[0:00] Everyone, welcome to this Mayor and City Council regular meeting for Tuesday,

[0:03] February 16th, 2016 at about six o'clock.

[0:06] First thing in our agenda is we have the prayer and the pledge,

[0:09] and we'll ask you all to rise and remain standing.

[0:11] I'll be giving the prayer, and then we'll have the pledge right afterwards.

[0:16] Lord, we are meeting here today to conduct matters of the city business.

[0:20] Guide our hearts and our minds in the spirit of fairness, right thought and speech.

[0:24] Impart your supreme wisdom upon our activities that our affairs may reach.

[0:28] That's all the conclusion. Thank you for being our source of guidance today. Amen.

[0:34] We move the flags.

[0:37] I want to make sure everybody knew. All right.

[0:40] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for

[0:46] which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[0:56] Thank you.

[0:57] They were actually getting in the way of the TV screen there, so I didn't make sure

[1:01] everybody could see. All right. Next on the agenda, we have an approval of minutes.

[1:05] There are the record session number two dated January 19, 2016, and the work session

[1:11] dated January 26, 2016. We'll consider the minutes approved. If there's no correction,

[1:16] conditions or deletions. That's the number approved. Thank you, Pam. All right.

[1:22] Next on the agenda is our Standing Committee report. The first will be given

[1:26] by the Police Commission and Councilmember Simick's absence, so Councilmember Dair will

[1:29] be giving it for him.

[1:30] Councilmember Dair.

[1:32] The Police Commission's met on February 8th at the Public Safety Building.

[1:39] I'm going to ask Chief Pizarro to present his January activity report.

[1:45] Okay.

[1:45] Chief, welcome.

[1:46] Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. President and Council.

[1:50] January activity, as we discussed in the Police Commission meeting, wasn't anything

[1:54] really glaring. In terms of officer calls for service, we were slightly down just under

[1:59] 10% from 1400 and 9 to 1271. This past January, citizens calls for service were up from 666

[2:09] to 774. And looking at the top 25 calls for service, there wasn't really anything glaring.

[2:17] There were less car stops. But right around the same numbers for the same type of incidents

[2:24] and south throw out inclement weather somewhat in January could have caused the drop off

[2:31] in vehicle traffic stops, but really overall pretty good month in January as far as any

[2:38] crime, any patterns, any issues out throughout the town, we really don't see any.

[2:43] So all in all, as we're now into February, so far so good.

[2:50] I'm going to continue on, I can, the TASER report, TASER activity for January, we just

[2:56] had one incident that was on the 1st of January, right after midnight, about 10 minutes before

[3:02] 1, we did have an individual that was involved in an altercation, was violent, was agitated.

[3:09] The officer arrived on a scene and was able to get control of the individual by displaying

[3:15] the taser and not deploying it and obviously there was no injury as a

[3:19] result to anyone including you know the officer and or this individual individuals

[3:23] placed under arrest without incident. So about the whole month of January that

[3:29] really is about it as far as any taser use. Thank you Chief.

[3:34] All right a considerable discussion about trailer prohibiting those during

[3:43] the summer season, acting city manager and Mayor Mehan, Captain Kirsten, and studied

[3:49] it in detail with special events and budgeting, and they reported to us on a number of items

[3:59] and I'd draw your attention to the packet if you're, if anybody wants to study that

[4:07] more interested, and in detail now.

[4:15] The commission did vote in a motion to make a few changes

[4:20] and have it come to the full Marin City Council.

[4:25] One of the changes was for the city solicitor

[4:29] to add a section for due process for any vehicles

[4:35] are booted under the scoff law. And so the full council will have that report in the future.

[4:45] Captain Geithen provided the police commission with some information about

[4:50] parking enforcement. We have a number of providers in different aspects of it like

[4:58] plus and Calais and Park Mobile and some of our contracts are coming due and he

[5:05] wanted some guidance from the police commission as far as what we wanted to

[5:11] look at in that gave them that guidance and they'll be coming back with some

[5:17] recommendations on parking solutions in the near future and the meeting was

[5:23] adjourned at 10.13 when the public open session was.

[5:28] All right.

[5:28] Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[5:29] Any questions for Mr. Chair?

[5:31] Would you please speak for the day?

[5:33] Chief, thank you for being here.

[5:34] Thank you.

[5:35] Thank you.

[5:35] All right, next on the agenda is our tours and commission minutes,

[5:39] meetings from February 9th.

[5:40] And I guess Councilman Dyer is going to fill in again.

[5:43] All right.

[5:47] The chairperson on Mary Knight called the meeting to order

[5:50] at 3 p.m. on February 9th. The first item up was from Frank Miller, and he explained

[5:59] the return on investment and how that form is now being utilized for our various events.

[6:10] And we discussed having that,

[6:16] I don't know, that was something else, I'm sorry. The

[6:18] The second item was the zip code report.

[6:22] We asked for the different hotels to supply us with zip codes so we could start to be more

[6:32] strategic in our advertising.

