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

Click here to watch the video of the City of College Park Mayor & Council Meeting held on November 12, 2024. By going to this link, you can watch the discussion of specific agenda items you are interested in. If you have questions about Council actions and discussions, please email us at lbesters@collegeparkmd.gov and swhitney@collegeparkmd.gov.

CITY MANAGER’S REPORT

Mr. Gardiner provided the City Manager’s report as Mr. Young attended the National League of Cities (NLC) conference. Mr. Gardiner said we were moving into the holiday and busy season. He mentioned the city would hold its quarterly public safety meeting on November 13 and on November 14 the county would hold a public hearing with a focus on fire safety. He thanked staff for their work on the elections, acknowledged the Veterans Day observance, and mentioned the ribbon cutting ceremony held on November 9 for the first phase of Route 1 completion. Senator Roseapepe and members of the 21st Delegation are working for funding to support the additional phases of the project. He said the city learned that Park and Planning has identified the contractor to conduct the feasibility study for a potential pedestrian bridge between the tennis center and the aviation museum. The legislative dinner will be held on November 21. Mr. Gardiner announced that the City of College Park will host the Maryland Tourism Conference. He concluded by thanking Councilmember Mackie and Michael Williams for their help making that happen. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Former District 2 Councilmember, Robert Catlin. 

PROCLAMATIONS AND AWARDS

Municipal Government Works Month 

AMENDMENTS TO AND APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Councilmember Esters moved to have item 24-G-141 moved to the action agenda, seconded by Councilmember Mackie.

Councilmember Whitney moved to have item 24-G-145 added to the consent agenda, seconded by Councilmember Esters.

PUBLIC COMMENT ON CONSENT AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Bob Catlin, resident – We have had two students serve on the city council, they were elected in 1991 and 1996. The student liaison position was established in 2002 by Eric Swalwell who was the first student liaison. He completed his degree at UMD and moved back to California. He now serves as a member of Congress. Emily Guston served as the first female SGA liaison. She went to graduate school at Rutgers University and has worked for The Washington Post for the past decade. She was a contestant on the show “So You Want to be a Millionaire” and won $10,000. In the past we had dinner at RJ Bentley’s to bring past student liaisons together. 

Michelle Johnson, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the City of College Park (HACCP), thanked the Mayor and Council for their active involvement with HACCP. Attick Towers is going through renovations. ARPA funds provided by the city have helped replace over 170 HVAC units. She asks the city to continue to provide and seek funding for businesses and affordable housing. The housing authority needs to upgrade six units, electrical repairs, plumbing repairs, new fire suppression system, flooring system, and painting. She thanked the city and for their support and said they should go after funds that will support the HACCP and projects throughout the city. 

CONSENT AGENDA

24-G-136 – Approval of a letter to the Prince George’s County Council and the Prince Geroge’s County Planning Board with recommendations to amend Section 24-4600 Parklands and Recreation Facilities of the Mandatory Dedication of Parkland Ordinance – Miriam Bader, Director of Planning

24-G-143 – Approval of a Community Service Grant for $2,000 to the Holy Redeemer Home & School Association’s Walk for Education event- Gary Fields, Finance Director 

24-G-142- Approval of a recommendation to the Board of License Commissioners for issuance of a Class B, Beer and Wine alcoholic beverage license for Arepa Zone The Aster LLC t/a Arepa Zone at the property located at 4341 Calvert Road, College Park, MD 20740, subject to Licensee agreement to a Property Use Agreement with the City, in substantially the form attached, authorizing the City Manager to sign the PUA – Jatinder Khokhar, Director of Public Services

24-G-145 – Approval of the appointment of the new SGA Deputy Liaison – Anna-Kaye McDonald

Councilmember Mackie made a motion to approve, seconded by Councilmember Esters. Unanimously approved.

ACTION ITEMS: 

24-G-141 Authorize the City Manager to distribute Holiday bonuses to all eligible City Staff – Teresa Way- Pezzuti, Director of Human Resources, Gary Fields, Director of Finance, and Kenny Young, City Manager

Ms. Way – Pezzuti introduced the item focused on providing monetary holiday gift to all eligible full-time, part-time employees, and qualifying contract officers in good standing.   

Councilmember Esters thanked Way-Pezutti for clarifying who was eligible for the bonuses.

Councilmember Hernandez asked if the bonus will be used as an incentive to attract contract police officers. Ms. Way-Pezzuti said the bonus can be used as an incentive. Councilmember Hernandez asked that we consider using this for crossing guards. 

Councilmember Esters made the motion, seconded by Councilmember Hernandez. The motion passed unanimously.

WORKSESSION DISCUSSIONS

Legislative Priorities, Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager and Leonard Lucchi, Esquire 

Mr. Gardiner introduced the discussion focused on identifying priorities prior to the Mayor and Council Legislative Dinner and the upcoming General Assembly session. 

The following were introduced as policy priorities for Council to consider: Land use authority;  increase of municipal infractions fines from $1,000 to $5,000 (inflationary increase); Increase of funding for Youth Services Bureau (YSB), opposition to copays for state childcare scholarships and consider changes to the mandatory staff ratios for safety, learning and costs, which are more stringent in MD than other states; broaden the piggyback income tax base by creating more brackets for incomes over $250,000; and imposing a food and beverage tax for on-site consumption up to three percent.  

