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

ANNOUNCEMENTS/COMMENTS – MAYOR, COUNCIL, STUDENT LIAISON 

Councilmember Kabir – Tree and Landscape board will plant a tree at the intersection of Narragansett Parkway and 52nd Avenue in North College Park for Arbor Day on April 28 at 6pm.  UPDATE:  Due to inclement weather the tree planting was postponed.  Stay tuned for the new date.

 Councilmember Esters – A number of activities on Saturday, April 29 including another City spring cleanup day up, Maryland Day at the University of Maryland from 10am -4pm, and the District 2 Walking Tour from 12pm -5pm.   

Councilmember Whitney – Enjoyed the Literacy and Legacy 5k event and the ceremony for the Lakeland historical marker held on Saturday, April 22.  

Councilmember Adams – Acknowledged the residents who attended the recent meeting regarding upgrades to the Old Town and Calvert Hills playgrounds.  

Councilmember Riggs – Yarrow and College Park Estates civic associations met together on April 22 to hold elections for leadership and express concerns about the loss of vegetation related to construction of sidewalk improvement and stormwater mitigation.  

Councilmember Mackie – Thanks residents who participated in No Mow April.  

Valerie Graham, SGA Liaison –Several applicants for the SGA Liaison positions and interview anticipated to be held the week of April 24.  

Councilmember Mitchell – Thankful for participation in the Lakeland historical marker ceremony on April 22.  She also mentioned the College Park City University Partnership (CPCUP) Board received an update about the Aviation Landing development.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Mr. Young reminded council members that financial disclosures are due on April 30. He mentioned that residents have an additional day (April 27) to request a mail-in ballot if they come to City Hall to do so.  Early voting will be held on May 2 at Davis Hall and in-person will be held on May 6 at City Hall. Election results will be announced on May 12. 

The Celebrating College Park Parade will be held on May 6 from 10am -11am.  The procession will be along Rhode Island Ave from Hollywood Shopping Center to Duvall Field. Congressman Glenn Ivey will serve as the Grand Marshal.  Mayoral candidates can contact Communications and Events for details about how they can participate in the event.  

The City’s Friday Night Live series kicks off on May 12.  The event will include a classic rock band, bounce house and two food trucks.  Denizens will also be in attendance.  

No Mow April will end on Monday, May 1. 

Councilmember Whitney asked about a recent meeting held with Veoride and asked for an overview.  Ms. Ferguson, City Attorney, said the concern about the location of scooters and bikes was forcefully shared during the recent meeting. Geofencing has been operational, but they need to work on improvements.    

AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Councilmember Esters – made a motion to add the appointment of city representatives to the student liaison selection committee.  Seconded by Councilmember Whitney. 

PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS  

Aubrey Battan, resident of College Park Woods-  in favor of increased taxes on blighted and vacant properties.  Vacant properties are taxed in other places such as DC, British Columbia, and the city of Vancouver.  It should be paired with other options to improve housing inventory.  It will need to be enforced.  He stressed that the tax should be higher than we think it should be.  

Bryan Haddad, College Park resident – speaks in heavy favor of the vacant and blighted property tax.  The rate should be high enough to not be subsumed as a cost of doing business. He said large companies have an obligation to give back, and property owners have an obligation to upkeep properties. He asked council to consider a tiered tax system based upon the amount of time that property has been vacant. 

CONSENT AGENDA 

23-G-66 Approval of minutes from the March 21, 2023, and April 11, 2023, meetings.

23-G-67 – Motion to select council representatives to serve on SGA Liaisons selection committee.  Ms. Graham proposed an interview date of Thursday, April 27.  Initial discussion regarding Councilmember availability to serve.  Ms. Graham indicated she would confirm the date and time during the council meeting.  Discussion and action tabled for later in the meeting

ACTION ITEMS

23-O-03 Introduction of FY ’24 Budget Ordinance – An Ordinance Of The Mayor And Council Of The City Of College Park To Adopt The Fiscal Year 2024 General Fund, ARPA Allocation Fund, Capital Projects Fund And Debt Service Fund Budgets Of The City Of College Park – Gary Fields, Director of Finance The Public Hearing will be held on May 9, 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of College Park City Hall

Mr. Fields provided a brief overview of the Council budget session. The budget ordinance reflects all of the changes that occurred via council discussion.  The budget is based upon the residential property tax rate of 30.18 and is subject to the state constant yield tax rate; the commercial rate is slated for 33.18.  There will be a public hearing to be held on May 9. 