[6:35] For example, we just began advertising in Pittsburgh, and if we'd had some of the zip

[6:41] code before we can then be able to look at the zip code after the advertising, we get

[6:49] an idea of how effective it was. So there's a lot of changes out there. We're going to

[6:56] have to build on it. Hopefully some other hotels will join in. Andy Miles from MGH presented

[7:06] provided a very good report with what we do have. We took a lot of zip codes on the board

[7:13] blog. One of the rental companies provided, and one hotel group did provide the zip code.

[7:21] So we have had some data enough to show some really good applications of where we want

[7:29] to be with that, and so that's going to be ongoing.

[7:34] And updates from different departments and organizations,

[7:39] the Chamber of Commerce handed out the 2016 visitors guide

[7:43] that's here now.

[7:45] They reminded us that the Small Business Expo at the carousel

[7:50] was well attended, and the job fair is coming up March 26.

[7:54] projects.

[7:57] Then they are filing the post Labor Day School Start bill as it's drafted.

[8:05] The

[8:05] Economic Development Committee gave their report. Their next meeting will be focusing on the

[8:14] legislative wrap-up, hard to believe, for that far through the session already. HMRA,

[8:23] Today, their next dinner meeting is February 18th, they're getting ready for their trade

[8:28] expo March 6th to 7th.

[8:31] Maryland Tourism Development Board, Greg Shockley, reported that there was a modest increase

[8:37] over approximately $100,000 in the state tourism budget that was presented by Governor

[8:42] Hogan.

[8:43] And then OCDC, Todd Ferrante updated some grant awards,

[8:53] and also noted that they finalized

[8:56] the schedule for sunset park events, and they're going to continue to have their party night

[9:00] concert every Thursday.

[9:03] And the Department of Tourism reported that Laos Summit will be here working with

[9:07] the Tourism Commission on the strategic planning update for tourism.

[9:12] Donna also noted that the State Tourism Office notified us formally that we're going to

[9:20] receive $479,000 in our grant for this year.

[9:26] It was the largest grant awarded in the state of Maryland.

[9:31] And finally, in special events, Frank Miller reported that they're in the process of

[9:38] finalizing Springfest on May 5th to the 8th,

[9:41] and they're also finalizing all the acts

[9:44] for concerts on the beach and Sundays in the park this summer.

[9:48] All right, thank you.

[9:49] Any questions for the council member there?

[9:51] All right, very good.

[9:53] We're gonna move on to our next reporters

[9:54] from our transportation committee, Mr. Mayor.

[9:57] Thank you, Mr. President.

[9:59] The transportation committee was held

[10:02] at the Public Works Complex on February 9th at 9 a.m.

[10:07] I'm going to give you a synopsis of the actions taken and the items discussed.

[10:11] We had a follow-up conversation on the SHA tourist area corridor signing program that

[10:17] was presented before the mayor and council.

[10:19] We had turned that over to Donna Abbott to bring forward recommendations of where applicable

[10:24] signs could be placed and get our approval to present them to State Highway for consideration.

[10:30] Some of those locations included the Ocean City Life Station,

[10:35] Saving Museum, Sunset Park, the Skate Bowl, the Visitor Center,

[10:39] the Center for the Arts, Northside Park, Eagles Landing Golf Course,

[10:44] the Free Fishing Area between 3rd and 4th Street,

[10:47] the Performing Arts Center, the Convention Center,

[10:49] eventually the new boat ramp being constructed at 64th Street,

[10:53] and the Ocean City Municipal Airport.

[10:55] And Donna is going to keep us updated on the status of these applications that she's now putting before State Highway.

[11:02] We also had a continuation of bike path discussions.

[11:07] How's going to work with Bill Neville, Terry McGee, and Karen Zira to generate maps to be attached to easement requests that we're sending to properties that have areas that we hope to be able to pass through.

[11:20] We think if we have designated areas and show them a,

[11:23] give them a better idea of what it is we're looking for,

[11:25] we'll be able to get some of these to comply with our request.

[11:29] And we're going to go ahead and move forward with that.

[11:32] We had an update on the bus cop program, which we initiated last year.

[11:38] Actually, we've used it before, but it became a formal program last year

[11:42] to place police officers on the buses during random times,

[11:47] during the months of June, July and August.

[11:49] The program proved to be very successful.

[11:52] It helped alleviate some potential issues on the bus,

[11:56] made the drivers feel a lot more comfortable

[11:58] and really did work out very, very well.

[12:01] We're going to continue to do that in the upcoming season

[12:04] and that is budgeted and we're moving forward with that.

[12:07] So I want to thank both the Police Department

[12:09] and the Transportation Department

[12:11] for working together on that initiative.

[12:14] We also had an update on the MTA loaner bus program for the season.

[12:19] We requested 10 buses from MTA of a 40-foot variety to be loaned

[12:24] to the town of Ocean City to supplement our fleet during the summer season.

[12:28] We also asked for four articulating buses.

[12:31] They don't have those, but they are going to go ahead

[12:34] and comply with our request and loan the town of Ocean City

[12:37] 10 buses for the current summer season.

[12:40] Follow-up to what they have done in past season.

[12:42] And so that's a great partnership and certainly does help our transportation system.

[12:48] We had an update on from direct media about the bus wrap program, looking for somebody

[12:55] to wrap, to want to wrap the two articulating buses that we are receiving.

[13:00] That's a big bus.

