the city has that marching order that's
baked into what we're already working on. Whether or not we have new
priorities in the future, it's good to have a a document to check boxes off of.
So, I think getting that done would be really great. And then I agree with
Danielle, economic development is my number three um top priority. Um and I
have a bunch of little ones inside there. I still want to get the home
repair program back up and running, but we'll see um if that can be done. But
those are my top three. Perfect. Just do you have any or I just want to make sure
to give you a chance in case you have anything to add.
» Again, we were not provided a document for this agenda item to make clear what
it was or was not we would be discussing. We really need to have a
document in the packet as was requested at previous meetings so that we know
what it was we were talking about so we know what so we can be prepared. I read
through every single document in the packet. No information was provided that
we would be discussing three action items and we should bring them. There
was no document. >> Thank you so much. So I'll give you my
three. All right. Um I think the strategic plan to me is like number one
because it will be able to link it at least to this financial document but
also when our staff is doing something they know where to go to to figure out
um what it will fulfill. Right. Um in this case like you know if um let's say
any of the committees right when we have the round table right are able to say um
hey like you know what do what is going on and then that way when we're able to
have meetings we could say like this is based on this plan and the signals like
this is what we're aiming at for the next five to 10 years and how does the
committees how whatever else it's um can you guys please get off the phone? No,
mine went off and I think my husband was texting me. That's all. I was trying to
turn it down. >> Okay. So, I you know, so that's like
number one. Um for me, the safe streets for all grant that's a big commitment
that we have made. So, we fall under transportation if you want to utilize
the the language, right? Because we have a four more year commitment that the the
reality is like that's going to take >> Yeah. Because this is the first year
sorry the rice was born more. Yeah >> it was five years but they count from
24. >> Okay. Thank you Mr. Kamali. So your mic
your mic was off. >> Oh I'm sorry. It's a five years grant
and from 24 to 29. Sorry. >> Thank you so much Mr. Kamali. But that's
a big commitment that we have gotten oursel into to make sure the budget
reflects the 20% to make sure like the double audits are being done to make
sure it's a report like that that 9.7 um million dollars comes with a lot of work
attached to it. So I think that that's definitely um we need to follow through.
If not, um, we tend to will be able to lose that money and obviously economic
development like falls. Um, actually I cannot fall like under any of
them to be honest with you. But um, at least that's more or less where I feel
the city uh needs to potentially focus for the next um for the next year and
everything that falls under those umbrellas. Right. I I I
fully Thank you. Um can I have a motion for 10 minutes on the clock, please?
Okay. If you guys are done with this discussion where we have a list of at
least three of us that have submitted, Mr. Kamali, um I'm asking for this to be
added to the next agenda. All right? So, the conversation continues. And if
there's something that um you think that the city also needs, please let us know.
So that way uh we hear also from from your team. Okay. I think that um I'll
move on to the next item. I think that at least for me the next steps is
continue the conversation because if we want to fill a paper up on it and if we
could submit if we could turn an alert, great. If not, no. But this is like step
one to be able to introduce you guys what they are. All right. and I already
got the email. Apparently, there was miscommunication on on it. Um, but I
apologize for that. All right, moving on to the next item.
And Mr. Kamali, nobody from 3200 block is coming, right?
Nobody I doubt. I mean, it's 11 o'clock at night.
» Thank you so much, Mr. Kamali.
» Okay. Presentation and discuss. Oh, sorry. Presentation, discussion, and
business round table. Councelor Virginia Huffar will present a proposal for a
business round table. >> Mayor, if I may make a motion.
» Go ahead. >> Um, I'd like to table the rest of the
business meeting. Um, since council member Hoffower has the next two agenda
items, she is not here to give them. And I am stepping out of bounds, but I am
assuming council member Jakuda is fine with postponing his since um the LMUTC
person isn't here. >> No, the the LMUTC person will be coming
at the legislative meeting. So we and we do need to get someone appointed to
that. >> Okay. Um then um I would ask that we
table the next two items until the next business meeting, please.
So, I think that for the future I honestly I thought the hybrid option was
yours, Joseph. I didn't think it was. >> I did not request that to be put on
here. I know I brought it up at some point, but it just showed up.
