REGULAR MEETING OF THE GREENBELT CITY COUNCIL held April 23, 2007.

Mayor Davis called the meeting to order at 8:01 p.m.

ROLL CALL was answered by Councilmembers Konrad E. Herling, Leta M. Mach, Edward V. J. Putens, Rodney M. Roberts, and Mayor Judith F. Davis.

ALSO PRESENT were Michael P. McLaughlin, City Manager; Robert A. Manzi, City Solicitor; David Moran, Assistant City Manager; and Kathleen Gallagher, City Clerk.
 
Mayor Davis asked that everyone observe a moment of silence in memory of resident Lawrence Palmer and resident and Senior Citizens Advisory Committee Member Neal Ewen.  She also asked to remember all the students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and especially the shooting victims and their families.  She then led the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

CONSENT AGENDA: Ms. Mach asked to remove the minutes of the work session of April 4, 2007, from the consent agenda.  It was moved by Mr. Putens and seconded by Mr. Herling that the consent agenda be approved as amended.  The motion passed 5-0.

Council thereby took the following actions:

MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETINGS

            - Regular Meeting, April 9, 2007
            - Interview, April 16, 2007
            - Work Session, April 16, 2007
               Approved as presented.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT INSURANCE TRUST (LGIT) – BOARD OF TRUSTEES BALLOT: The City Council authorized the City Clerk to return the ballot to LGIT in support of the four nominated candidates for election to the board.

REAPPOINTMENT TO ADVISORY GROUP: Council appointed Tatiana Ausema to a new term on the Arts Advisory Board.

APPOINTMENT TO ADVISORY GROUP: Council appointed Charles R. Ashurst to the Employee Relations Board. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Mr. McLaughlin asked to add to the agenda as item #16 “Award of Contract for Breezewood Drive, PY 32.”  With that amendment, it was moved by Mr. Putens and seconded by Mr. Herling that the agenda be approved.  The motion passed 5-0.

PRESENTATIONS

Recognition of Groups Participating in Watershed Cleanups: The Mayor read the agenda comments.  On Saturday, March 31, a record number of 48 Greenbelt volunteers participated in the area-wide 19th Annual Potomac Watershed Clean-Up.  The City of Greenbelt and REAC hosted two cleanup sites, one at Greenbelt Lake and the other at the Springhill Lake Stream.  The volunteers removed a total of 1,240 lbs. of trash and 35 lbs. of recyclables from these two locations.  Many other groups had participated in watershed cleanup activities at other sites in the past few weeks as well.  REAC Chair Neal Barnett, committee member Ed James, and staff liaison Cindy Murray were present to assist Council in recognizing all the groups and individual volunteers.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED FY 2008 BUDGET: Mayor Davis read the agenda comments and announced that the regular meeting was recessed and the public hearing was open. Leonie Penney, 127 Northway, spoke on behalf of a group supporting the addition to the budget of a full-time case manager for the Greenbelt Assistance in Living (GAIL) program.  She said the program’s tremendous success under Christal Batey meant that more people, as well as the more difficult and time-consuming cases, were now being reached.  Sylvia Lewis, president of the Greenbelt Homes, Inc. (GHI) board, also spoke on behalf of the board in supporting the addition of the position to the budget.

Charles Hagelgans, 125 Hedgewood Drive, spoke to oppose any tax increase, noting that taxes in Greenbelt are now higher than in Montgomery County.  He said he wanted to see a hiring freeze and that the new positions, including police cadets, should be removed from the budget.  He said the police had become an “expensive commodity.”  He said grant-funded positions should be eliminated when the external funding ran out.  He cited what he considered to be waste in the City’s trimming trees and replacing driveway aprons on residents’ property.  Regarding the latter point, it was explained that both the trees and the aprons are on City right-of-way.

Mary Linstrom, 11-C Ridge Road, and Leo Walder, 16 Lakeside Drive, both spoke in support of the additional GAIL position.  Mr. Walder stressed that preventing problems is much cheaper than treating them after the fact.  He said Greenbelt does not need unwise penny-pinching.

Ruth Kastner, 125 Hedgewood Drive, said she wanted to see some wise penny-pinching.  She said although she did not favor cutting social service programs that directly help people, it should be kept in mind that those very people, who are on fixed incomes, are also hurt by high taxes.  She said overall the City needs to be more frugal.  She said the budget document itself is “overproduced” in comparison with what is done in the private sector.  She said there are many items like this, which individually may not increase costs by much but which, at the end of the day, add up to a good deal. She cited a gift she had been given in recognition of her volunteer service on the Forest Preserve Task Force as another example.  She added that she  opposed the creation of the position of capital projects manager, which was included in the proposed budget.