[13:02] And something is going to take a probably pretty large company to do, but we're continuing

[13:06] to move forward with trying to find somebody that wants to do that.

[13:10] We're going to continue to update the council and the committee of our bus advertising at

[13:15] each meeting moving up to the summer season.

[13:18] We also had an update on the transit manager position.

[13:21] That's an open position.

[13:22] We have advertised for that position.

[13:24] As of the date of the meeting, we had 36 applicants and Hal hoped to be scheduling interviews

[13:31] for qualified candidates as early as February 16th, which is today.

[13:38] We also had an update on the driver recruitment effort.

[13:40] Last year, we were very successful in recruiting additional drivers and building our seasonal workforce

[13:46] for the bus system during the 2015 summer season.

[13:50] We're continuing to be very proactive in that department again this year.

[13:56] And again, we have a goal to get the number of bus drivers we had last year.

[14:00] And we're moving in that direction.

[14:01] We already have 103 returning drivers that have been processed and additional drivers

[14:07] that are being interviewed at the present time.

[14:10] We also had an update on the MCI computer bus to be donated by MTA.

[14:14] Ron Ekman and Jim Schanholz went to inspect the bus.

[14:18] Both agreed the bus is in great shape and recommended we accept the donation.

[14:22] This will replace the one bus we currently have, bus 200 in that program.

[14:26] We utilize that bus for city purposes.

[14:28] buses. We can use that bus to transport the kids to different camps during the summertime.

[14:37] We can use it for other things. It's the one bus that we do have some flexibility with

[14:42] on how we utilize that. So the bus that they've looked at, they say it's a terrific bus,

[14:48] something that replaced 200, and it was formally recommended that we do accept that, and

[14:53] it was recommended by both Mr. Schahos and Mr. Ekman. So we do need a motion

[14:57] by the council was the unanimous recommendation.

[15:00] motion of the transportation committee to accept that bus. So if we could get a motion that would

[15:06] be great.

[15:07] Councilmember Hardman?

[15:09] I'll move that we accept the offer from the MTA for the MCI bus.

[15:16] Okay. Got a motion by Councilmember Hardman?

[15:18] Seconded by Councilmember Hardman.

[15:19] Seconded by Councilmember Hardman.

[15:21] Discussion from the council?

[15:22] All those in favor?

[15:24] Voters, forum favor with Councilmember Deluca and Knight, which I make absent.

[15:28] Thank you.

[15:28] We also had a discussion on the status of the State Highway Administration meeting with

[15:35] regard to the medium project that was presented before the Mayor and Council.

[15:39] Did just get an email from a text from HAL that they have scheduled that meeting to take

[15:44] place at the Ocean City Convention Center on March 22nd at 6 p.m., I believe that's

[15:51] a Tuesday evening, but they do have a rain date, snow date, excuse me, of April 5th.

[15:56] shouldn't have any snow then, but it is scheduled for March 22nd and there was

[16:00] discussion that an awful lot of people have made comments about this, some have

[16:03] concerns, some have ideas about it, so we want to make sure that everybody has a

[16:08] chance to weigh in on this. It's a meeting at the convention center where

[16:11] they will have individuals from State Highway there to answer specific

[16:16] questions and have exhibits throughout the room to show exactly what that's

[16:20] going to look like, and we urge anybody that has any concerns or

[16:24] any comments I'd like to make to please try to attend that meeting.

[16:29] And Hal, the final item on the agenda, Hal, wanted to update everybody on the project

[16:34] that will take place beginning. Let me see something when we start. Hold on.

[16:45] In a pre-construction meeting, I know on February 12th, I don't recall exactly when it starts.

[16:49] That would be one of my committee members does. This is the milling and paving project

[16:53] that will take place from 62nd Street north to the Delaware line,

[16:57] both the north and south lanes will be totally milled and repaved by state

[17:03] highway. We're very fortunate to get these kind of projects and to be able to

[17:07] have the state help to maintain our infrastructure. This is going to be

[17:11] something that's going to take a lot of time, going to cause some inconveniences.

[17:15] It will be completed just prior to Memorial Day. It might have 24 hour

[17:22] construction during some periods and of course they won't be working

[17:25] during times of special events that they could conflict with.

[17:30] So big project, we just want to make sure that the public, all our citizens and visitors

[17:36] know that there will be some delays during that time period.

[17:39] But like anything else, when it's finished, we'll have a brand new road on Coastal Highway.

[17:43] That's everything that we discussed on the agenda.

[17:46] Thank you, Mr. President.

[17:47] You're welcome.

[17:47] All right.

[17:48] Thank you.

[17:48] That's my argument.

[17:49] Just one comment on the signs that the State Highway is putting for the different

[17:55] attractions.

[17:56] Skate Bowl, is that the proper verbiage or Skate Park?

[17:59] Skate Park.

[18:00] I think we ought to just, it's more reflective of what's there.

[18:04] I think that's what Donna probably has.

[18:06] This is from the minutes.

[18:06] But I think it's the State Park complex.

[18:09] Thank you.

[18:10] And we'll make note of that.

[18:11] I think we can do that.

[18:12] Thank you, Councillor Harmon.

[18:14] All right.

[18:14] Moving on, we have our next, our Recreation and Parks Committee.

[18:17] Council Member Dair, back up again.

