City of College Park Council Meeting – October 11, 2022

Comments are by Councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney and are not approved or sanctioned by the City of College Park.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS/COMMENTS – MAYOR, COUNCIL, STUDENT LIAISON 

Councilmember Kabir mentioned the finalization of the feasibility study for the North College Park Community Center.  He said there will be two opportunities for residents to review it. The first opportunity will be for residents to stop by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) tent during College Park Day, and the second opportunity will be a virtual meeting on Monday, October 17 at 7pm.

Councilmember Kennedy mentioned the recent Maryland Municipal League (MML) fall conference where she presented a session on the Community Preservation Trust. She acknowledged Councilmember/Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell for her leadership as the current President of MML.  

Councilmember Whitney encouraged residents to try Community Meals offered by the  United Methodist Church on Tuesdays and Thursday. They ask for a $12 donation for your meal which also pays for a meal for someone else. She announced that M-NCPPC will also seek community feedback on improvements to the Lakeland Community Park playground at their tent at College Park Day. 

Councilmember Mackie said the College Park Woods Neighborhood Watch Meet & Greet held Sunday was a great event that brought together students and long-time residents. She also encouraged residents to sign up for Good Neighbor Day (GND) to be held on November 12. 

Councilmember Mitchell thanked everyone for their support during the MML fall conference. She said she heard great things about presentations from the City of College Park including those by Councilmember Kennedy on the Community Preservation Trust and Kayla Carter, Racial Equity Officer, on the City’s effort related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and she acknowledged the Department of Public Works (DPW) for their sustainability re-certification. 

Mayor Wojahn mentioned the University of Maryland PALS Program and the work of a current class focused on the Lakeland neighborhood. Specifically, the class is looking at ways the City can accomplish goals in Lakeland, including those related to connectivity, and sustainability. He invited residents to attend a class midterm presentation on the topic to be held on Thursday, October 13 at 7pm at the College Park Community Center. He also mentioned the North College Park Civic Association (NCPCA) monthly community meeting on Thursday, October 13 at 7:30pm. The meeting agenda includes a presentation on Good Neighbor Day (GND), redistricting, and M-NCPPC presentation on Zoning 101. 

Mr. Andriessens, SGA Liaison, mentioned the upcoming election in November and University of Maryland’s TerpsVote and UMDemocracy 2022 initiatives, which provide voting information for students. . He also mentioned the recent Safety Walk and thanked Mr. Young and Mr. Marsili who joined the safety walk along with Mayor Wojahn to see the things that needed to be addressed. He added that the walk was a good way to get the student perspective. 

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT 

Mr. Young mentioned the upcoming College Park Day event to be held on Saturday, October 15 from noon – 6pm. He mentioned many of the features, including a dedicated area for children’s activities, entertainment stage, and free parking. He also mentioned that Mayor Wojahn would be in the dunk tank. MD-State Highway has approved a flashing light for safety across MD-430. 

Councilmember Esters offered thanks to Steve Halpern, City Engineer, for his work on that pedestrian light for over a year. 

AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA 

Mayor Wojahn asked to amend the agenda to add the recent elections in Attick Towers for the Attick Towers Commission. 

Councilmember Rigg asked to amend the agenda by adding the Accela item to the consent agenda.

PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS 

None.PRESENTATIONS

Presentation on the County Emergency Operations Plan and discussion of City emergency operations and planning 

Mr. Young introduced the presentation by thanking Mr. Wells from the Prince George’s County Office of Emergency Management for assistance during the July 12th storm and ensuring we received all that was needed from the county. 

Mr. Wells provided an overview of the function of the PGC Office of Emergency management which falls under the Office of Homeland Security.  The office is responsible for planning and coordination, and domestic preparedness training. The office coordinates with a variety of outside agencies and deals with any type of hazard. A major objective when they work with residential and business communities, and governmental agencies is to encourage citizens to prepare themselves for emergencies. They do not take over the role of any county agency or municipality. 

According to Mr. Wells preparedness begins with planning for county stakeholders and planning for specific hazards (Weather, terrorism, cyber security, etc.…). The office trains county responders, local government responders, and federal responders. Education, outreach, and mitigation are part of their focus. Their work related to response and recovery, which consists of both short-term and long-term efforts, is situational and relies upon coordination, resource management, information dissemination, incident support, logistics, and their Emergency Operations Center. The pandemic helped the Emergency Operations Center, located in Landover, to build an inventory of supplies needed to respond to COVID-19. 

Mr. Ryan, Director of Public Services, shared information about how OEM helped the College Park Community during the microburst event in July, including providing bottled water for our senior residents. Mr. Wells was instrumental in helping us to keep our neighbors safe.

Councilmember Rigg asked why they do not hear more from the county around emergencies. We hear from the University of Maryland, and he believes we should hear more from the county. 

Councilmember Adams asked about coordination of resources throughout the area. Asked about any special coordination that is done to deal with rental properties. Mr. Wells indicated nothing special existed for rental properties. Councilmember Adams spoke of acute vulnerability that exist as funding is often focused on home ownership. Mr. Wells shared that during preparedness month, they’d presented a webinar series geared toward landlords and renters encouraging them to prepare for emergencies and to encourage their renters to obtain renters insurance. 