Martha Heil, 6-P Plateau Place, said she favored adding a position for a person to market Greenbelt more aggressively to increase development and revenues.  In response to a later question from Mr. Herling, she said a marketing specialist would enhance the promotion of all the City’s revenue-producing programs and products.

Ellie Rimar, 6-R Hillside Road, spoke to say that the Golden Age Club unanimously supported the addition to the budget of the case manager position for the GAIL program.

Joan Falcão, 114 Julian Court, spoke against any tax increase.  She cited figures on the increase in property tax on her residence over the last three years.  She said that single family houses, such as those in Boxwood, have been hit by the effects of increased assessments disproportionately in comparison with townhouses or condominium apartments.  She particularly cited GHI houses.  She added that even higher taxes may be imposed by the county to save the hospital system.  She said City government needs to be more efficient.  Since personnel costs drive the structural budget problems, she said the size of the City work force must be reduced by attrition.  When employees leave, other employees need to wear two hats.  She opposed the capital projects manager position and urged greater use of part-time employees and hiring on a temporary basis for workloads that may not be permanent.  She cited Laurel as an example of a municipality with a lower employee/resident ratio than Greenbelt, particularly noting that Laurel’s Public Works staff is much smaller than Greenbelt’s.  She suggested that practices of the federal government might be useful models for City government.  She said the City’s benefit package should be studied; if it is more generous than that of the federal government, it should be cut, since City employees should not have better benefits than the people who pay their salaries.  She said the City should re-evaluate providing services in areas where other government jurisdictions provide services, such as animal control.  She questioned the use of the Greenbelt Connection bus service, saying that she supported subsidized transportation for the handicapped but did not think that the average citizen needed access to transportation at this level.  She suggested an annexation services tax for already-developed areas.  She suggested placing more questions on the community survey distributed at election time that would allow the individuals who choose to fill it out to earmark services to be cut or expanded or to express their opinions on development and annexation issues.  She said she did not want to see funding cuts that would affect police or ball fields.

Mayor Davis asked Mr. McLaughlin to see what it would cost for the City to sponsor a shred-it event quarterly, since a citizen had requested it.  He noted that there is a fee for running such a program, which was absorbed by the Credit Union at event they City co-sponsored previously.

The Mayor also asked Mr. McLaughlin to address the fact that some citizens were under the impression that the TIF for Greenbelt Station was responsible for the City’s proposed tax increase.  Mr. McLaughlin said the TIF had no impact whatsoever on this budget.

Robert Fireovid, 114 Julian Court, said he thought Greenbelt was pricing itself out of the market. He said people can get better value elsewhere now.  He said it will become increasingly difficult for people to sell detached single-family homes here.  He quizzed Mr. McLaughlin on what was included in budget projections, including the onset of debt service for the TIF.  Mr. McLaughlin said that had not yet been taken into account because the City Council had not yet formally made any decision to approve a TIF.  Mr. Fireovid argued that the annexation agreement required the City to approve the TIF or at least to pay for the road.  Mr. McLaughlin said the language in the agreement was complicated and that the City had some discretion on the financing.

Ruth Kastner spoke again to say she was uncomfortable with the response to Mr. Fireovid and that her reading of the agreement had been that the City had agreed to pay for the road and she did not understand why that was being denied now.  Mayor Davis said there were a number of contingencies the developer had to meet and other steps that had to be taken before it would come back to the City Council for a decision on the financing package.  Since no one else asked to speak, the Mayor declared the public hearing to be over.

PETITIONS AND REQUESTS: Brian York, 21-L Ridge Road, Assistant Coach of Greenbelt Baseball, and Edith Beauchamp, Ora Court, spoke to invite the City Council to take part in a competitive game of some type with one or more other groups.

MINUTES OF MEETINGS

Work Session, April 4, 2007: Ms. Mach asked to correct the minutes to convey that although Ms. Craze had said two FTEs would eventually be needed for animal control, Council believed that the existing model of 1.5 FTEs needed to be tried out for a longer time before changes were discussed.  Ms. Mach moved approval of the minutes with that change.  Mr. Putens seconded the motion, which carried 5-0.