Councilmember Kabir- said he understood that a public hearing is only required for the residential property tax rate but asked if we could include the commercial rate in the proceedings to give the public the opportunity to comment, as the City has never had two rates before. 

City Clerk Janeen Miller said they could tailor public hearing for announcement of the ordinance to include both tax rates. Mr. Fields noted that, although the City is not required by law to include notice of the higher commercial rate in its Washington Post ad, the City did include that information. The hearing will be on May 9^th.

PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSESSION DISCUSSIONS 

2023 Quarterly Financial Presentation – Gary Fields, Director of Finance 

The third quarter financial report is where he expected., any variances are due mostly to timing issues.

The economic development budget line is 152% which is due in large part to the grant given to Grill Marx, but when you look at the overall General Fund budget, it is at 75%, as one would expect. 

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell asked about Highway User Revenue. Mr. Fields said the state has significantly increased that revenue sharing with municipalities, and the City should see an extra $200 thousand per year for the next several years.

Discussion of having a different property tax rate for vacant and blighted properties –Kenneth A. Young, City Manager; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services 

Mr. Field thanked Councilmember Adams for his assistance. As we see more blighted and vacant properties, more municipalities are imposing vacant and blight taxes as a way to improve owner behavior and not to increase revenue. Washington DC and Mount Rainier are local examples.  

Mayor Protem Mitchell mentioned a recent meeting where Mayor Benitez of Mount Rainer talked about how their city implemented the tax.

Councilmember Adams thanked Mr. Haddad and Mr. Battan for explaining the importance of this issue in their comments. He said Upper Marlboro also has such a tax in place.  

Councilmember Adams asked if we have the legal authority to have a distinct tax rate for blighted versus vacant properties. Ms. Ferguson said Council can set different rates for different categories, as long as the rate is evenly applied across each category. The City could adopt a tax that applies to vacant OR blighted properties. It would be a question about ease of application of the rates, saying Mr. Fields would have to talk to the county about that.  Mr. Fields said it would not be an easy process.  

Mayor Protem Mitchell asked about the definition of blighted. Ms. Ferguson said we would need to include a definition.  She emphasized that a tax rate is not a fine. 

Councilmember Mackie mentioned the need for provisions due to death.  

Councilmember Riggs referenced the various reasons why properties may be vacant and blighted. He made a distinction between commercial and residential.

Councilmember Esters mentioned the concern with older residents who may not be able to make upgrades to their homes and acknowledged the current work by the City to create and identify programs that can assist.  

Councilmember Adams mentioned the use of warnings, an appeals board, and who should serve on that board.  

Mayor Protem Mitchell asked how this would affect code enforcement.  Mr. Ryan said it would be challenging.  

Councilmember Whitney mentioned that there were several properties that she knew of that were not on the list provided by the City.  She shared her interest in us quantifying a commercial rate rather than using a multiplier.  She also asked how we would identify vacancies in the apartments.  Will they be self-reported? 

Mr. Ryan said community input would be a huge help, Mr. Young explained that annual inspections for apartment complexes would play a big part, as would property tax reassessments. He noted that a developer might want to keep their rates higher because it’s part of their requirements for the development.

Councilmember Esters asked what an investigation would look like to determine vacant and blighted properties. 

Mr. Ryan said it would start with a letter to the owner of record, next they would determine if the owner was deceased. If so, then who’s the designated heir or personal representative? He said it would take time. It would be part administrative and part code enforcement, as well as reports from neighbors.

Councilmember Kabir asked Mr. Fields to walk us through the process of having different tax rates.  Mr. Fields said the county sends a request for tax billing service. We would notify the county of the rate and they would bill accordingly.

Councilmember Kennedy acknowledged that we have vacant homes, blighted homes, and vacant commercial properties.  She expressed her desire to understand the different tools we are using/can use to address the issues.  She said we should speak to other cities and towns with colleges to determine their barriers.

