Dear Neighbors:
Now that our national and local elections are completed, I’m looking forward to continued collaboration with residents of Ward One and elsewhere in Takoma Park, along with my City Council colleagues and City staff, on a wide range of efforts to improve the community. Please feel free to be in touch with me about issues of concern. I’ll be arranging some meetings where residents can let me know about their priorities as we kick off a new Council term. Details on those events will be circulated separately.
CITY COUNCIL SCHEDULE
This coming week the Council will meet twice. On Monday, November 16 at 12:30 PM we’ll have the last meeting of the current Council, focused mainly on approving minutes of previous meetings. That will be followed at around 1:30 PM by the inauguration of the new Council. Then on Wednesday, November 18 the new Council will have its first meeting, with a full agenda.
The meetings on Monday and Wednesday of this week will be conducted virtually, while the swearing-in on Monday afternoon will be done in-person, as required under State law. It will take place outside the Community Center. In light of the current Montgomery County COVID related restrictions on gatherings, the swearing-in will be limited to family members and a few staff. Details on the Monday Council meeting and the swearing-in can be found here: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-monday-november-16-2020/
There are no votes scheduled for Wednesday’s meeting: https://takomaparkmd.gov/meeting_agendas/city-council-meeting-agenda-wednesday-november-18-2020/. The agenda includes presentations on the 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and on the Police Pension Plan, plus work session discussions on extending the use of outdoor space for seating, sales and customer pickup; an overview of major Council and staff work items; an update on Maryland State legislative activity; a request to remove the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Director position from the budget “hold” list; and the process for selecting an executive search firm for the City Manager Position. For more information about all of these issues see below. There will also be a Youth Council update and several proclamations on Wednesday.
The Monday and Wednesday meetings this week will include public comment periods. For Monday’s meeting the Sign up for public comments will be open until 11:00 AM on the day of the meeting. For Wednesday’s meeting the sign-up for public comments will be open until 5:00 PM on the day of the meeting: Link to sign-up for Live Public Comments. These events can be viewed in all the usual ways: on City TV (RCN -- 13, HD 1060; Comcast/xfinity -- 13, HD 997; Verizon Fios -- 28), on the City Council Video Page of the City Website; on YouTube, or on Facebook.
The City Council won’t be meeting during Thanksgiving week, and will resume with meetings on December 2 and 9. There will then be a break of several weeks for the holidays before we start up again in January.
UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Elections. You can use this link to see the certified results for the Takoma Park Mayor and City Council elections, including a breakdown of the Mayoral votes by Ward: https://takomaparkmd.gov/news/city-election-information/.
COVID Update. The Takoma Park COVID-19 Dashboard has been updated with data through Friday, November 13. Key data points include:
· 20 new confirmed cases.
· Infection rate is now 4.2% in the City, 2.7% in the County.
· 1 new death in zipcode 20910.
The Wednesday testing from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM at Sligo Aventist Church was cancelled this past week due to inclement weather. Testing will resume this coming Wednesday. City staff is working with their County colleagues to develop plans to avoid future cancellations. Testing continues at Takoma Academy Preparatory School; call 240-621-0762 to schedule or visit: https://allcarefamilymed.com/covid19-test-takoma-park-md. Details on additional County testing sites and schedules can be found here: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/testing.html
Update on Takoma Junction Development. You can see a summary of the most recent staff call with the developer NDC here: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/initiatives/project-directory/Takoma-Junction/2020_NDC-Updates/20201113-Council-NDC-Staff-Call-rev.pdf. Of particular note, the summary states that NDC’s most recent submission is anticipated to be posted on the County website on Monday.