» Okay. So, can we And you guys or not? Can we figure out who puts it in because
I assume it was um it was you. >> I I asked for the LM UTC and the tree
commission. So, can we go ahead and skip 12, 13,
14, and move to 15? Will that can Can we agree on that? So, is that to see one?
» Do we have to do 14 tonight anyways because we won't be able to vote on it
prior to September. Otherwise, >> I mean, we could talk about it
» because we would need to vote on it at our June meeting.
» Yes. In order to have it by September. So
» I I withdraw my motion.
Okay. So we um
so for number the hybrid option can we move Joseph can you like make sure it's
on the agenda? I know Mr. Kamal said that we don't have it's not within our
site right now that needs to be discussed. We have time. So but can you
put it in your internal agenda Joseph so that way you remember to bring it up if
need be? I I will put it on the next meeting where we do not have a 4-hour
long meeting. You >> mean work session?
» Work session? Yes. >> Which is June the 9th?
» Yes. Unless June the 9th also turns out to be a 4-hour long meeting.
» Well, it's going to be up to you guys because you guys have like three or four
different items on here. >> Okay.
» Well, we didn't raise it. Okay. So, um so number 13 has been sold. Uh number 14
we have never put in position. you know that there's no present. Is there
anything on the dock? Is there anything on the package? I apologize this late. I
can't remember right now. >> Oh, what number?
» Is there anything in the package? >> Yes, there is. Um I'm familiar with this
so I can give a brief. >> So, can you put it like um
» Yeah, that's it right there. >> So,
» Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Kamal.
» I'm familiar with this. Um I hope council member Hoffower is not upset
that I speak on this. Um I may I attempted this a long time ago as well.
Um to start the um legislative session with a work session instead of
legislation session just makes good common sense. um a lot of things um are
build that we work on over the summer and we want to bring it back to talk
about it and introduce it for consideration rather than coming back
and voting on something that we may I mean it would be a very small meeting
unless it's just like like we did this past year with a vice mayor rotation and
things like that. Um, and ending the legislative season with a legislative
session makes sense because it ties up every all the work we've done all year
instead of leaving hanging threads. Um, at least that was my argument when I
made the um suggestion. Um, I don't know what council member Hoffower had um
planned to um present, but um I I do support this. So I I hope that we can
keep this in the discussion for tonight. >> So authority before we continue talking,
are you talking about switches the first one or switching every single one of
them? >> Switching all of them. You you want to
start with and and if I can if I can remind um council member Woodall and the
mayor when I presented this back in I think it was 23. It was in June of 23.
Um, I had called all 26 other municipalities just here in Prince
George's County and the lion share and I mean it was like 23 of them start with
work sessions or do work session before legislation. So this just it's just
common sense and it and a couple of those municipalities actually had just
recently switched from doing legislative first to uh work and so anyway it it
it's just logical. Um, and the majority of the of the municipalities here in
Prince George's County follow the same thing, and I would venture to say most
people do, too. So, anyway, >> Joseph,
» I I'm supportive of this schedule generally. I think it's a a much wiser
use of all of our time. Um, since, uh, you know, whatever we're talking on June
9th, if there's anything we need to vote on, it's going to have to wait till
September. And that I think that's kind of silly. Um, I did have three specific
comments. Um, I did want to see the instead of this called a council
meeting, I think it should say a regular council meeting because there are also
special council meetings. And so I just wanted that clarification.
I think that we should not have a meeting on November the 3. I think that
should be rescheduled. I I will defer to y'all which way you want to move it, but
I definitely don't think we should have one on election day. And then also, I
was hoping we could also star the meetings that are preceded by a holiday
such as on January 19th, which is preceded by January the 18th, um which
is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So that way we would just be cognizant of when
we're going to have uh crunches with the agenda so we know to be a little bit
more prepared for those meetings.
» Um I'm not opposed to this. Um I do think we need to scrub the dates because
I can see a number of them that might not work based on just general calendar
things. So I think before we begin to vote on this, I think we need to really
scrub the dates. Um, yeah, that's my comment. Thank you.
