Mayor Davis called the meeting to order at 8:03 p.m. It was held in the Multipurpose Room of the Community Center.

PRESENT WERE Mayor Judith F. Davis, Rodney Roberts, Alan Turnbull, and Thomas X. White.

STAFF PRESENT WERE David Moran, Assistant to the City Manager; Kathleen Gallagher, City Clerk; and Michael McLaughlin, City Manager, who attended the last half of the meeting.

ALSO PRESENT WERE the following Chairs of City Advisory Groups or their designees: Alla Lake, member, Advisory Committee on Education; Sheldon Goldberg, Advisory Planning Board; Mary V. Clark, Arts Advisory Board; Steven Skolnik, Board of Appeals; Judith Ott, Board of Elections; Kevin Hammett, Community Relations Advisory Board; Jim O’Reilly, Employee Relations Board; Lola Skolnik, Park & Recreation Advisory Board; Dorry Ipolito, Public Safety Advisory Committee; Neal Barnett, Recycling & Environment Advisory Committee; and Gerald M. Madison, Vice Chair, Senior Citizens Advisory Committee.

After introductions, the Mayor welcomed everyone and spoke briefly about the importance to the Council of the work of the Advisory Groups. Not only do they accomplish work Council would otherwise have to absorb, but they have specialized expertise and a closeness to the community.

Recruitment: The Mayor mentioned the News Review, the City Web site, and City facilities as some venues for notices of vacancies on advisory groups and asked for other suggestions. Ideas put forth included: running targeted ads that would give more detailed information about particular committees; running a notice on Channel B-10 just before the broadcast of meetings; and an announcement by the Mayor during meetings. Other suggestions, oriented toward Springhill Lake and Greenbelt East, included notices in homeowners’ association bulletins and posting fliers. Mr. Turnbull also mentioned that person-to-person contact should be encouraged and that the Chairs should consider that to be within their scope.

Reappointment: Questions were raised about the current practice of almost-automatic reappointment of individuals who wish to be reappointed. Problems can range from attendance, to a lack of qualifications or capacity for the work of the committee, to interpersonal problems. Mayor Davis emphasized that the Chair should take an active role in attempting to resolve the problem and determining the individual’s commitment to remaining on the group. Mr. White noted that some of these matters could be quite subjective and that Council should not casually take on new evaluation criteria. It was agreed, however, that in the future the City Clerk will copy Chairs when members are notified that their terms are expiring. If at any time a Chair believes there are serious problems with a member that should be brought to Council’s attention, the Chair should call the City Clerk.

Advisory Group Training and Development: Council members encouraged the Chairs to consider holding meetings to train new members in areas appropriate to the group: e.g., meeting facilitation or the content areas some boards require. Associations and professional groups also put out relevant materials, some of which the staff liaison might already be receiving or be able to look into. In response to Mr. Madison’s question of whether there is any problem involved with a City group’s affiliating with a special-interest organization, the Mayor suggested that any specific questions be addressed to the City Manager as they arise.

Council and Staff Liaisons: In clarifying the role of Council liaisons, the Mayor said that while they oftentimes had conflicts and couldn’t attend meetings, they were there to be conduits to the full Council, and Chairs should not hesitate to get in touch with their Councilmember if there was a need. Scheduling meetings at 7:30 p.m. to allow attendance by the Council liaison prior to another meeting could also be helpful. Mr. Moran clarified that the role of the staff liaison is intended to include any administrative/clerical support functions the group needs that would be aided by access to City office equipment. Two requests were made by Chairs: Ms. Clark said it would facilitate the work of the Arts Advisory Board if Nicole DeWald had e-mail; and Mr. Madison said the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee (SCAC) would like to have a Council liaison. Mr. McLaughlin said the question of e-mail for Ms. DeWald could be looked into when her office moves to the Community Center. Mr. White volunteered to be the liaison to the SCAC, and this item will be placed on the agenda of the next regular Council meeting.

Communications: The Mayor reminded Chairs that Council would like to see copies of minutes from meetings, emphasizing that there is no need for them to be lengthy. The Chairs and Council reminded each other that timely feedback on requests and reports is helpful.

Attendance: Mayor Davis encouraged Chairs to keep attendance records. Mr. White noted that this is one objective criterion for deciding against a reappointment. It was reiterated that Chairs may encourage individuals to resign but may not require it.

New Handbook: In distributing the new handbook, Mr. Moran said that it is already out of date because of the creation of the Advisory Committee on Trees. As soon as it is revised again, it will be distributed to all group members.

Initiation of Issues by Advisory Groups: Mr. Turnbull and Mr. White strongly encouraged the groups to bring up matters of concern to Council in their focus areas, rather than merely responding to referrals from Council.

List of Chairs: Several Chairs said it would be useful to have a listing of all Advisory Group chairs. Ms. Gallagher will send this out.

Information Items: Mayor Davis said she had attended the County Delegation’s Legislative Wrap-Up yesterday morning and had raised the issue of the municipal need for additional police funding. She also said that the Council of Governments (COG) had acted on recommendations for drought policy that morning. Mr. Moran reported that Audrey Scott’s mother is very ill. He also noted that CB-47-2000 had passed 2-1 in committee.

The meeting ended at 9:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Gallagher

City Clerk

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