[18:20] The committee met on February 9th at Northside Park.

[18:24] First item, Lisa Mitchell presented a new event, the O.C. San La Crosse Tournament for

[18:32] June 25th and 26th in 2016.

[18:37] The committee reviewed that and made a motion to move it to the full American Council.

[18:45] The second item was the Fiesta Park wedding request, and that's on the agenda this evening.

[18:52] The original request was for beer, wine, and liquor.

[18:55] The committee's recommendation is for beer and wine and to have a server that has trained

[19:05] in the techniques of alcohol management that has the certification.

[19:12] For the Parks Inventory Update, it's a part of the master plan eventually for Northside

[19:21] Park and all the parks in town.

[19:24] And Calvin presented his draft of the inventory of all the parks that'll be reviewed by Susan

[19:33] and Petito and forwarded to Bill and Neville that become part of the comprehensive

[19:41] plan.

[19:43] Northside Park procedure changes.

[19:47] Kate Gattis presented the old policy and the updated policy for use by outside groups.

[19:59] We asked that the old new policy be compared and brought back in the next meeting so

[20:05] that are easier to compare the changes.

[20:10] For fees and charges, policy, again, we were presented by Kate Gattis with a draft of the

[20:17] user fee policy.

[20:19] This draft listed the revenue sources as well as the types of direct costs associated with

[20:24] services programs offered.

[20:25] forward. We suggested that when Susan returns to work, that she and Kate meet with City Manager

[20:35] Miller to review and make any changes and return it to the March meeting. In other business,

[20:45] the sportsmanship ceremony scheduled for February 17th at 6 p.m. and all the council

[20:52] are invited to attend that.

[20:57] The 2016 spring and summer splash is being printed

[21:01] February 18th and Kate also announced that there's three new spring programs

[21:07] that they're offering. One is girl softball tournament and others a pickle

[21:11] ball tournament and the pickle ball is taken off the Northside Park and also an

[21:18] archery tournament. And at our March 15th meeting, some of the items that we're going

[21:23] to be looking at is the overview of the skate park schematic, private events, golf reports

[21:32] and updates, and revenue and user fee policy.

[21:37] All right. Thank you, Dennis. Any questions? Do we have something right there? No? Okay.

[21:45] All right. Moving on. Next at our consent agenda, we have six items, A through F.

[21:49] That first one is a private event approval request for Memorandum of Understanding for

[21:52] St. Patrick's Day Parade, March 12, 2016.

[21:56] Item B is private event approval request for St. Patrick's Day 5K on March 12, 2016.

[22:03] Item C is private event approval request for Rive for the Feast, May 14, 2016.

[22:09] Item D is private event approval request for Play It Safe, multiple dates.

[22:14] And item E is request permission to serve beer and wine at Cambridge Community Association

[22:19] functions. Item F is a request to approve transfer of tax medallion number 160. Council

[22:26] Member Hartman.

[22:27] Motion to approve consent agenda items A through F.

[22:30] I got a motion by Council Member Hartman, Council Member James.

[22:32] Second motion.

[22:33] I have a second by Council Member James. Discussion from the Council? All those in

[22:37] favor? I got a form favor with Council Member DeLuca, Knight, and Simonek absent.

[22:42] Okay. Next we have a private event approval request for OC Sandley Cross

[22:48] tournament for January 25th and 26th 2016. Lisa welcome. Good evening. This was the one event

[22:57] that Councilman Dare talked about that was at the Reckon Parks Committee the last meeting.

[23:04] The one concern that staff had was the type of balls that they would be using to play

[23:11] lacrosse and Jerry Elmer who was the applicant is here this evening and he brought some

[23:17] samples to show you.

[23:18] Jerry?

[23:19] Come on up.

[23:27] I was alert because I figured he was going to throw one up here.

[23:30] So I was on top of my game.

[23:32] I hear you still got to get on him to yourself.

[23:34] The concern about the balls was a legitimate concern.

[23:39] Lacrosse balls are hard.

[23:41] However, this tournament has been held in Virginia Beach

[23:47] and Wildwood for the last few years.

[23:49] And they've been using these balls, which

[23:51] are soft rubber balls. And they had no problem with it at all. The tournament

[23:58] itself will be using these and we'll supply them for the people so there isn't

[24:02] to make sure the referees have them and there won't be any problem with them.

[24:08] All right. Any questions? Any concerns? Council Member Dale.

[24:15] Other lacrosse

[24:16] opponents on the beach have used these balls, haven't they? Something similar.

[24:23] I

[24:24] They were a lighter, more like a practice ball

[24:26] was in previous years.

[24:31] There isn't anything that says exactly what that

[24:35] upper zone should be.

[24:38] In this, I had the 30 feet off the boardwalk.

[24:42] 30 feet off the boardwalk is for beach patrol access.

[24:46] The concern is, if you were at 30 feet,

[24:52] and these balls can be, and if you passed the 30th,

[24:59] I mean, do we have a feel for that?

[25:01] We actually discussed that briefly

[25:02] prior to the council meeting.

[25:05] The location on the beach is the widest,

[25:08] the one of the widest that we have.

[25:10] And with the size that Mr. Elmer is expecting

[25:14] of participants, I think we could move further east

[25:19] without, you know, jeopardizing his event.