» Yeah, the holidays. That's the same thing I noticed. It's like November 13,
the big one, but there's spring break that we need to account into that before
we run into it. Um, holidays, uh, I will tell you that
if I recall correctly, and the reason why I was arguing that was because it's
the first meeting and you kick off with like, hey, welcome back. Here it is. is
light friendly and it's not stuff you have to get ready a whole entire like
gigantic like work session meeting to move forward. So the first meeting was
taken more as of um a light thing if we had it like anything that we needed to
vote on uh that either got u the staff was working during the summer or there
was an emergency situation and it got us to vote. I I don't know if I
particularly would like to be having a wedding maybe on the second third week
the third week right before uh right during the holiday season as an example
right the holiday season like not just Christmas but several of them and I
think that also allow for the work session to be very light that's one
example you also have like the work session on the 5th that's like shortly
after he a couple New Year days, not just one religion, but multiple ones,
right? That the staff prepares differently. I feel like for work
sessions that they do um for um legislative meetings. I think that for
me in the past when we came in to vote um the meetings were very short.
Correct. Um Mr. Kamali, >> I'm sorry. the legislative meetings were
very short because everybody had work either on several work sessions on the
documents. So that way you came in and they were like maybe sometimes like an
hour um an hour and a half and you were done with, right? Um it's no longer the
case. Um the reality is like we've been having a lot of items added into the
legislative meeting that have not been resolved in work session that have moved
for a legislative news to be a lot longer. So I will tell you this I've
never had a 4 and a half hour 5 hour meeting since nine or 10 years ago and
that was a budget meeting. So I would say that at least for me we definitely
need to review those dates because the scholarship committee days will have to
be switched. Um any days where we have to uh vote on items including the
audits, including the budget, including the elections
definitely um have to be switched and looked at. If you notice, we have a
workstation on the four. Usually, we try to vote on the budget before the next uh
council is selected. So, that is something that we need to look into
because if not, uh potentially two weeks into one week technically after being
sworn in, you will have to vote on the on the budget. So, there's a lot of
other one. I mean, I'm happy with having a legislative meeting at the beginning.
And if the need happens to be that we need to have a work session, it could be
followed by a work session the same day. That's fine. But I think tying us to
come in and do like a work session is definitely um is definitely a lot.
And I definitely would like for you guys to reconsider what it means for the for
the staff and and and for us. And we definitely will have to work not just
these days for the meetings. Yeah, I like it to be legislative meeting
instead of council meeting. So people know it's a voting meeting. But uh when
it comes to the other markers um the budget meetings, the audit like reports
um uh the scholarship dates, anything that we have to vote, we will have to
look into um because the scholarship schedule is tied up to whatever that is.
» Yeah. Go ahead. >> I'm just asking if we can do another
round. >> Okay. Okay. I mean it's a work session,
so but anyway. um you gave a lot of um you know you pointed out a lot of
things. However, I would point out that we have meetings all the time before
holidays. I mean this is a Tuesday before the uh Memorial Day week, you
know, um weekend. Well, I mean this happens all the time, you know. I mean,
work session, council meeting or legislative meeting, it six one way,
half dozen the other. I I would think that the staff is working harder to get
legislation set up um for us to work on legislative meetings. I don't know. I'm
not city staff, but I think they work their bottoms off. No matter what
meeting we're having, whether it's a work session or legislative, I don't
think one's heavier than the other. I mean, it's a heavy ask. I mean, our
staff is here. We're here at almost 11:00 at night and they're still here.
So, I mean, I think honestly, I think we're literally playing with sematics
here. Um, it's just what is more logical. I think that the dates we can I
mean, we we do this every year in June. We we we settle our calendar, you know.
We we can adjust. I mean, we always like I pointed out, you know, I looked over
to you and said November 3rd, it's election day. Of course, we're going to
move that. We always do every year. So, I mean, there are things that we can
make adjustments on. Working on what days we actually meet is one thing. What
kind of meeting we have is a completely different thing. I think the question
here is whatever the fiscal calendar is that we end up agreeing on in June, we
should start with a work session at the beginning of the legislative session.