Councilmember Mitchell thanked Mr. Wells for the presentation and reiterated Councilmember Rigg’s comments about hearing from the county more often and improving lines of communication, saying there’s room to improve the communication app (Alert Prince George’s) and create a way for the 27 municipalities in Prince George’s County to coordinate their responses to help their residents and each other. She hoped they could work with the Office of Emergency Management on that. Councilmember Esters mentioned seeing representatives from the Office of Emergency Office during a recent Four Cities meeting. For the purpose of residents listening, she requested Mr. Wells share resources they would be able to utilize. Mr. Wells mentioned the importance of residents creating a plan for emergencies. He shared online resources such as  Ready.Gov and Redcross.org.

 Councilmember Kennedy raised concerns about messages that are sent to residents and the importance of coordination of communication. Asked about our biggest threats, Mr. Wells indicated that our biggest threats are weather-related (severe cold, serve heat), cyber security, terrorism, and power loss. 

Councilmember Kabir asked about communication during the recent storm and where residents should go to get information in emergency situations. Mr. Wells said no-notice events are a bit difficult. If residents are not in the dark, they should go to local media. For notice events, they push out to social media, but local media and the radio are good sources of information. Mr. Wells suggested that residents obtain weather radios. If you are without power, it is a little more challenging. When the footprint of the situation is larger, it can take a little longer to send communication. 

Mayor Wojahn inquired about Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) . Mr. Wells indicated these teams come and go in various communities. There are trainings that can done to provide skills. These groups can gather to provide some assistance in the wake of an event. Depending upon the severity of a situation, it may take time for help to come. The ability for citizens to help themselves is beneficial, and these teams are worth exploring more. 

Mr. Ryan shared that the city has had an Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) since Y2K that serves as a guiding document. Each department has developed Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP). Department heads and the City Manager are reviewing and updating all of these documents. There has been some recent practice of the COOP plans with two moves of City Hall, and the switch to remote meetings during the pandemic.

He said the EOP anticipates setting up Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and they were able to test it in the wake of the recent microburst storm when they set up an EOC at Davis Hall. They will come back to Council during the FY24 budget discussion to talk about how we can improve our EOC plans. He said leadership has visited both UMD’s and the County’s EOCs.  He said they may not propose something quite so robust, but improvements are needed. 

Mr. Ryan spoke of the need to create an Emergency Operations Plan for the new City Hall. He said it was not designed as an EOC and noted that some municipalities have developed a web EOC. He said staff have participated in FEMA trainings and monitor emergencies through public news media and coordination with peers. In addition, he said they would work with MML’s Hometown Emergency Planning Advisory Committee, which Councilmember Mitchell is on.

Councilmember Mitchell acknowledged what occurred during the recent microburst and the work involved. She expressed concern about evacuation and asked about Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with local business. Mr. Wells said that having MOUs with local businesses is smart and added that encouraging people to have back-up plans is always a good idea. Mr. Ryan added that the need for emergency evacuation is situational. 

Councilmember Mackie asked about the consideration of refrigeration of medication. She explained that many of our citizens do not have cellphones and are homebound. As a result, they are quite vulnerable. She would like to advocate for those who are in need. Mr. Young said that information about such residents that is shared with the city is referred to the county health department. 

Councilmember Esters referenced the ways in which the City and the University of Maryland work together during emergency situations as outlined in the information shared with Council but asked if scenarios planning is conducted between the City and the University. She acknowledged the University as a major presence in the city and thought such planning would be helpful. Mr. Young indicated there are plans to do tabletop exercise with the University moving forward. 

Councilmember Whitney asked about a voluntary registry for buildings where there are a concentration of the elderly or disabled that would catalog particularly urgent needs, such as power for oxygen machines. She suggested we also make plans for those who will simply refuse to leave their homes. She asked that we consider how we can keep those people safe in, say, extreme cold or heat. 

Councilmember Kennedy referenced the Ready.gov website and wonder how we can encourage people to actually create a plan. She suggested a competition. She added that whatever we do should be simple and accessible. 

Mayor Wojahn thanked Mr. Ryan and Mr. Wells for the presentation. 

CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS

22-G-136 Award of contract in the amount of $95,611.10 to Apple Ford for the purchase of two (2) replacement pickup trucks in the Department of Public Works riding Baltimore County cooperative purchase agreement #00004504, subject to approval of the City Attorney – Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works 

22-G-134 Approval of a Petition Request for the Removal of a Traffic Calming Device on the 5000 block of Cheyenne Place, between 50th Place and 51st Avenue – Steve Halpern, City Engineer 

22-G-135 Approval of the cancellation of contract CP-22-04 previously awarded to Agricity, LLC, dba Compost Cab, for the Food Scrap Collection Program, and award of a new contract for this program to Compost Crew, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $80,000 for a one year term, with two additional one-year consecutive terms at the City’s option, subject to approval of the City Attorney, and authorization for the City Manager to sign – Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works 

22-G-138 Approval of minutes from the September 27, 2022, Regular Meeting – Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk

22‐G‐130 Motion to authorize additional spending to Vision 33 for Accela support – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager and Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services 

The Consent Agenda passed unanimously.

