Comments are by Councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney and are not approved or sanctioned by the City of College Park. This week’s post was delayed due to travel.
Announcements
Councilmember Kabir announced that the community meeting regarding the feasibility study for the North College Park Community Center has been postponed due to a glitch with registration. The meeting will be rescheduled, and information about a new date will be provided soon.
Please note: Since the Council meeting, the community meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, May 12 at 6:30pm. For more information regarding this upcoming meeting, please see Events section of the College Park District 2 Digest.
The Hollywood College Market will begin its season on Saturday, May 7.
Councilmember Whitney thanked the city staff for assistance in helping her and Councilmember Mackie create a flyer exclaiming Don’t Dump…Donate to be shared with students moving out of their residences.
Councilmember Adams thanked all involved with the Tree Giveaway on Saturday, April 23, including the Girl Scouts and Tree and Landscape Board (TLB). He also commented on his appreciation for the size of the trees given away.
Councilmember Riggs thanked city staff for their assistance with the Route 1 Rampage held on April 24th.
Councilmember Mackie shared the upcoming date for the county’s prescription drug drop off.
Councilmember Mitchell reminded everyone that Maryland Day would be held at the University of Maryland on Saturday, April 30th and that the city will have a booth on site.
Mayor Wojahn mentioned his recent trip to Boston which allowed him to connect with six other mayors to discuss issues related to racial justice and equity. He also acknowledged and thanked Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell for ensuring that a successful PGCMA meeting was held Thursday, April 21.
Megha Sevalia, SGA Liaison, announced that the application for upcoming SGA Liaison closed on Tuesday, April 26. She also shared that it was the first day of campaigning for the upcoming SGA elections.
City Manager Kenny Young shared the news that the City of College Park, MD was selected to present on the power of partnerships during the upcoming International Town and Gown Association (ITGA) conference scheduled for June 6-8 in Clemson, South Carolina.
Proclamation
Mayor Wojahn read the City of College Park Children’s Mental Health Matters Campaign 2022 Proclamation
Amendments to the agenda – Amendment to 22-G-74 (Councilmember Kabir)
Councilmember Kabir put forth a motion to take the approval of amendments to the Mayor and Council’s Rule and Regulations off of the consent agenda to allow for discussion. Seconded by Councilmember Mitchell.
Presentations – Quarterly Financial Presentation – Gary Fields, Director of Finance
Mr. Fields provided a presentation of the Financial Report – 3rd quarter
According to Mr. Fields, personal property taxes are up significantly and are much higher than expected. He believes the increase can be attributed to new development. Admission & Amusement taxes are down due to COVID -19. Overall, revenue is doing well, and our expenditures are below what was expected. Mayor and Council expenditures are higher due to the allocation of grants, which make up the majority of the funds. Mr. Fields provided brief explanations for the decrease in expenditures including the delayed hiring of the City Manager, which did not occur until September 2021, and the events planner, who was hired later than expected. The events budget is below expected expenditures because fewer events have been held.
Mr. Fields thanked Councilmember Whitney for finding the needle in the haystack pertaining to the increase of the facilities budget. He explained that when the FY22 budget was planned, they had to guess at what the utility costs for the new City Hall would be, and the costs were much higher than estimated.
Redistricting Commission – Official constitution of the Redistricting Commission and charge to Commission Members
The purpose of the City of College Park Redistricting Commission is to review and recommend the appropriate reapportionment of the city council districts. The commission will commence their work now and are scheduled to complete their work by September 2022. The following individuals will serve on the Commission:
Robert Day
Jordan Dewar
Betty Colonomos
Val Graham
Alan Hew
John Krouse
Fritz Leopold
Delmar Nelson
DW Rowlands
Marilyn Yang
Discussion About Amending Mayor and Council Rules and Procedures
Councilmember Kabir wanted to amend the proposed new rules to ensure notice be given to councilmembers rather than requiring that all eight councilmembers be in attendance when a city-wide or council-level issue is presented. He wanted to maintain flexibility.
Councilmember Kennedy believed that we were going to steer away from talking about council-level issues when not meeting as a body.
Councilmember Mitchell mentioned her concern about inhibiting engagement with residents.
Councilmember Kennedy indicated that we have identified a tension point and are working in the right direction.
Introduction of the Budget Ordinance for 2023 – Public Hearing will be held on May 10th.
The overall budget amount of $30,460,335 constitutes a 15% increase, most of which is due to general fund transfers from lost revenue recovery. Many changes occurred to get operating expenses out of the capital budget and into the general fund. CIP projects are just under $3 million. The budget also includes departmental capital for one-time budget items.
General Comments
Mayor Wojahn shared a text message from UMD Cycling Team. The team expressed appreciation for City staff and the University of Maryland for helping to make the success of Route 1 Rampage possible.
Meeting Adjourned
Click here to see the meeting agenda for April 26, 2022
Click here to view the Mayor and Council Regular Meeting held on April26, 2022
Click here to see the Mayor and Council Work session scheduled for May 4, 2022
The College Park District 2 Digest 