Councilmember Adams said we do not want entities to hold onto the properties for a write-off.  We need to talk about a rate that compels change and covers costs.  If as a result, we collect positive revenue, we need to use it to address some of the issues.  

Councilmember Whitney added that we should ask other towns about unintended consequences.  We need to be careful, as there could be unintended consequences associated with both residential and commercial processes.  

Councilmember Riggs wants us to be mindful about consequences related to residential property but does not feel the same way with commercial.  We need a more vibrant commercial landscape.  

Councilmember Mackie said we need to consider what is already addressed in city code. 

Mr. Young said he will take back points from discussion to do additional research and bring the item back for further discussion.  

Discussion of quality-of-life issues (noise, unruly social gatherings, open containers, public intoxication, and public urination) and of UMD student health and safety – Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services, Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney 

Mr. Ryan spoke of all the work done by Public services. He said students are sometimes referred to UMD’s Office of Student Conduct, which is often more effective than city-issued citations.  He said Public Services is often asked why they do not impose charges for unruly gatherings and said the issue is that there must be witnesses to the offense willing to testify in court.  

 Mr. Ryan mentioned the monthly CMAST meetings, which include representatives from public safety, administration, and others.  He said contract Police have the time to go into the neighborhoods. He said they back-up code enforcement and help with the loud mufflers.  

Councilmember Adams invited representatives from Larson Davis to talk about one of their products, an autonomous noise monitoring system. They explained that the devices can text messages to centralized location so code enforcement can see activity and dispatch based on that. The devices can be programmed for different day and night noise levels.

Councilmember Adams said the University of Pennsylvania has been using the system and that legislative action would not be required to employ the devises since they would not be issuing citations but rather notifying code enforcement.

Councilmember Whitney asked the cost per device and what the range of each device is. The vendor said that each unit is $12 thousand and that, because sound is quieter the farther away it is, it is difficult to answer what the range is. Essentially, the units are deployed where loud decibel levels might be expected.

Mr. Ryan asked if the units could measure directionality of sound. The vendor said they could not.

Councilmember Mackie asked Mr. Ryan what people should be advised to do to address quality of life issues.  Mr. Ryan said it depends on the situation. If a resident feels threatened or witnesses crime in progress, including vandalism, call 911. If noise is the issue, they should call the 24/7 noise enforcement hotline at 240-487-3588. During business hours, they can call public services. [Please note, for non-urgent code violations, please go to College Park’s Tell Us About a Problem portal.]Councilmember Esters said people are reluctant to call police or code and often voice concerns on Nextdoor. She asked Mr. Ryan to speak about what actually occurs when the police are called.  Mr. Ryan said calling the police will ensure attention is focused on particular areas.  

Councilmember Adams said we have a number of tools, but people want solutions. Code enforcement of noise is a challenge and a quality-of-life issue. He asked if we need to add an additional tier to noise levels. He mentioned the numbers of people who walk around with open containers here is unlike other places. It is not normal. He asked Ms. Ferguson if the city could issue municipal infractions for alcohol. Ms. Ferguson said Code would not enforce something that is considered criminal, but police will enforce County and State infractions.  Officers are not here to enforce municipal law. She said it is probably not something we could create a municipal infraction for, but we could perhaps create a task force to specifically address the issue. He asked about the feasibility of unarmed community enforcement.  

Mr. Ryan added that police can enforce citations for county law, and this can be done for alcohol or marijuana possession, but such cases are often dismissed.

Councilmember Adams mentioned the gap between code and police enforcement and said that the addition of structured activities could assist with these efforts.  Mentioned partnering with the IFC to coordinate events.  He said residents are not code enforcement and there needs to be clearer communication about how to address issues.

Councilmember Riggs said we need to engage more actively with the University and must also hold irresponsible landlords accountable. The tools that we have are not helping to adequately address the situation.  

Mr. Ryan said infractions can only be given when there is a violation.  

Councilmember Kabir asked why an escalation of infractions does not occur and referenced what he believed to be successful in Baltimore County 

Ms. Ferguson said we have an ongoing issue, but new residents. The city does not go to court with cases they cannot win. Maryland law says you cannot disturb the peace of a peace officer. She said residents can also utilize the noise board.  