ACTION ITEMS 

22‐G‐140 Consideration of support for two agreements in substantially the form attached regarding funding for an affordable housing land trust in the City to be administered through the Community Preservation Trust (CPT), currently part of the College Park City-University Partnership (CPCUP). The first agreement sets the terms and conditions for authorizing a $3M grant from the City to CPCUP using ARPA/SLFRF funds, to ensure accountability and compliance with Maryland and federal law. The second is an agreement between the City, as recipient, and CPCUP, as subrecipient, and governs use of the ARPA/SLFRF funds for the CPT project to ensure compliance with federal law and regulations. 

Suellen Ferguson explained there were two agreements for the Trust for Council to consider. One agreement for the money to be given to the Trust and the other for the Trust to become a sub-recipient. The new focus of the program for graduate housing expanded payment agreement will be added. 

Public comment on 22-G-140:
Mr. Biffel, a non-resident taxpayer in College Park, said he does not believe the Community Preservation Trust will achieve the goal of affordable housing. He believed housing will become more expensive for those who do not participate this program, including renters. He asked if neighborhood stabilization was worth the cost of program. “Low -income housing doesn’t usually help a neighborhood,” he said, as such residents have little extra money to spend. He said that low-income buyers were enticed to buy homes they couldn’t afford during the subprime mortgage crisis, which ended badly. He said the UMD student population has ballooned in recent decades but that UMD didn’t invest in low-cost housing. “This is a state-caused problem,” he said, “and the state should solve it.”  He also addressed the efforts to ensure that the program was equitable and said, in summary, that it’s easier to avoid accusations of racism if the program ignores race. 

Mary King, a College Park resident, said she does not believe that the city should be in the leasing program. She said the operating costs have gone up since the last meeting Furthermore, she said $800 is the price that was listed as below market rate but that students were paying less than that to rent in single family homes. She closed be saying that CPT has been embraced by Council since introduction last fall, but she does not share that enthusiasm. 

Councilmember Kennedy responded to the comment regarding the CPT and shared her understanding that affordable housing in a neighborhood does not cause the other housing prices to go up. She said Ms. King is correct that operations costs did increase due to inflation and the addition of graduate student housing rentals. 

Mayor Wojahn said the assertion that the City will increase other housing costs by offering affordable housing implies housing operates in a vacuum, which is not the case. He said we need to look at the overall supply of housing. The comparison of this to subprime mortgages offered is 2009 is incorrect, he continued. At that time, mortgage companies were creating terms that were unfair to homebuyers. This program is working to create terms that benefit buyers. 

Councilmember Kabir thanked folks for their work on the CPT and referenced the priority list of neighborhoods. He encouraged the Trust to consider the purchase of homes in areas where the homes are affordable, like North College Park. 

After all comments were heard, Council voted unanimously to move forward with the MOUs with CPCUP.

22‐G‐141 Council direction to the Redistricting Commission to modify two draft district maps using certain criteria – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager 

Mr. Gardiner, Assistant City Manager, began discussion of this item by mentioning the Redistricting Commission meeting held on October 10. The commission met on October 3 and October 10 to discuss comments. During the October 10 meeting the Commission updated maps as requested by Council. The Commission felt that the initial maps were more representative of the charge they were given. Ms. Ferguson indicated that Council’s vote during the evening’s meeting was on whether or not to formally provide additional direction to the Commission on their charge, saying we weren’t expected to review/vote on the updated maps that night. 

The Commission sought to maintain as much of the core of the districts as possible. As Council considered the next steps in the process, we were informed that we would work session the maps before the item went to public hearing. Mr. Gardiner indicated he was not sure that the Commission could turn maps around quickly, but if other modifications were needed, changes could occur. 

Councilmember Adams took the motion that was seconded by Councilmember Kabir. Councilmember Adams thanked the Commission for their continued work and said he looks forward to the next steps in the process. 

Councilmember Kabir thanked those who gave input about keeping District 1 together. 

COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE

Carol Macknis, College Park resident, indicated that the community safety meetings are recorded but she has had difficulty finding them. She said the City needs to make it easier to find the recorded meetings. 

ADJOURN CLOSED SESSION AFTER THE MEETING 

Pursuant to the statutory authority of the Maryland Annotated Code, General Provisions Art. § 3-305(b), the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park are providing notice that they will meet in a Closed Session after the meeting on Tuesday, October 11 to discuss the appointment, employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation, or performance evaluation of appointees, employees, or officials over whom this public body has jurisdiction; any other personnel matter that affects one or more specific individuals. The Mayor and Council will discuss the City Manager’s evaluation. They will not return to public session after the closed session ends. ¬ This agenda is subject to change. For the most current information, please contact the City Clerk 240-487-3501.

Click here to see the Council meeting agenda for October 11 , 2022

Click here to view the Mayor and Council meeting held on October 11, 2022.

Click here to access the Mayor and Council work session meeting agenda scheduled for October 18, 2022