[25:29] What we will do is always put the youngest kids who we'll probably get most of near the

[25:36] boardwalk.

[25:37] Any older teams, be fired out to the beach.

[25:41] I don't know how familiar we're with McCross.

[25:44] Some of the young kids can barely throw it across the room and with the softball

[25:49] there'd be no problem.

[25:50] Very good.

[25:51] And we'll always keep the youngest ones and the girls, no offense, up near the boardwalk.

[25:56] Really interesting.

[25:59] But we can monitor that or maybe get some recommendations for any of these storms in the future.

[26:10] You can measure what the distances are.

[26:15] We can incorporate that in the future.

[26:17] When we get closer to the event date, I mean, we can meet down there and measure

[26:23] it and even bring in beach patrol for public works for their opinion as well on the business.

[26:32] Okay.

[26:32] All right.

[26:34] Okay.

[26:35] I'd like to light on here.

[26:36] Councilman Hartman.

[26:38] The only thing I would think is if we found that this fall in work, if there is a contingency

[26:43] of the practice falls or something, you know that you have there, if they had to be

[26:47] switched out, I'll make a motion that we approve the event.

[26:52] you know as as designed with the the stipulation that these balls become

[26:57] problematic that you have and you know an alternate practice bar whatever that

[27:03] could be used to get through the the balance of the tournament all right I

[27:07] got a motion my customer Hartman the second customer James second my

[27:12] customer James more discussion from the council all those in favor vote it's

[27:18] unanimous and well it's four in favor with customer to look at night and

[27:21] I make human items for people who are here.

[27:23] Mr. Mayor or the Mayor wants to keep the ball.

[27:25] No, I'm not.

[27:26] Give the handkerchief back to me.

[27:27] Come on.

[27:30] You have to do that.

[27:31] Absolutely.

[27:33] Terry, thank you.

[27:33] Good luck.

[27:33] Thank you.

[27:34] Good luck with it.

[27:35] All right.

[27:36] It'll work fine.

[27:38] All right.

[27:38] Councilman Hartman.

[27:40] Oh.

[27:43] I'll put the gun on the next stop.

[27:45] All right.

[27:45] Very good.

[27:46] All right.

[27:47] Next on the agenda is a request to serve beer and wine

[27:49] at Fiesta Park Wedding Reception,

[27:51] September 10th, 2016, presented by Sharon Myers.

[27:56] Sharon, welcome.

[27:57] Thank you.

[27:58] You're very welcome.

[28:00] We are getting married.

[28:02] Hi.

[28:03] We'll notice.

[28:04] On the September the 9th, we're going to have a reason, we'd like to have a reception

[28:09] at Fiesta Park.

[28:11] A drainage of the gas will be between 50 and 90.

[28:15] There will be no children, and we will have a certified person there to serve

[28:21] the beer and wine.

[28:22] Okay.

[28:22] I know this is reviewed by Parks and Rec, and they unanimously recommended it, so was it just a beer and wine?

[28:28] Yes, sir. Okay, Council Member Hartman. I'll make a motion to approve the event as

[28:34] stipulated with the beer and wine and a TAN certified

[28:40] dispenser or bartender. We do. Actually, three. Three of them. Very good. Thank you. All right, and I'll motion by Council Member Hartman.

[28:46] Okay. Council Member Dair. Second. All right. I'll second my Council Member Dair. Discussion from the council? All those in favour?

[28:52] I got four in favor with council members to look at night and sign the gaps.

[28:57] Okay. Thank you very much. Good luck. Good luck. Congratulations.

[28:59] Congratulations.

[29:01] Congratulations.

[29:02] Thank you.

[29:03] All right.

[29:06] Next on our agenda we have request permission to support utility vehicle training

[29:10] on the Inland Lot presented by police chief and Mr. Todd Wood Lieutenant. Nope. You're

[29:16] staying back there. The instructors.

[29:20] Good evening, sir.

[29:22] Good evening, chief.

[29:26] Good work.

[29:27] So the police department is seeking permission for approval to utilize the Inlet Park for

[29:35] police SUV emergency vehicle operation training.

[29:38] Training is going to be three different series of dates.

[29:42] The first one would be the third, the eighth through the 10th of March, the second would

[29:47] be the 15th through the 17th of March, the third would be the 20th, let me make

[29:54] sure I have this right 22nd to the 24th. Just a little bit about this training.

[29:59] The department

[30:00] Right now, about 50% of its personnel operate sport utility vehicles, police emergency vehicles make up the fleet or on the road at any given time.

[30:12] There hasn't been any official training to utilize these particular vehicles.

[30:19] As you probably know, the dynamic and handling of these vehicles are different than the traditional

[30:26] police vehicle, the sedan.

[30:30] It's very – who's us to have this training throughout the department so that all officers

[30:37] will be able to operate the vehicles better after the training.

[30:43] We are fortunate to have Lieutenant Todd Wood, who is a certified trainer, one of

[30:48] only two, whether we know of one at Eastern Shore, in-house.

[30:51] He's going to oversee the training.

[30:53] He received his training in this down in Louisiana

[30:56] within the last couple of years.

[30:58] So he's in-house.

[30:59] He's going to perform the training.