Councilmember Esters said that as a university town, the issues are not an anomaly. She said many campuses are dry, which sends this activity into the surrounding community. She suggested we work with the University more closely and that we invite the Maryland Collaborative to speak with us about their work and other things that can be done.  

Councilmember Kabir asked about the safety ambassador program from UMD. Mr. Ryan said the program was funded for 1 semester, but neither the university, CPCUP nor Council wanted to continue funding the program.  

Mayor Protem Mitchell asked that Councilmember Rigg, Adams, and others who are interested work together to identify possible solutions.  

Mr. Young said there are issues throughout the city, and we have a finite number of staff. with coverage mostly through 3am. He said we are not unique, and he acknowledged that ongoing drinking throughout the week is a concern.  

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell mentioned the previous Quality of Life Task Force that worked to identify areas of concern for the city to address.  

Third Quarter Strategic Plan update – Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager FY23 3^rd Quarter Overview 

Mr. Gardiner provided an overview regarding the City’s 27 quarterly (Objectives and Key Results) OKRs aligned to 6 (six) one-year OKRs.  

Some key results, to date, include:

• Presentation of Community Survey
• New garage cameras
• Computer updates
• Special election on track
• The onboarding of new staff
• Preparation and presentation of FY budget 
• Filing of ARPA report 
• 6 wellness activities, 3 leadership activities
• New employee newsletter
• Selection of new planning director 
• Upcoming launch of aging-in-place retrofit program.  
• Function Accela system operation

The following challenges were identified:

• The impact of the special election on new employee onboarding.  
• Work with Restorative Justice commission required more staff time than anticipated.
• Challenge selecting VeoRide parking locations and compliance with contract requirements.
• Recycling percentage is flat, and residents are not recycling as required.
• Youth and Family Services (YFS) is still seeking a family therapist.

Objectives for the 4^th Quarter

• Advisory Board Reception 
• Friday Night Live Series
• Special Election 
• Community Meeting about 4704 Calvert Rd
• Budget adoption and implementation 
• Council presentation of livable action plan
• Staff succession planning and prep for new employees

23-G-67 -Council revisited discussion and action item – appointment of representative to the student liaison selection committee.  The afternoon of Thursday, April 27 was confirmed as the date for interviews.  Councilmembers Riggs and Kennedy agreed to participate in the interview process with Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell.   

COMMENTS FROM THE MAYOR, COUNCIL, STUDENT LIAISON OR CITY MANAGER

Councilmember Riggs mentioned his attendance at a recent Maryland Municipal League (MML) meeting which included a discussion of the recent legislative session. New constant yield notification requirements and the cannabis legislation were discussed.  He said we need to discuss what the new cannabis legislation will mean for the city.  

Councilmembers Adams, Mackie, and Mitchell attended the CMAST meeting where a need for more county and UMD police at sporting events and other activities was discussed.  

Mr. Young mentioned that Stephanie Anderson and Len Lucchi, city lobbyists, are coming to the May 23^rd Council meeting to discuss the recent legislative session.  He told Council he would be out of the office Wednesday, April 26 through Sunday, April 30, and that Bill Gardiner would be in charge but said he could be reached by phone if need be.  

MEETING ADJOURN

Click here for the April 25^th  meeting agenda. Click here to watch the video of the April 25, 2023, meeting. 

Click here to see the agenda for the City of College Park Mayor & Council Hybrid Meeting on May 2, 2023. Tune in, show up or share your thoughts/concerns about the following anticipated Action Items:

• Consideration of a request by the College Park City-University Partnership for the City to jointly pursue MDOT grants to fund the Campus Drive Bike Path and Riverwalk Trail and to approve letters of support for the grant applications. 
• Introduction of an Ordinance Of The Mayor And Council Of The City Of College Park Amending City Code Chapter 15 “Boards, Commissions And Committees”, By Deleting Article II, “College Park Recreation Board”, §§ 15-3 Through 15-18, In Its Entirety To Remove The College Park Recreation Board From The City Code And Re-establish By Resolution A City Events Advisory Board For The Purpose As Set Forth In Resolution 23-R-06.