Potential Capital projects include Baltimore Avenue reconstruction from MD 193 to I-495; funding for Attick Towers renovations; and funding for YFS meditation garden and landscaping.

Mr. Len Lucchi, City Lobbyist, said a meeting of the state spending affordability committee, co-chaired by Senator Rosapepe occurred on Tuesday, November 12. The fiscal outlook for Maryland is not pretty. There is a lot of discussion about how to raise state revenue without hurting working families. It will be a tough year to ask for more funding. However, even in the worst years there is still money for Capital spending. 

Councilmember Whitney said she was surprised to read about tax for on-site food and beverage consumption, especially for dining in. As we continue to work on building community it may have a negative impact on business and could decrease staff gratuity. Mr. Lucchi said the Maryland Municipal League (MML) came up with this priority. He said passage would be an uphill battle, as the general assembly guards the sales tax as their own. The only exception was Ocean City to help pay off the bonds for their convention center. 

Councilmember Hernandez said he recently learned about childcare staffing ratio. He has heard that the ratios help to ensure individualized attention. He asked if Maryland has made efforts through education or increasing availability of state resources in multilingual capacities. 

Mr. Lucchi said the childcare ratios stem back to the blueprint for education and they had uniform kindergarten along both private and public models, which they worked to merge and that is how we have come up with the staffing ratio. 

Councilmember Esters expressed concern about imposing a food and beverage tax for on-site consumption. She asked about any concern if we did not want to support this. Mr. Lucchi said that it would be up to the city to determine if they stayed silent on this MML item. She asked if it would be feasible for the city to help support YFS meditation garden and landscaping given that it is a lean year. Mr. Gardiner said the Council could choose to do so during their budget session. 

Councilmember Mackie asked about additional funding for Youth Services Bureaus and acknowledged there were no environmental issues on the list. According to Mr. Lucchi, the big issue on environmental issues deals with fossil fuels and the conversion of systems. He said there will be some reckoning on how to pay for these items moving forward. Councilmember Mackie also expressed concern about the support of imposing a food and beverage tax.

Mr. Young, City Manager, attended the meeting virtually. He commented on the YSB funding and said that current funding brings about $85,000 to the city annually. He said there are only 6 Youth Service Bureaus in the state, and we are left to use our own funding beyond the current funding. 

Councilmember Rigg asked about this fiscal year being difficult and whether there is a revenue side we should be concerned about. Mr. Lucchi said there have been issues with income tax and concern about shift in federal government and what that will mean. Councilmember Rigg asked about the broadening of the municipal piggyback income tax base by creating more brackets for incomes over $250,000. Mr. Lucchi said the counties have asked to increase tax rates to increase revenues, this excludes the municipal share. You can graduate the taxes without raising the cap.

Councilmember Rigg made the motion to approve, seconded by Councilmember Esters. The motion passed unanimously.

REQUESTS FOR / STATUS OF FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Councilmember Whitney made a motion to add a Bike Lane Safety Ordinance discussion to a future agenda – Seconded by Councilmember Rigg 

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

SGA Liaison Erica Otte mentioned a petition for dog park in College Park. Councilmember Rigg clarified it is a petition for a dog park in southern College Park. 

Councilmember Whitney thanked District 2 residents who volunteered for the Good Neighbor Day event she and Councilmember Esters led.

ADJOURN

INFORMATION REPORT

Reorganization of Department Reporting for Code/ACO Enforcement Coverage.

CLOSED SESSION 

Pursuant to the statutory authority of Maryland Annotated Code, General Provisions Article § 3-305 (b) (7) and (8), the Mayor and Council of the City of College Park are providing notice that they will meet in a Closed Session after this meeting to consult with counsel to obtain legal advice and to consult with staff, consultants, or other individuals about pending or potential litigation. They will not return to open session.

Click here to see the full agenda for the City of College Park Mayor & Council Hybrid Meeting on November 19, 2024. Tune in, show up or share your thoughts/concerns about the following anticipated Consent Agenda and Action Items, and Workshop discussions proposed to be on the agenda that may interest District 2 residents. Please contact us as soon as possible if you need accommodations to participate in a meeting, including language translation:

Consent:

• Approval of a letter to the Maryland Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to reconsider eliminating the C8 bus route to the National Archives in College Park
• Approval of modification of use of FY2024 grant funds to Parkdale High School and approval of FY 2025 Public School Education Grants to University Park Elementary School, College Park Academy, and Hollywood Elementary School
• Approval of Alan Bradford as the 2024 Jack Perry Award Recipient

Action:

• Approval of the Program Open Space application totaling $1,500,000 for the partial funding of Duvall Field renovations
• Approval of a contact with Rainbow Construction of Waldorf in the amount of $7, 345, 000 to conduct the comprehensive renovations of Duvall Field Project

Worksession Discussions:

• Follow-up discussion on draft language to amend City Code (Chapters 125, 141 and 110 to prohibit the storage of tables or other surfaces used for drinking games in the front yard, and the use and storage of refuse toters and recycling containers
• Affordable Childcare Partnerships and Grants