[31:01] The reason we couldn't do this earlier in the year

[31:03] is the possibility of inclement weather,

[31:06] unpredictable weather, as you know.

[31:08] Doing it in March, we have a tight window,

[31:12] where hopefully the weather will be conducive enough for us

[31:15] to do this.

[31:15] and it will be before April 1st where we would potentially lose revenue by occupying the inlet lot.

[31:24] This was approved and supported by Mr. Eric Langstrom from a risk management standpoint,

[31:34] as well as from a legal standpoint with Gaiers utilizing this area for us to do the training.

[31:41] Additionally, how we've exhausted trying to find other places that would be conducive

[31:47] for us.

[31:48] We need a large area.

[31:50] We just can't do it at the Inlet, I'm sorry, at the Park and Ride or at Warwick.

[31:56] There's a second part to the training that will be conducted at the airport.

[32:01] It's more for straightaway driving.

[32:04] So we are going to utilize the airport, but we just cannot do certain aspects

[32:08] effects of the training, talking about 150 plus traffic cones, the serpentine course,

[32:15] with other components within this training that would necessitate us for this large area.

[32:24] Another benefit is all the officers would be here in the town of Ocean City, about 15

[32:30] or 20 officers per session, versus being somewhere potentially a far distance away.

[32:35] And even so, like I said, we've exhausted other venues or locations for this to take place.

[32:43] And with that being said, if there's any questions for myself or Lieutenant Wood, we'd be happy to answer them.

[32:51] Okay. I have a couple of lights down here.

[32:53] Council Member James.

[32:54] I was going to make a motion that we grant permission to the police department to use the MLI parking lot for SUV training.

[33:01] Okay. I've got a motion by Council Member James.

[33:03] Council Member Hartman.

[33:04] I'll second the motion. It's nice to see the initiative and the expertise here, that's

[33:09] a great idea.

[33:10] Okay, I have a motion and a second on the other discussion. Can I just give one clarification

[33:14] for one item for clarification? And we appreciate the support. The inlet lot would need to

[33:20] be closed for midnight that first day for about 60 hours till 12 o'clock on two days

[33:29] from say the first will be the 6th to the 8th, meaning that we cannot break it down.

[33:34] We need that time because of the construct of the course, 150 cones and whatnot.

[33:41] Just to break it down, just to put it together the following morning.

[33:44] So just that's part of it for clarification.

[33:47] But we would be finished up by Thursday.

[33:49] We wouldn't be there throughout the weekend.

[33:51] So it's basically a Monday through Thursday event for training.

[33:56] So just make sure that that's built in and out.

[33:59] All right. Thank you.

[34:00] That clarification.

[34:01] All right.

[34:01] I have a motion and a second discussion.

[34:03] All those in favor?

[34:05] So does the floor in favor with Councilman Beluca and Knight

[34:08] and Symec Appson?

[34:10] Thank you.

[34:11] Good luck with everything.

[34:12] Thank you.

[34:12] Just one thing.

[34:14] Let's make sure that Jessica gets some notice out about this

[34:17] so people understand why the unit lot is closed

[34:20] and why it's a very good reason that it is.

[34:22] And that's already in works.

[34:24] Okay, I figured we'll tell okay. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am

[34:29] All right next on the agenda's eyes is very fair to and presentation for the city solicitor Heather. Welcome. Good evening

[34:35] The first thing we have tonight is up for first reading

[34:38] It's a first reading of an ordinance to amend the maximum roof pitch in the MH district

[34:43] This was presented to the mayor and city council at the work session on February 9

[34:50] Okay

[34:51] Hi, Council Member Hartman.

[34:53] Do we have an ordinance number?

[34:54] Madam Clerk, 2016-02.

[34:57] It'll be 0-2.

[35:00] Motion to approve on first reading.

[35:03] Ordinance 2016.02 regarding the change in roof pitch in the mobile home districts.

[35:11] I can motion by Council Member Hartman.

[35:12] Council Member James.

[35:13] I second the motion.

[35:14] I'm a second by Council Member James.

[35:15] Discussion from the council?

[35:17] All those in favor?

[35:19] All right.

[35:19] in favor with Councilmember Lueckin, which I make absent.

[35:24] All right. And there you are up again.

[35:25] Next, I'll need a resolution number, 2016-02.

[35:29] All right. And this is a resolution to pursue into Chapter 2 of the code to

[35:35] authorize the disposition of certain personal property.

[35:39] There are two attachments to this ordinance.

[35:41] This is something that is done from time to time.

[35:44] Okay. It goes on gov.deals.com, I guess, as well.

[35:47] All right, Council Member Hartman.

[35:49] Motion to approve Resolution 2016-02

[35:52] to sell surplus property on gov.deals.

[35:55] All right, Council Member Hartman.

[35:57] Council Member Daryn?

[35:58] Second.

[35:59] Council Member Daryn.

[36:00] Discussion?

[36:02] All those in favor?

[36:04] Let's vote as four in favor

[36:05] with Council Member Staluk and Knight

[36:06] and Simonic absent.

[36:08] Okay, thank you, Heather.

[36:09] All I have.

[36:09] All right, we've come to that point

[36:11] in the time to the agenda.

