MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION held
Monday, December 15, 1997

The meeting began at 7:40pm. It was held in the Council Room of the Municipal Building.

PRESENT WERE: Council members Edward V.J. Putens, Rodney M. Roberts, Alan Turnbull Thomas X. White and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager; David E. Moran, City Clerk and W. Bowman Ferguson, Management Analyst.

ALSO PRESENT WAS: Virginia Beauchamp, News Review

Post Office

Mr. McLaughlin notified Council that post office officials had expressed interest in a Golden Triangle location, but there was nothing definite. Council discussed the pros and cons of a new post office distribution facility within the corporate limits of Greenbelt; which locations within the city they wanted to suggest as sites; and the design of a proposed facility. They were also concerned that a full service, " state-of-the-art" retail facility remain at Roosevelt Center.

Council directed staff to draft a letter to post office officials which included the following:

• keep the new facility within the corporate limits of Greenbelt
• reaffirm that a full service facility will remain at Roosevelt Center and indicate that it should be a state of the art retail facility.
• identify Beltway Plaza, Commerce Center Lot II, Golden Triangle, pad site in front of Holiday Inn and one-story Commerce Center building currently occupied by NYLCare as sites that had support among the Council.
• request a meeting to discuss site selection progress to date and possible design of a new facility.
• request that the city be included in all aspects of the site selection and design of the new facility, as well as plans for renovation of the existing Roosevelt Center facility.
• encourage the post office to use a "typical Greenbelt public process" to solicit community input and involvement.

Goals/Strategic Planning

Council discussed the format for the retreat on January 31. Ms. Davis suggested a visioning process and presented some materials she had obtained at the NLC Conference. Mr. Turnbull also expressed support for some form of strategic planning. Mr. Putens thought a community process should go first, followed by Council. Mr. White stated that Greenbelt already had a vision and that Council needed to establish some short-term goals. He indicated that a visioning process was longer-term and required significant resources. Mr. Roberts also believed the city had a vision and was interested in setting some objectives for the next two years.

Mr. McLaughlin indicated that a " visioning" process would take significant staff time and that he would recommend that the city hire a professional to conduct the process. Mayor Davis indicated that her sense was Council wanted to work on short-term goals on January 31. Several Council members expressed support for a " visioning" process conducted later. Mr. McLaughlin suggested that vision process be placed on a February agenda.

Mr. Putens initially thought that the retreat should be limited to Council and the City Manager, but indicated he would support additional staff. Mr. Roberts and Mr. White favored having senior staff present. Mr. McLaughlin indicated a preference to have senior staff present.

Council suggested several locations including: Greenbelt National Park, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and BARC (log lodge). They expressed support for using IGS as the facilitator. Council requested a fresh copy of the "goals" pages

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45pm.

  Respectfully Submitted,

 David E. Moran

City Clerk

City of Greenbelt, Maryland
City Offices, 25 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Phone: 301-474-8000 FAX: 301-441-8248