And mayor, I I like your recommendation of doing a combination meeting. I have
no problem with that. We can do legislative and work session on the same
meeting if city staff is fine with that. But I think we need to start with a work
session and end with a legislative session because I know I don't know
about I don't know I can't speak for council members um uh Jakuda Hoffower or
Woodall or speak and I won't speak for you but I may have things ready to go
that I want to bring up in the work session in September I've been working
on all summer. So I I just say I I I think this is logical and I urge you
guys to reconsider. Danielle, the very first regarding the holiday was is the
council Juda mentioned that if we could be cautious of not um and I know that's
been hard for me too because you're like having a holiday like a meeting. So that
was in reference to the statement that you made about being cautious with the
calendar of not having a meeting the next
» I think
now please. Um so yeah so that that is um
» for next 24 hours >> for I'm not gonna be here that long for
guys. So that that is the that was what was in reference to. So it wasn't an
obstacle. It was more like this is going to require a lot of it. But if you guys
are open to doing a legislative meeting followed by potentially a work session
if needed be that could be a good compromise. So that way if we don't need
a work session we're not tied up to work. that was just said but a lot of
them we need to the good thing about early in the month it's like the stuff
has like 30 like the whole month to be able to deal with it right but I would
say if the argument is like you guys would like to is that that's the reason
why I as kick off you would like to do a work session we could do a legislative
session that way we could vote on whatever we like we might have like
strategy things that we need >> and then follow but followed by a work
session if needed because we might be like we nothing, you know, here here it
is. But that way at least gives us the a chance to a chance to like adjust it
because I'll tell you this trying to vote on those like snowy days like later
on the month. So don't make it work for us. But anyway, so if that's an
agreement, if this is something that we could potentially agree that we could do
a legislative to kick off just to do the formalities, right, and vote whatever we
need to vote followed by a work session the same day if needed, then we could
decide like it's needed or not. And if we decide like it's not needed because
after two weeks of break, Heidi Colin would decide to like, you know, it's not
what we need, then we could then we could deal with that. And then that way
at least will keep the schedule more or less consistent because what I'm worried
about is like for elections that the new council is going to have to vote on that
budget a week after they got >> pointing clarity.
» So yeah, >> pointing clarity. Are you saying you're
okay with the flipping of the meetings except that you're requesting that we
start in September with legislative and work session if we need it?
» What I said is like because that's the reason I was asking the question. and
said is the will of the body to have a you know to start with a work session at
that first September meeting. If that's the case we have legislative prior and a
work session following and then the rest of the schedule the next will be a work
session legislative work session. So basically we'll have the first day two
potential meetings to meet change. you have two meetings on one day later they
will change >> and they do on it but be conscious that
you're also going to be asking the new council to vote on a budget name
» so I just want to make sure that some of the days a little more complicated with
that Joseph >> thank you mayor um I mostly I I mostly
fine with what you just said I just also think that the June 15th meeting should
also be a double one where we could have a council meeting and a work session cuz
I don't think the work session's all that useful. And I do think that ending
on a council meeting is important. But if we want to do that just for those the
first and the last the book ends, I'm fine with that because I think that
still solves the main problem we're getting at. Um and then as far as I said
about the holidays, I just wanted them noted just so we know to get our agenda
items in earlier for those. I don't think we need to reschedu or anything.
It was just noting that so we because we've had problems with that where all
of a sudden we try and get everything to Melissa on Friday and folks are gone and
then we have a problem. So um but yeah, you know I'm fine with that if we can do
the June 15th one one of these doubles to I'm fine with that.
» I'm fine with it. Like again if it's needed we feel like okay we could just
have a voting session and we don't need a legis a work session then let it be
you know so that could be a good compromise.
Valerie, where are you at? I apologize. I want to make sure I go around the
whole room. >> Yeah, I'm okay with um September 1st
being a council meeting and then a work session and then October would be
October 6th would be a work or whatever the dates in October would be a work
session and a council meeting. You know, April would be a work session, council
meeting. So, follow the same schedule and then in June it would be a council
meeting and work session to end this. I think it's going to be a legislative
meeting on the and don't quote me on the days. It's just supposed to not.
» So it'll be like the first will be legislative work session. The 15th will
be legislative, >> right?
» And then it go like the first one will be like um legislative work session,
legislative work session. So that way at the top of the month we get to vote and
move forward. And just that the bookings are going to change.