[36:12] There's comments from the public.

[36:14] Any person who may wish to speak

[36:15] in a matter in a regular session

[36:16] may be heard for a period of three minutes, or five minutes, whatever may be deemed appropriate

[36:23] by the Council President. Anyone wishing to be heard shall state their name, address,

[36:26] and the subject in which he or she wishes to speak. Yes, sir? Come on up.

[36:39] Harry Parkwood came with section of Ocean City. Congratulations, Mr. Miller. And I'd like to

[36:46] say something. Keep your eyes and ears open because there's people who would like it,

[36:50] like to control you. Now to see a parking for the events, these trailers, I think it

[37:01] should be a $100, not $50, because they take up like 63 feet or more. By time

[37:11] it's turning the truck, ended the truck, by time they open the door, let the car

[37:16] out it's sixty-some feet. I think it should be a hundred dollars, not fifty, because they're

[37:24] taking a half block up space in the parking in front of people's houses, which is no good.

[37:31] And our TV, you look like pumpkin colors up here. Is this fixed? Yes or no?

[37:39] I'm not sure. I have no idea.

[37:41] Nobody, every time I put it on, it's pumpkin colors.

[37:44] Over here, I see once a while clear.

[37:47] We're living it, so we don't have to watch.

[37:48] We don't watch, maybe I'll give up blood pressure checks.

[37:51] I know who's talking, but I can't make the face.

[37:54] I know the faces, you know.

[37:55] Right.

[37:56] You're sure, but that's the old stuff

[37:57] what I wanted to love here.

[38:00] Now this here, Antos, who I know who he is,

[38:04] Antos, he puts in a paper about the fence and everything.

[38:07] thing. I brought that up 15 years ago, right there, the common cause. We brought it up

[38:17] with Mr. Bridges, let him rest in peace on the medium.

[38:22] Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same thing with the, I keep seeing more of the credit than

[38:26] not you heard, but yeah. Same thing with the French trains. I brought the high rises.

[38:34] or environmental circumstances, we should put French rains on high-rise parking instead

[38:41] of water going out into the highway.

[38:44] That's all 15, 18 years ago I brought that up.

[38:47] I was so often I'd bring it up

[38:51] and another

[38:59] thing, I keep bringing it up.

[39:01] Why don't we want to do handicapped on our sidewalks, all of our sidewalks.

[39:08] They're not handicapped.

[39:09] There's tons of them that need to be handicapped.

[39:13] I'm a handicapped person.

[39:14] I can't climb up that incline or go down.

[39:18] Some people walk the sidewalk in the driveway.

[39:21] They fall down.

[39:23] Now, your friend and my friend, Henry Averman, he fell twice

[39:26] across the street from me.

[39:28] It was arc.

[39:29] You can't see where you're walking.

[39:31] It's not handicapped accessible.

[39:35] I like to see something going within the next two months.

[39:38] How many times I brought up? And another thing, Japan had a tsunami and none of their water

[39:48] lines broke. Now, Governor Jerry Brown of California was looking into it. Their lines were breaking

[39:56] on and off. Their new infrastructure needed. I told Hal about it. I told Mr. Acres about

[40:03] or whatever his name is, it seems a bunch of fears.

[40:07] I mean, things like that you should look into.

[40:10] You know, I'm not as good as I once was,

[40:13] but still good as I was once.

[40:17] Do something handicapped.

[40:19] Another thing, the raising gave the employees.

[40:24] They never sure got it.

[40:25] Only the people need to step-phrase should have got it.

[40:28] That's the way you should have took the money

[40:29] and start fixing the handicapped corners.

[40:32] Thank you.

[40:33] Thank you very much sir. Alright, anyone else any others like to speak?

[40:39] Seeing none, we'll move on.

[40:41] I'm going to the city manager comments. Thank you Mr. President. You're welcome.

[40:45] Mayor and members of the council. I just have two very quick items this evening.

[40:50] The first is we come back together on March 1st for a work session.

[40:55] Right now our draft agenda looks like this. First the Boardwalk Task Force will present recommendations for the

[41:03] revisions concerning street performers. Second, the beach patrol will be in

[41:09] requesting approval for surf beach rotation. Third, our procurement manager

[41:16] will be in to discuss the Vehicle Trust Fund allocation. Next, we'll have

[41:23] discussion regarding the dedication of boardwalk bench program modifications

[41:29] And then Mr. Neville will be in to discuss the Planning Commission's recommendations to add a definition of water-related recreational activity to the town code.

[41:40] And even though it's not our normal course but we are in a little bit of a hurry, we will have the first reading on the ordinance to amend Chapter 90 regarding the oversized vehicles trailers which we've been talking about.

[41:55] So that's the first item, the second item is, and I won't go over it, but we have put in your packet the Department Activity Report.

[42:06] Clearly your staff is very busy and we have a lot of balls in there, and I encourage you to read that. That's awesome.

[42:14] All right, thank you. All right, next is that we have comments from the Mayor and City Council. Anybody in the Council?

[42:22] Mr. Mayor.

[42:22] Well, a few things you might notice when you look up here that we're missing a few people

[42:27] this evening.

[42:28] Thank goodness we have four that all voted, so we were able to move forward with some of

[42:33] the things on the agenda tonight.