Register for City Alerts and Updates. https://takomaparkmd.gov/sign-up/. You can sign up for various City alerts, including Police bulletins, Council updates, and the Takoma Insider. The most recent Takoma Insider features updates not only on the local elections and COVID, but also information on the Police Department winter coat drive, details on leaf collection (which will be less frequent due to COVID staffing shortages), recreation programs, and more. Here’s a link to last week’s Insider: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#search/takoma+insider/FMfcgxwKjKqxjlNdZPQbxWWSsfDmdwQd
Police Department Holiday Toy Drive. https://takomaparkmd.gov/news-alert/help-tppd-bring-joy-this-holiday-season-donate-unwrapped-toys-cash-giftcards/. The Police are accepting toys and gift cards for children ages 2 - 12 through December 23.
NOVEMBER 18 CITY COUNCIL MEETING -- PRESENTATIONS
2020 CAFR: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-1.pdf. Review and audit of the CAFR is an important part of the ongoing oversight of the budgetary and financial condition of the City. This report covers the fiscal year that concluded on June 30. I’m pleased that our auditors found that the CAFR presents the City’s finances fairly according to generally accepted accounting principles, and I look forward to the presentation.
Police Pension Plan: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/Meeting-Documents/City-Council-Police-Pension-Presentation.pdf
https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/Meeting-Documents/Takoma-Park-2020-AVR.pdf. Every year an outside actuarial firm reviews the financial condition of our Police Pension Plan, as well as the broader economy and changes in the pension industry, They also make a recommendation as to how much the City should contribute to the plan in the following budget year. During my time on the Council, we have always contributed at least the recommended amount. This year, the actuarial firm is recommending a contribution of $1,406,153, an increase of a little more than $82,000 compared to this year’s level. A decision on how much to contribute will be decided as part of next year’s budget deliberations for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2021.
NOVEMBER 18 CITY COUNCIL MEETING -- WORK SESSION
Use of Outdoor Space: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-3-rev.pdf. Shortly after the onset of the COVID pandemic, the Council approved a resolution allowing the use of certain sidewalk and street areas, including Laurel Avenue, for public and private seating and other commercial activities. That authorization is scheduled to expire at the end of December. With the pandemic still unfortunately largely uncontrolled, the Council will be considering a resolution to extend the authorization for up to another six months. As part of our discussion this week we’ll be reviewing the results of a survey on people’s views about the Laurel Avenue closure. I’d like to see the authorization extended. Please let me know what you think.
Major Council and Staff Work Items: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-4.pdf. The City Manager will outline key work items for the next 6 months, including anticipated staff and Council workloads connected to them. This discussion will help lay the groundwork as we set our priorities for the coming year.
Legislative Update: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-5rev.pdf. Ann Ciekot, of Public Policy Partners, the firm which represents the City in Annapolis, will provide an update on key developments in the lead-up to next year’s legislative session which begins in January. The City’s District 20 representatives (Senator Smith, and Delegates Moon, Charkoudian and Wilkins) will appear before the City Council at our December 9 meeting to continue the discussion.
Removing HCD Director Position from Hold List: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-6.pdf. As part of our response to the COVID pandemic, the Council put certain funds in the budget for this fiscal year “on hold” with the idea that the money can be used later for direct COVID response, to fill gaps in funding from other levels of government, for the originally intended purpose, or kept in reserve. Some of the funds put on hold in this fashion came from personnel accounts, including specifically the funds that were approved in the budget for the position of Director of the Housing and Community Development Office. We’ll be discussing whether to release those funds to move toward filling this position or keep the funds on hold.
City Manager Search Firm: https://documents.takomaparkmd.gov/government/city-council/agendas/2020/council-20201118-7.pdf With City Manager Suzanne Ludlow retiring on July 1 of next year, the City is moving toward hiring an executive search firm to assist in the process of replacing her. We’re anticipating approving a firm for that purpose next month, and we’ll be discussing the process for hiring the firm, along with other aspects of the recruitment work.
As always, please feel free to be in touch with comments or questions about any of the topics covered in this blog.
Peter Kovar, Takoma Park City Council, Ward One
240-319-6281; www.councilmemberkovar.com
(He, Him, His)
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