So what they're proposing is that the work session would come first every
month and the voting would be afterward except for the two book ends. That's
what I think that is >> that's what we were originally
proposing. But yes, what mayor said I I I it's mostly the September and the June
meetings that we were concerned about. So I think that that solution keeping
our schedule the same as it has been except the first month and the the first
meeting and the last meeting that >> as long as we're aware those are going
to be two potentially very long meetings.
» It's up to us because when you come in immediately you could say hi how are you
and here it is. I think that we need to heavily work on looking at the looking
at all 10 months right and saying what am I going to propose this 10 months but
I think that a certain point we cannot be having like three items per person it
is draining all right so we're in agreement that leave it and the book
ends have two meetings within reason well the person shouldn't have if we do
the if we we vote on everything we need to go we should be it should be more
like a welcoming meeting than anything and a work session if needed And it
could be a short work. Okay. But okay, it could be a short work session. You
don't have to put 20 items on the agenda,
» you know, because it's also not doable because then the staff have to come over
whatever it is we need to do. >> Can we when we update this document, can
we um make sure we really look at all the dates um uh can staff like look at
the PGCPS, look at the University of Maryland, look at
» you know various elections and things like that. Thank
» for going to be a lot. Um okay, perfect. Thank you guys. U moving on to next item
number 15 presentation discuss and appointment members of LMBTC. Castor
Jakuda will present proposed appointments to the LTC.
Uh thank you mayor. Um so uh a little while back we had appoint we we had
nominated seven uh residents to participate in the LMUTC
and we submitted their names to the Prince George's planning department and
through that process it turned out that one of the members wanted to step down
uh Miss Brav um so part of the resolution is to thank her for her
service. Um she served for three years uh and has uh had to move on. And it
took a while, a lot of uh uh talking to folks um and we did find a
very capable resident uh Miss Elise Moore uh to fill the seventh spot. Uh
she has a background in design. uh she has a very nice portfolio up on the
internet and um she was willing to serve for two years. So we wanted to nominate
her um in introduced this tonight and then once this is done we already have
her resume to go to send over to the Prince George's planning board as soon
as we finish our nomination. We can finally have an LEM UTC up and running
again >> and vote on the June meeting. Right.
» I'm sorry. >> And vote on the June meeting. Yeah, this
would be for a vote on the at the June 2nd meeting.
» All right. So, I'm going to go around the room. This is this is a straight
like recommendation for appointment and thanking
and thanking Miss Alina right for your service for
the last years and appointing Elise Moore. So, I do Okay. So, we'll go
around and then I have a request for you guys because this is hard to figure out.
Um, so Valerie, go ahead. >> I have nothing to add. Thank you,
» Danielle. >> Nope. Nothing to add.
» Um, ideally request I'm going to ask and this is like I've asked about it like
more than once. Um, and I think we all agree. Can we make sure we add their
names through the agenda because you have to go through the whole entire
thing is everybody agenda itself. It just says appointment to LMBTC with no
name, no nothing. >> So I know we used to do it. Can we like
do it so that way also like it's easier and I'll tell you this. It's easier for
us because if we have to like go back and finding information, it's easy for
us to find an agenda than go through resolutions and minutes and everything
else. And the team has done a a better a lot better job than in the past and
trying to line up that people are to yours. So big thank you to um to
college, Miss um Miss Elise um um board for like um for
putting their name there and we look forward to voting on the June meeting.
Um, and thank you Joseph for uh seeking I know for LMTC especially with a
presentation we have they're going to take a big role also on making
recommendations to like the city manager and and us and they're the group that
help us keep the historical aspect of Mount Rineer um and help residents who
are needed. So it's a lot of design architecture and everything else. So
that's my piece. Thank you. All right, moving on to item number uh 17. And I
have a motion to adjurnn, please. >> Presentation.
» Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry. >> Here's what happens when this is not
here. She won't look at me like Okay. Presentation of minutes is not a voting
presentation minutes for May 5th. Uh minutes to Mayor Council. They're there.
They're in your package. >> We're good. Review them. They move on to
the June uh meeting. Yay. Yes. >> Good. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I
» I move to adjourn. >> Okay. Item number 17, motion to adjourn
a >> second.
» Uh second by Jakuda. Any discussion? Objection, extensions, hearing none. And
we have come to an end at 11:17. Jesus and
happy pride month coming up.