WORK SESSION OF THE GREENBELT CITY COUNCIL held Monday, August 21, 2006, for the purpose of holding a stakeholder meeting with Greenbelt clergy and other leaders of religious organizations.

Mayor Davis called the meeting to order at 8:02 p.m. It was held in the Council Room of the Municipal Building.

PRESENT WERE: Councilmembers Konrad Herling, Leta Mach, Edward Putens, Rodney Roberts, and Mayor Judith Davis.

STAFF PRESENT WERE: Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager; and Kathleen Gallagher, City Clerk.

ALSO PRESENT WERE: James Fischer, Greenbelt Baha’i Community; Mary Linstrom, Trudy Conrad, and Dee Downs, Catholic Community of Greenbelt; Janet Jacobs Parker and Rick Ransom, Community Relations Advisory Board; and Sheldon Goldberg, Greenbelt East Advisory Committee.

Mayor Davis asked if either Baha’i or the Catholic Community was aware of any particular issues. Neither was. Ms. Linstrom spoke about the Good Samaritan and Emergency Assistance Funds, and the Mayor reminded everyone that contributions could be made to both funds.

Ms. Conrad noted that Ms. Linstrom was retiring and stressed the importance of finding a new way to provide the services she had been providing to the community.

Mr. Ransom said he thought there was an increasing problem of homelessness. Mayor Davis agreed, noting that the number of homeless women had increased and that the county was particularly unable to assist homeless women. She said Council had asked staff to set up a work session with the county on homelessness. Mr. Putens said he wished that the Greenbelt Interfaith Leadership Association (GILA) could make some recommendations to the City on how best to attack this problem.

There was discussion of the fact that there are a number of food pantries in the area: at St. Hugh’s, Berwyn Heights Presbyterian, and Trinity Assembly of God. The Living Word Ministries had expressed interest in this, too. The Mayor commented that she wondered whether there was enough communication for groups to know what the others were doing.

There was also discussion of activities for young people, with some reminiscing about what kinds of programs had worked years ago. Mr. Roberts said he thought although occasional activities were hard to get kids to go to, something regular would be more likely to attract and hold a following.

In response from a query from Ms. Conrad, Mr. McLaughlin explained the various programs run through Greenbelt CARES. In response to a query from Mr. Fischer, Mr. McLaughlin said the City’s Gateway Signage program had been on hold because of plans for signs by the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA); since that program seemed to have bogged down, however, the City might move forward soon. It was explained that these signs would include signs for the Greenbelt churches and organizations.

Ms. Conrad said there would be another Healing Hands program at Roosevelt Center on September 11. She also asked if there would be a problem with the Catholic Community using the Council Room on September 3, during the Labor Day weekend. Mr. McLaughlin said he would let them know.

Mr. Herling spoke about the multicultural festival planned for November 4.

Mayor Davis thanked the groups for the work they do. She said she was sorry more representatives had not been able to attend but asked that appreciation be carried back to them.

Other Business

Mr. McLaughlin announced the grand opening activities of the new post office on Sunday at 1 p.m. He determined that all Councilmembers hoped to attend the ACE meeting with the District 1 school board candidates on August 29. He distributed a memo with information on the CALEA conference in November at which the results on the Police Department accreditation would be announced and asked Councilmembers to let him know if they wanted to attend. He also announced that if there were no objection from Council, CARES Director Liz Park would participate in a discussion group as the president of the Maryland Association of Youth Services Bureaus at the invitation of the O’Malley-Brown campaign.

Mayor Davis asked if the City could try to persuade the Gazette that Eastgate is not in Greenbelt. She gave Mr. McLaughlin a copy of information she had been mailed at home from Pepco regarding lowering electric bills, which indicated that additional copies of the publication were available. She said the signs along the major roadways were continuing to proliferate and asked that the non-political ones be removed as quickly as possible.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:02 pm.

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