[42:35] I do want to state that Councilman Simech isn't here with us tonight because he had

[42:39] a knee replacement today, and he's been waiting to do this for quite some time, and he had

[42:46] it this morning, and I saw a picture a little later this afternoon, and after three hours

[42:50] They had him up walking around already, so you might want to send Doug best wishes on Facebook

[42:55] I know 222 people have already done that

[42:59] That's kind of the nice thing about Facebook, especially while he's sitting there gets to look at that

[43:03] He's already texting so I guess he's feeling a little bit better

[43:06] But we all want to send our best wishes to Doug

[43:09] Tony DeLuca's on a well-deserved family vacation in Cancun at this particular moment

[43:15] He's having a dinner at a Thai restaurant, which he was kind enough to text me

[43:19] I let him know that we were all here working diligently and covering for him.

[43:24] Council Member Knight, Council Secretary Knight, is on another well-deserved vacation.

[43:30] At the present time, she's on a cruise.

[43:33] And really what she's doing is chairperson of the Tourism Commission.

[43:36] She's out there doing reconnaissance on other tourist destinations,

[43:40] and she'll be bringing back a full report.

[43:42] So that's where our colleagues are this evening,

[43:45] And we're happy that they're out having a good time and able to enjoy some vacation.

[43:50] They took it this time because next week we don't have a work meeting.

[43:54] So it would limit the number of meetings that they missed.

[43:56] So just wanted to acknowledge all of them, let them know we were thinking of them.

[44:01] Also like to let everybody know that the item that I reported on in the Transportation Committee minutes,

[44:12] I already did that, excuse me, about the public hearing, so I already announced that, didn't

[44:16] I?

[44:16] Apologize.

[44:17] The last thing is, today we had a press conference, and we held it at City Hall, although it

[44:21] wasn't a city event because of the rain, but it was a press conference by the Del

[44:27] Marva Irish American Club had to do with the St. Patrick's Day Parade, and of course

[44:31] the council approved that this evening.

[44:33] And the press conference was to announce that the Del Marva Irish American Club has

[44:39] partnered with the local radio station, well, really the affiliate, W-R-D-E, and they will

[44:45] be broadcasting the St. Patrick's Day Parade live this year.

[44:49] So that will be broadcast from 11.30 a.m. on Saturday, March 12th till 2 p.m.

[44:55] So everybody that's in the parade, all the businesses, all the folks that are there

[45:00] They're joining the parade. You can see themselves live on TV. It'll be replayed during the week

[45:05] and then it will be replayed again on St. Patrick's Day. And the key to this is it'll also be played

[45:11] worldwide on the web. So we're going worldwide with the Ocean City St. Patrick's Day parade.

[45:19] And the Marlborough Irish American Club is very excited about this. As we all know, that's

[45:23] a huge event, really the kickoff to the season and enjoyed by thousands of people and certainly

[45:28] a great event for the businesses in this community.

[45:31] So that's one of those win-win events for everybody.

[45:35] And Dunmarva Irish American Club is a non-profit organization

[45:38] that last year, even though we didn't have a parade,

[45:41] still gave out $26,000 in high school scholarships

[45:45] and donated another $7,000 to local charities,

[45:49] including about $3,500 to our own park and rec department.

[45:52] So that was the press conference today.

[45:54] And I think it's great news.

[45:55] It's another way to showcase Ocean City

[45:57] and we're very proud to be able to do that with the support of the Mayor and Council

[46:02] and the employees of the town of Ocean City.

[46:05] So Mr. Miller, thank you.

[46:07] Thank you, Mr. President.

[46:08] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[46:09] Okay.

[46:09] Council Member Hartman.

[46:11] Councilman Dare earlier reminded me that there was only four people here.

[46:14] We need four to vote and if someone left, we would be stuck here.

[46:18] So with that being said, I want to pray up and make a motion to adjourn.

[46:22] I got a motion by Council Member Hartman to adjourn.

[46:25] Council Member James.

[46:26] I'll second the motion.

[46:27] I got a second one, Councilor James, all those in favor?

[46:29] The vote is four in favor with, well, we almost didn't vote for it.

[46:33] Four in favor with Councilor Lucas, Knight, and Symec Absent.

[46:37] Meeting adjourned.

[46:38] Thank you.

[46:38] Thanks for coming.

[46:45] It's been a long week.

[46:47] The way for somebody to come back.

[46:50] And we have that now.

[46:52] Hello.

[46:54] Yeah, that was pretty quick.

[46:55] I'll do it.

[46:56] I'll do it.

[47:02] Push the button.

[47:03] But look, there's no button.

[47:05] That's my place.

[47:08] And my chest, I doubled the amount of this.

[47:10] Thank you.

[47:15] Heather, thank you. Yeah.

[47:18] Oh, yes.

[48:33] I don't know.

[48:34] I don't know.

[48:34] Where's the stop button?

[48:36] Where's the stop button?

[48:40] I don't know.

[48:41] I don't know.

[48:44] There it is.

[48:45] Yay!

[48:47] There's a sign, a resolution.

[48:49] There it is.

[48:50] They're all signing it.

[48:53] Oh my god.

Mayor and City Council Regular Meeting

Agenda

Transcript