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

Mr. McLaughlin spoke about the Maryland City and County Management Association spring conference, which Greenbelt hosted last week.  He said at least two of the ATHA signs have gone up. 

Mr. McLaughlin asked Mr. Manzi for a report on the status of the question of the amicus brief regarding the lawsuit on the Inter-County Connector.  Mr. Manzi said he had determined that under federal rules, it turned out there was not the time pressure he had originally thought might exist, since the first hearing will not be held until September.  He has gotten copies of the pleadings made so far, and he said he expected to have more to report at the next meeting.  The Mayor announced that Council had asked Mr. McLaughlin to revise the letter stating the Council’s position on the ICC for the purpose of sending it to Governor O’Malley.

The Mayor said there had been a problem on Sunday in the vicinity of Buddy Attick Park with cars not being ticketed that were parked illegally on Crescent, Lastner, and Rosewood.  She asked if this could be looked into.

Mr. Putens said he was sure all of Council had attended the events of Saturday: Earth Day, Arbor Day, and the Public Works Open House. 

Ms. Mach commented on touring the Friends Community School with the Mayor and attending a Women in Government Service Luncheon at which Attorney General Doug Gansler was the guest.  She also attended the Earth Day and Arbor Day events and the Public Works Open House.

Mr. Herling thanked staff for responding to the problem of the standing water behind the new postal facility.

Mayor Davis commented on speaking about Greenbelt at Camp Wonderland in Montgomery County, the Golden Age Club 50th Anniversary, the American Legion’s Americanism Night, a volunteer appreciation lunch for GAIL workers, the ACE Literary Showcase, the Earth Day and Arbor Day events, the Public Works Open House, and the opening game for Greenbelt Baseball. She also announced applications were available in the City Manager’s office for two scholarship programs; the deadlines are April 30 for the Prince George’s County Municipal Association and May 25 for the Prince George’s Elected Municipal Women.

LEGISLATION

A Resolution to Approve a Collective Bargaining Agreement Between the City of Greenbelt and Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 32 to Take Effect July 1, 2007

            Mayor Davis read the agenda comments.  Mr. Putens introduced the resolution for second reading and moved its adoption.  Mayor Davis seconded the motion.

            It was noted that the agreement references Exhibit A, which will be attached to the final document.  John Rogers, speaking for the police officers, said it had been a good process and was a good contract.  Mr. Herling said he thought the Roosevelts would approve and that the City had joined the 21st century.  The Mayor said she was glad they had come to agreement as quickly as they had.  There was general agreement that this event was historic.  Chief James Craze recognized Bob Dowling, John Rogers, Gerry Potts, Scott Kaiser, and Mike Lanier for their work in the negotiations.  Capt. Thomas Kemp and David Moran were recognized, as was the City’s labor attorney, Stephen Silvestri.  The Mayor reminded everyone that the citizens had voted for this process to go forward at the last election.  Mr. Putens thanked everyone and added a reminder that good things don’t come cheap.

             ROLL CALL:              Mr. Herling        - yes
                                               Ms. Mach          - yes
                                               Mr. Putens        - yes
                                               Mr. Roberts       - yes
                                               Mayor Davis      - yes

            The resolution was declared adopted (Resolution No. 1013, Book 8).  Following the passage of the resolution, copies of the collective bargaining agreement were signed.

AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR STREET CONSTRUCTION WORK (BREEZEWOOD DRIVE), PY 32: The Mayor read the agenda comments.  A sudden approval of the City’s earlier request to change the scope of work for this project to Breezewood Drive necessitated adding this item to the agenda.  NZI Construction is on the City’s negotiated purchase resolution and could offer the same pricing as that being charged for the FY 2007 street resurfacing work the company is currently undertaking for the City.  It was thus moved by Mr. Roberts and seconded by Mr. Putens to approve the contract with NZI to undertake the CDBG-PY32 street construction work on Breezewood Drive for $109,600.  The motion carried 5-0.

MEETINGS: Council reviewed the meeting schedule.  A briefing from representatives of Goddard Space Flight Center was approved for May 2 at 7:30 p.m., preceding the already scheduled work session.

ADJOURNMENT: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Ms. Mach and seconded by Mr. Putens.  The motion carried 5-0.  The Mayor adjourned the regular meeting of April 23, 2007, at 10:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Gallagher
City Clerk

"I hereby the certify that the above and foregoing is a true and correct report of the regular meeting of the City Council of Greenbelt, Maryland, held April 23, 2007.

Judith F. Davis
Mayor

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